After my interview with coach ray, I have gathered a sufficient store of information

on his day, so here goes nothing. My first question for him was how he evaluates his
students to make sure they have a proper understanding of his subject. His reply
was pretty much what I had expected, that it was a continuous process, one where
he constantly asks for their feedback, checks the work they have done, questions
them, and even gives daily quizzes, which he grades after each class. While we
were on the topic of grading, I asked if he had a certain environment, he would set
up for himself as well as how often he grades and if he had a schedule. He replied
with either using complete silence during planning to his advantage, or playing light
music to keep his mind occupied during planning or at home. Again, I used his
answer to transition to a question about how he managed his planning period to
plan for all classes and he let me know that not only does he get his planning period
on Monday through Thursday to himself, but he also gets Friday to work as a team
with the other teachers and plan an even more effective lesson. The only things I
learned from him pertaining to afterschool activities was that he is the coach of the
boys golf team and thoroughly enjoys the time he spends with them. Afterwards, I
asked what made him want to begin teaching, and he revealed to me that he was
formerly a coach at APSU and that working there made him take an interest in
working at a high school level, so he got his degree and has been teaching for 29
years now. Finally, I asked him which teaching method he felt was the most
effective for teaching a class, and his reply made me smile a bit. He said theres no
one right way to teach a class, whether it be with group work, classwork, or one on
one, each method goes hand in hand with teaching, and he only has to adjust his
methods to suit the needs of each individual.

In contrast to this, Mr. Hall gave me very definitive answers to my questions. He

does similar things to coach ray, for example, when evaluating a students
understanding of German, he asks questions in German, like where they are from,
their favorite color, what they had for lunch, etc. He also has students translate
words on the board and gives written tests regularly. He does has a very rare and
innovative way of grading. He has students grade their own work, so that way they
can evaluate their own progress by hand. This is surprisingly effective and builds a
lot of trust between Mr. Hall and his students. His time management is also
interesting, simply for the fact that he gets to school very early, not irregular for
most teachers, but he comes in and blares Mozart throughout his classroom for a
clear mind and increased productivity and creativity for lessons. Speaking of
creativity, Mr. Hall actually leads the German club after school, and occasionally
attends the schools plays. When i asked him what made him want to begin
teaching, he gave me a surprisingly sincere answer. It was a combination of having
fantastic teachers in school and having a wonderful German teacher, Mr. Angevine,
and being in a family filled with teachers. Sisters, cousins, aunts, even his
grandmother was a teacher, she even taught until she was 82. This is also Mr. Halls
10th year of teaching, and he uses his experience to teach in a very effective way.
He constantly has something on the screen for visual learners, he also speaks
during this, in German, and finally he has students reply and speak as well, so that
way all learning types get an effective lesson no matter what he teaches.
Lastly, we have Ms. Stasiorowski, one of the school's counselors. In addition, with
this position comes a completely new set of tasks and duties not given to teachers.
For example, I asked Ms. Stas (this is how we shall refer to her from now on for
convenience sake) how she contributes to the development of students, whether it
be socially, emotionally, or academically. She answered that she does as much as
possible; everything in her power to make sure that every student she gets
succeeds to the best of their abilities. She also stated that as a guidance counselor
she is the decided education manager and that entails 2 things. 1. To make sure
that students pass the requirements from the state but 2. To make sure that the
students can succeed in their own goals. However, she also has similar tasks to
teachers. Like, for example, I asked her if she set up a specific environment for
meeting with students, similar to how teachers create certain feelings in their room,
and she replied that she tries to be humorous and funny, while also feeling like a
friend who can be there. She also revealed to me that most times when they speak
to a student it is not really planned. Granted, there are exceptions to this, like when
they need to change schedules or talk to a student about their grades for example,
but most times, she just goes by the seat of her pants. To make sessions that are
not planned feel more safe and comfortable however, she isn't afraid to hug any
student who needs one. She is careful whom she hugs though, as she knows that
some students could be triggered and fall into an episode because of this. She will
also tell personal stories or experiences she has gone through so that they can have
a real world comparison. Near the end of our interview, I asked her if she had any
plans or processes she goes through in her office and i found out that she follows
what is called the six-year plan religiously, writing down notes on it, even attaching
papers onto it so that she can follow what rules she needs to. Finally, I asked her the
question to end all questions. How does she balance student time, with faculty
obligations and she got a little heated. I asked her this and she responded tamely at
first, told me she's a fast worker, that she gets here early and will even skip lunch to
finish, but when I asked if she felt they needed more time or less time she got
noticeably more heated. Not to the point of being mad, but she just seemed
frustrated. She replied that she did not feel they needed more time, just that they
needed to not be given assignments that were not fit for a counselor to have to do,
and then they would have plenty of time.