Christian Tovar 1

Summary of Interview
For my report, I interviewed a general education teacher at one of El Paso’s local high schools. I

chose to interview this teacher because of her years of experience, and the vast groups of students she

says she’s had the privilege to teach. She holds a Secondary Education certificate to teach English grades

8 -12, and holds other certifications to teach AVID, Gifted and Talented (GT), and Advanced Placement

courses. Within a span of 25 years, she has worked at only one other school, and is one of the three

original teachers from when the school opened in the 1990s. She is currently the head coordinator of

the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program; a position she has held for the past

eight years. Before becoming the head coordinator of the AVID program, she also taught English, and

served as the English department chair for several years. She oversees multiple groups of students

ranging from general, bilingual and special education.

With an immense amount of experience, this teacher has worked with students with disabilities,

special educators, and serves as a guide for special educators to understand what accommodations are

serving students best versus accommodations which may need some revising in the general classroom.

Although she may not be a special educator, she stated the special educators frequently as for her input

to ensure the student(s) are successful in her class. She also added that because of frequently working

with special educators, she has developed a close relationship with the Behavioral Improvement Center

teacher and they repeatedly collaborate when necessary. Between her classroom, and the six other

classrooms in her “pod”, which refers to the hallway she’s located in, she stated this pod experienced

the most co-teaching arrangements. One item I found very enlightening was when this teacher

described working with special educators. She stated the special educators she has worked with have

always been willing to serve as a resource, despite some of the overwhelming expectations put up on

them. She described them as always being positive in finding solutions for students academically,

physically, mentally and socially.

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This teacher described inclusion as the welcoming of all students in general education, as well as

providing students with the support necessary to succeed academically. She explained the importance

of practicing inclusiveness in the classroom was for students to have a sense of belonging. In the AVID

program, they have what are called “tutorial days” in which students are required to bring in homework,

or classwork they are struggling with and present them on what is called a Tutorial Request Form (TRF).

They form small student lead study groups, which are mediated by the AVID teacher. This teacher stated

that this activity was one of her favorites to do because she could see all her students collaborating,

even amongst those with disabilities. She said inclusion is implemented at her high school through AVID,

because they are a national demographic school, meaning many parts of the AVID curriculum is

implemented in all classrooms.

Reflection

As a future educator, I learned it’s important to collaborate and communicate with special

educators to ensure the students need are tended to effectively and appropriately. I believe it’s

important to collaborate and communicate with special educators because it can bring an entire class

together versus isolating special education students. One item I hope to have as a future educator is a

close relationship with the special educator and related personnel. I believe attaining a strong

relationship not only benefits what I will be able to achieve in the classroom with or without a co-

teacher, but what the student(s) will be able to achieve in the classroom.

Another aspect I learned is that time is one of the most challenging aspects of being a teacher.

In my interview, this teacher stated that time was one of the most challenging aspects of being a

teacher because with each new passing year, more and more is being put on educator’s to-do lists. She

explained that so much focus has shifted on getting students to pass standardized test, teachers become

flustered and a lot of inclusion becomes lost in this process. I hope one day to teach math, which is a
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tested subject, and as a future educator I worry of becoming lost in this idea of only teaching students to

pass standardized tests, overlooking students who have special needs.

In conclusion, I’ve learned that collaborating and communicating with special educators lays the

ground work for students with disabilities to succeed in general classrooms. Collaborating and

communicating with special educators guides teachers in seeing what modification adjustments need to

be made in order to have student(s) progress successfully. Special educators provide pivotal roles in

finding solutions which best fit the needs of students. Lastly, I learned that time is of the essence in

classrooms today. Although there are many items teachers need to tackle within the year, it’s important

to remember that each student learns at a different pace, and what may be required of a student to

learn, may take going above and beyond for them to achieve success.