My name is Natalie Haluska and I currently live in Chandler, AZ. I have been working as an instructional assistant in special education for a little over a year now and love it. I am working towards becoming a certified teacher and teaching 2nd or 3rd grade. I have had the opportunity to work with all grade levels but I really enjoy the coursework for 2nd-3rd grade. In my free time I enjoy doing yoga, spending time with family and friends, baking, reading, and creative writing. I am definitely a cat person. I have an old cat named Dolly who is my baby! I am also a foodie and love to go out to new restaurants with friends and family. I am excited to be a part of this class and look forward to learning more.

EDU 276

Julie Ferin

24 August 2024

INTERVIEW WITH A PRACTICING TEACHER

1.      Name of the person interviewed:

The name of the person I interviewed is Julie DeFino. Julie is a family friend who has been teaching for over 30 years.     

2.      Grade Level:

Julie teaches reading intervention with 1^st through 5^th graders. She works with different small groups of different grades throughout each school day.

3.      School:

Julie teaches at Green Valley Elementary School in Danville, California.

4.      Phone or in-person interview:

I conducted a phone interview with Julie.

5.      List of at least five questions:

1.      How do you express the importance of hard work to your students?

2.      How do you gauge success in your class? At the end of every class, what are you looking for from your students (compliance, completing their work, calm body)?

3.      What are ways that you make learning more enjoyable for your students, so they are more likely to pay attention and fully engage in their work? 

4.      How do you keep your composure and manage stress when your class is too loud or has behaviors occurring?     

5.      What are some ways you practice discipline with your students? Are there expectations that you enforce on the 1^st day of school?

6.      A summarization of the responses to the questions I asked:

1.      Julie stated that since she works with small groups throughout the school day and as a result, does not get a lot of time to work with each student, she likes to celebrate little wins by offering rewards such as a piece of candy or a dollar to use at the school store after a student completes a task. Julie expressed that she provides these incentives to show students that their hard work reaps benefits.  

2.      Julie gauges success by looking for students who cooperate throughout a class period and are compliant in their behaviors. Julie said that she will let her students know that she likes to see them participating in class. She likes to see students trying their best to complete work and put in an effort towards their goals.   

3.      Julie loves making learning more enjoyable by incorporating games into her lessons. Julie gave an example of a game she and her students play when working on word sounds. She explained that they take steps on the carpet for each sound of a word. For example, for the word cat, Julie said they would step, march, or hop to each letter sound (c-a-t). Julie let me know that games are a good tool to use as a way to switch things up during a lesson, so students are not spending all their time sitting at a desk.  

4.      Julie expressed that being able to adapt to a constantly changing environment is important when working with children, as you need to be able to take control of a room and not feel overwhelmed. She said that she avoids raising her voice and increasing her stress levels, so instead of yelling, she will count to 10, breathe, and then redirect a student’s behavior. Julie also said that something she does when her groups are getting too loud, or behaviors are occurring is she will simply remove herself from their space and sit quietly off to the side until they realize that they are not getting a reaction. She said that this is a good way to let a student know that you do not wish to engage in bad behavior, and they need to replicate your calmness.

5.      Julie stated that she sets a small and easy-to-understand list of expectations on the 1^st day of school and reinforces those same expectations throughout the year. She let me know that she has a cardinal rule, which is to be respectful. Julie said that she reminds students of this rule in a broken-record kind of way. Julie advised that it is not helpful to switch up your rules and expectations because that can be confusing to students and instead, reinforce the same rules and expectations.   

7.      The Website URL for my Welcome Wall:

https://padlet.com/nat2141824/my-welcome-wall-o0ftxtvvgtlwqwjm