A sit-down interview, in the interviewee’s classroom, on April 22, 2016, resulted in responses from Rachel Koplin, a female Elementary Education teacher at Deerfield Elementary School, in Deerfield, Wisconsin. The purpose of the interview was to gain information and insight for an individual considering entering the field of Elementary Education including areas such as expectations, requirements, frustrations, and advice. The interview contained ten initial questions, with four additional inquiries as follow-up to responses, representing the 4-year Kindergarten grade level, and utilizing ten years of teaching experience.
Koplin reports a variance regarding the standard starting salary, ranging from $27,000 to $32,000, primarily dependent on …show more content…
Frustrations with the reduction of playtime, critical to her philosophy regarding the 4-year-old classroom learning environment, generate issues in her theme selections and lesson plan creating. Relying on her own creative talents, she strives to find ways to incorporate the required curriculum into play experiences, such as adding clipboards and pencils to dramatic play areas to “encourage practice with writing and literacy skills”, an important area of focus with her student age group. She also expresses her struggles with current focus on standardized testing, an aspect only introduced in her 4-K classroom a couple of years ago. While she believes in the benefit receiving the data provides, especially in assisting in individualized Responses to Intervention (R.T.I.) development, there remains concern regarding the likelihood of external components affecting the “one-day snapshot” of student abilities. Due to this she stresses the importance on focusing on more than just test scores to better assist assessing the “whole picture of the …show more content…
Answering questions, including how to become a teacher, best and worst aspects of the job, biggest changes, and words of advice she opened up freely, providing great insight into what it means to be a teacher in today’s environment. However, since the interview is based on her personal experiences and perspective she is a biased source. Additionally, it overall provides a snapshot of the teaching experience in one school environment, and a small-town one at that, which means it only truly gives insight into what is like to teach in that specific
Koplin reports a variance regarding the standard starting salary, ranging from $27,000 to $32,000, primarily dependent on …show more content…
Frustrations with the reduction of playtime, critical to her philosophy regarding the 4-year-old classroom learning environment, generate issues in her theme selections and lesson plan creating. Relying on her own creative talents, she strives to find ways to incorporate the required curriculum into play experiences, such as adding clipboards and pencils to dramatic play areas to “encourage practice with writing and literacy skills”, an important area of focus with her student age group. She also expresses her struggles with current focus on standardized testing, an aspect only introduced in her 4-K classroom a couple of years ago. While she believes in the benefit receiving the data provides, especially in assisting in individualized Responses to Intervention (R.T.I.) development, there remains concern regarding the likelihood of external components affecting the “one-day snapshot” of student abilities. Due to this she stresses the importance on focusing on more than just test scores to better assist assessing the “whole picture of the …show more content…
Answering questions, including how to become a teacher, best and worst aspects of the job, biggest changes, and words of advice she opened up freely, providing great insight into what it means to be a teacher in today’s environment. However, since the interview is based on her personal experiences and perspective she is a biased source. Additionally, it overall provides a snapshot of the teaching experience in one school environment, and a small-town one at that, which means it only truly gives insight into what is like to teach in that specific