School Leadership Interview Report

An effective school leader should possess skills such as creativity, implementation, evaluation, and excellent communication. I conducted an interview with Tamara Perez, who is currently a director at Smart Starts Preschool. She has an A.A. degree in Early Childhood Education, Staff Credentials, Director Credentials, and has been teaching for 12 years. Becoming a teacher was not exactly what she had in mind. She was going through a rough time in her life and she began working as a teacher. At first, she was not too sure of what she was doing or getting herself into. In the meantime, she could recall the time she spent as a teacher. The school she worked at used a High Scope Curriculum; which uses hands on experiences for children and the …show more content…
For example, during reading time as she read a story to the class she would ask questions so that the children could have a better understanding. Another time would be, when the children work in small groups to complete a task or even when they work with a partner. How do you help students develop in self-discipline? Tammy’s response to this question was that children should be able to express their feelings but in a manner, that does not lead to hurtful outcomes. Children should learn how to deal with their emotions. Tammy believes that this skill can be taught to children. For example, if a child may be feeling upset or angry they could walk away from the situation or tell the other person “Stop it, I don’t like it”. Children should learn to use their words; or express themselves through words, rather than their actions. Furthermore, some of the ways that she kept parents involved in the classroom were by notifying them about the open-door policy, sending home family projects, through the PTA, and inviting them to the holiday events. Also, Tammy explained that she always updated the parents about the child’s progress through open communication, sending progress reports, and through a Class Dojo app. She always made sure that when parents came in with questions she was prepared to answer …show more content…
She explains that she helped children feel that they could accomplish things, not that the teacher did for them. This helped the child build self-confidence and become successful. With this in mind, I would say that I have gained more knowledge about becoming a teacher. It was an interesting and pleasant interview that I experienced with Tamara Perez. I admired her self-confidence in her teaching ability and how she became a preschool director. During the interview, I could recall some of the information that was discussed during class such as the different ways of learning. Not every child may comprehend the information the same way as others do. According to Sadker & Zittleman (2015), “Intriguing research suggests that learning styles may be as unique as handwriting.” There are three factors that contribute to each student’s learning style. Physiology is the different body rhythms that cause some students to learn better in the morning and others in the afternoon. The affective attitude also plays a role in how a child may learn. Each child has a different motivation to learn which is critical to determine their learning style. Finally, there is the cognitive part which explains how the child perceives information. Some children prefer to look at the material, some children may learn by listening, and others prefer to learn through hands on participation