Teacher Interview

I observed Mrs.Hernazdez 8^th grade Spanish class. The “feel” of the instruction was active and tense. There were some students who were not paying attention or being active in the lesson, this seemed to make the teacher agitated but she warned the students to get off their phones and got back to the lesson. The teacher student relationship was positive which is great for her students because, it will help them meet their educational needs with the emotional support she will provide them. The interest in the lesson was active they were tossing a ball and whoever caught the ball had to name what the teacher was pointing at in Spanish. The lesson was fun, but it did not relate to anything in their real life. The demographic was mixed races, but all were the same age range where mostly 8^th graders. Mrs. Hernandez had good time management as far as getting the lesson prepared and ready for each class ahead of time. Another thing this teacher did was used up all his class time and the rest whatever was left ended up as homework.

My teacher interview with her went well. Mrs. Hernandez was working with the Navajo teacher to help the students form basic understandings of the ABC’s, numbers, etc. The philosophy of her teaching was to concentrate on hands on and verbal explaining she is using a more active approach vs. just doing book work since most of her students do not actually speak Spanish she feels the book confuses them more than helps them. For classroom management she said she uses the 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 zero being silent one being whisper 2 being talking to their partner 3 being a group conversation and well 4 is a loud playground it shouldn't be used inside. She uses that to calm down the classroom and regain their attention.

Issues she faces is some kids’ behavior and the way they misbehave. The way they treat her, and her colleagues makes it hard, but they had a meeting about these issues and they hope to use what they learned and want to put it into her classroom. The issues the students face is at home and a lot of the kids are from unstable homes, so they have a lot to deal with before coming to school where they tend to release their frustrations out on their teacher or other students.

As far as Mrs. Hernandez background she does not have a teaching degree, she is a long-term sub. She graduated from Bloomfield High School and got married right after and soon started a family, so she put off her education. She has three kids now and does not have time to go to school, but she got her subbing license and hopes to get her degree in the future.