Teacher Interview

I interviewed Mrs. McNellis at North Valley Academy in Albuquerque, NM. Mrs. McNellis has been a teacher for 18 years. She is currently teaching kindergarten but has taught at the 5th grade and 8th grade levels as well. She is ELL endorsed and had a lot to say about it. Following is a summary of the interview we did:

Questions for the Teacher

1. How do you make yourself inviting and approachable, while continuing to be the authority figure in the classroom?

McNellis: I always try to smile, even on the hard days and especially at the beginning of the school year. In middle school it is tougher, of course, but staying positive is a must. As far as being the authority goes I think it is just as important for the teacher to respect the students as much as the students are expected to respect the teacher. Making the classroom welcoming is the easy part. Adding appropriate sized chairs and lots of color and designated spaces helps the classroom become welcoming.

2. How do you begin to communicate with a new ELL student?

McNellis: In kindergarten it is not so different for an ELL student because all of the kids are learning language; a lot of it is new to all of them. When I have an ELL Spanish speaking student come in for the first time I welcome them and use a little bit of Spanish to help them feel a little less disconnected. I use a lots of pointing and pictures and physical guidance along with verbal instructions to help them put the pieces together. It is harder with the students in the higher grade levels but it is basically the same process.

3. How do you correct pronunciation without embarrassing the student?

McNellis: Usually, if it is a new vocabulary word I will have the whole class review the correct pronunciation so that I don't single anyone out. Though, kids are sometimes the first to help correct a mispronounced word just being in their group conversations. If the student continues to have issues with pronunciation it may go to the next level of assessment to see if there is a speech issue present.

4. How do you teach Cross-Cultural Understanding?

McNellis: The Holidays are the easiest time to integrate different cultural traditions. I will have the kids bring in examples or stories of what their family does to celebrate. Even if more than one student share the same type of holiday they celebrate they always have different ways of celebrating it which makes it interesting to everyone.

5. When two ELL students who group together, do you break this group up so they can work with students who only speak English?

McNellis: As long as they stay on task there is not reason to separate them. They may be able to do better work if they have their native language and English vocabularies to draw from when discussing something. Sometimes, one of the ELL's will act as a kind of interpreter which benefits the process of learning English.

6. How do you assign and grade homework for ELL students?

McNellis: They get the same homework as everyone else. Usually the student will have a parent or older sibling at home that speaks English and can help them. If they don't have someone in the family, I do stay after class and help them when they need it.

After the "official" interview was done we continued talking about how she loves teaching and how much she has learned from her students over the years. Another topic that came up was whether getting ELL endorsed was worth it to her. She explained that there is so much extra work that is expected of a teacher with an ELL endorsement that it's not possible to accomplish it all. She gave one example that she is required to pull her ELL students away from the rest of the class for 45 minutes a week and do an English lesson. Since she is the only teacher in her classroom she finds this impossible. She cannot leave most of her kindergarten class unsupervised for any amount of time. She also let me know that the extra amount in pay only comes out to about $150- $200 a year for her. So, she had reservations on encouraging me to become Ell endorsed.

I had a really great time at this interview. However, it lasted about four times longer than I had planned, because it seems, that new teachers and experienced teachers have a LOT to talk about. Every interaction I have with a teacher just makes me want to be a teacher more.