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Teacher Interview Assignment – John BroadheadMadeline WebbIvy Tech Community College – Central IndianaTeacher Interview AssignmentWhat traits of an effective teacher do you think this teacher possesses?John Broadhead has been in the teaching profession for 30 years. He has worked in both Australian public and private educational facilities working at a high school level. Throughout this time he has taught mathematics, civics, religion and now teaches on design and technology. John gained support early during his college years by encouraging and enthusiastic lecturers. He now says that it is his colleagues that are his main support network. In Australia to maintain your teaching registration or license professional development is required. Not only does professional development increase your personal knowledge and skills it allows the teachers to keep up with the many changes that occur throughout the education system each year. Australian teachers are expected to do 30 hours of professional development over a 5 year period to maintain their license. I believe professional development is extremely important and is a compulsory measure to ensure that teachers remain up to date with educational materials.John had many attributes of being an effective teacher. I strongly believe that to be an effective teacher you need to not only know the subject matter that you teach, but you must want to see the children succeed and be approachable, encouraging and motivating for them. This attribute of putting the student first and always being there to mentor and encourage them to achieve their goals is extremely important to John. Good classroom managementSets rules and expectations straight awayPreparationWants his students to succeedIn what way(s) was the teacher different from you?What philosophy and/or values did this teacher have that you would like to emulate? Why?What, if any, did you learn about teaching that was new to you or that reinforced your beliefs about teaching as a profession? What made you think more deeply about teaching as a profession?The comments made about the curriculum challenges and changes made by the department of education can at times be very frustrating. John has been in the Australian schooling system for 30 years. He has seen many subjects come and go, different testing procedures, different grading systems and many other educational reforms during his career. Looking at the many changes he discussed in Australian schools, reminded me of the many changes that are being made to the American system. These changes can have a great affect on the teachers and students alike. At the moment the changes being made here with funding cuts, ISTEP and curriculum changes worries me about the profession I am entering. This is a worldwide problem though. As we try to create a better education system for all children there are going to be many trials and errors made before we find a good fit. One statement John said was the satisfaction he received from seeing his students perform to their maximum potential that also made me think. This reminded me of our class discussions of what it is that makes someone an effective teacher. He did not hide the fact that teaching is difficult and sometimes he wondered why he does what he does. This confession made me really think about the career I want to pursue. It was that first statement he came back to after highlighting the challenges of teaching. He said no matter how hard it becomes sometimes seeing your students happy, producing good work, performing their best and graduating makes the harder times easier. This is a great outlook i believe and i am very grateful about how honest he was during the interview. Based on the teacher’s answers, are you more or less interested in teaching this age/grade/subject? Why?Although I would like to volunteer in a service learning program within a high school, I still believe that my personality it better suited towards younger students. I admire high school teachers and the challenges not only from the material being taught but also the extra work created due to more assessments. Also high school students are going through many changes trying to find out who they are as an individual which sometimes can cause trouble in the classrooms. John teacher all grades of high school from years 7-12. His work in the design and technology department, to me, would be a fun area to teach. It promotes creativity, artistic expression, problem solving, as well as lots of hands on work. As he teaches in an all boys school his students are always enthusiastic to work on tasks other than the three ‘Rs’. This subject area would be very interesting to work within. Unfortunately I am not very handy when it comes to building furniture or creating mechanical cars. Therefore i believe that I will continue to focus on elementary education. Interview Summary for John BroadheadTell me about yourself as a teacher. He has been teaching for 30 years teaching in both private and public schools and mainly teaching boys aged 12 to 18.Why did you decide to enter teaching? He was told by a teacher who taught him that I should think about teaching as he said he would be good at it.How many years have you been teaching? 30 yearsWhat grade levels and/or subject areas have you taught? Years 7 – 12 mainly in Design and Technology as well as Mathematics Civics and ReligionTell me about your classroom and teaching strategies.How is your classroom arranged to optimize learning? He tries to set up the room so he has a mix of abilities on each bench so that the students can help each other if he is not available when they need him. This allows the brighter students to be mentors and gives them a sense of being able to help others.What are your strategies for effective classroom management? His strategy is to set the rules for the room right from the start and stick to them like a leech in the first month so the students know what is expected and what the consequences will be for not doing the right thing in the room. This does not mean taking each situation and treating them the same, allow students to explain what they did and then deal with what you believe happened and the severity of the consequences.What types of lesson plans do you create? How do you incorporate state standards in the curriculum? He always uses the curriculum standards as an overarching measure to plan out his lessons. Because of the amount of time he has been teaching he no longer writes up full lesson plans unless he is doing a new task that he has not taught before and then he will plan out each aspect of the work and how it will be done over the task. He tends to write task plans that may cover 4 – 6 weeks of lessons.For you, what are the most exciting aspects of teaching and your work? Being with the students keeps him up to date with what the students are interested in and what’s in and not. It also keeps him feeling younger as they keep you on your toes. He really likes seeing boys learning the work without them realizing what is going on. “It is great to watch how giving the ok to be themselves and everyone on the same page how good things can happen.” Who has given you the most support in learning to be an effective teacher? In his earlier years his college lecturers and the teacher he worked with. When he got out into the schools it was his colleagues who were the main support for him in learning to be a good and effective teacher. How do you encourage involvement of parents and families in the school and your classroom? Because he teaches year 7 – 12 students there aren’t a lot of chances for parental involvement in the classroom but they have many parents and families involved in the sporting programs at the school. They do have parent teacher and student meeting each term so that parents are aware of how well their son is going. If there are any problems he will ring the parents to inform them and see if he “can nip it in the bud.” How much time do you spend outside of the work day on preparation and grading? He tries to prepare for the next day after the end of the day he is teaching. They alternate between him and the other teachers and take turns in preparing tests and marking across the years so that we all end up with the same amount of assessment marking and grading over the year. What do you think are the most difficult challenges for teachers? Keeping up with changes that are put upon us by the curriculum writers and the Department of Education. Also home problems that the students bring with them each day can create disturbances. He states that some of these are extremely bad and if teachers are not aware of the situations they may be doing harm to the student without knowing it.IN Australia do we have a system like ISTEP (standardized testing). What pros and cons of ISTEP or standardized testing do you see? In what ways, if any, has ISTEP affected your teaching?In Australia they have a series of test called NAPLAN which test students in years 3,5,7 and 9 held on a set week across Australia which looks at the students literacy, numeracy, and basic scientific knowledge. NAPLAN gives teachers a chance to see which students need more assistance and in what areas. It does not however reflect on the school in terms of funding and is purely for the students well being and success.How does your career choice affect your home life?He is fortunate that his wife is a senior lecturer at a university and because of this their lives align reasonably well. He also has been able to help his children out where I could throughout their schooling as well as their friends when they needed it.What made you decide that grade level and subject that you are teaching? He always loved working with his hands and creating things so Design and Technology fits what I enjoy doing whilst still being able to teach.What was one of the funniest moments to happen in your classroom? There had been many funny moments within his classroom but he states that the best are the ones don’t involves all the class but an individual student that makes them smile and enjoy their work.How do you continue your professional development? What is required to maintain your teaching license in Australia? Professional development is an expected requirement not only for personal knowledge and skills also for teacher registration and licensing. In Australia they are expected to do 30 hours of PD over a 5 year period to keep our registration.How do you know you are successful? He believes that you are successful as a teacher when you have students come up to you and say they really enjoyed being in your class and their parents say the same. He also really enjoys when they come back after graduating to see you and share what they are doing with you. What advice would you give to a future teacher? He highlights that you really must like being with young people and be able to communicate with them. Students today can pick someone who is not real and they react accordingly. He told me to be yourself because it is hard being someone you’re not. He said also that teaching is harder than people think and to try teaching and if it feels good you will be fine but if it doesn’t don’t try and stick it out, you’ll regret it.Loading... ................
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