Teacher Interview Reflection Paper

Mrs. Monica Young has been teaching for 16 years in the Orangeburg school district.
She is currently teaching the 6th grade at Howard Middle School. She said that her greatest joy is
teaching Earth Science because the students have the ability to learn about the environment that
they live in. I believe that all teachers need to have a passion for what they are teaching because
that helps the students learn better. Ms. Young views effective teaching as a means of providing
meaningful instructions to all students. Because every student is an individual with different
abilities and learning modalities, teachers must make differentiated accommodations.
I can agree with Mrs. Young when she says that students should be able to acquire new
concepts, and explore new ways of applying what was learned to everyday life. Getting students
to take charge of their learning through hands on investigations (questioning) makes learning
more effective. When learning has occurred in Mrs. Young class she notices that students can
explain and apply concepts to new situations. This is very important because students need to
know how to handle certain situations from the skills that they learn in school. I caught myself
listening to how students answer certain questions and was active in the lesson. I did this to see
if I could catch that light bulb going off in their heads as they explain what was being asked.
Ms. Young said that most schools and/or districts look at standardized test scores to
determine whether teaching and learning was effective. I believe it is important to constantly
review data which is the driving force for planning. By me being her mentor student, I see that
she agrees with that very much so. She constantly looks at her assessments to see where she
needs to go with her planning. I asked her if she graded Pre-assessments, she said no and that
they should be used to help guide the teacher for instruction. It provides them with what they

need to cover in the lesson. She said that she never penalizes students for what they do not know
before instruction has been given, she believe that it is not fair to the student.
I also asked her to give me her opinion on Extra Credit Assignments. Her response was
that, Extra credit is type of incentive that is earned in my opinion. I give extra credit once every
quarter based on the effort of learning. If the class has worked hard to meet criteria throughout
the quarter and they have put their best foot forward to succeed, I provide them with and extra
credit assignment. These points are used at the end of the quarter to be added to their final
grade. I agree with Mrs. Young in some sense, but I also look at extra credit as a little boost to
help students get to the next level. I would give students extra credit a little more frequently than
she does but in smaller increments.
Since formative assessments were the assessment that I observed in class I asked her how
she used them in her class. Formative assessments are used in the class as a guide for instruction.
The tests are graded, but it allows me to see where my instruction needs to go based on what the
students may need. When I grade these test I look for mastery of the content and mistakes that
the students have made. This tells me what students may need the additional assistance and how
to move the others students to the next level. I can tell that Ms. Young focus on formative
assessments so she can put in the extra work if needed to make sure that every student succeeds
in her class.
Ms. Young uses performance assessments in the area where skill needs to be observed.
She said that every year a science project is done. She plans each part of the project out so it can
be discussed in class with your guidance. All of the labs that the class does are based on her
performance assessment. They are done in either pairs or group assignments, where the student

gets two grades. One grade is a group graded to show people skills and cooperation and the
other grade is an individual grade that reflects what the student is able to accomplish. I believe
that performance assessments are important for children to have as a factor for their grades.
Some children perform more on these types of assessments then they do on paper base test.
Ms. Young says that most of her assessments are usually mini essay form where the
students have to explain or give an example. She does not use multiple choice or matching
because she wants the students to really think about the answers. Sometimes she gets creative
with the assessment so the students wont get caught in the mind set of another test. If test scores
are low, she believes in gong back over her instruction and test again. She hits hard on the
information that was not performed well. She said that is how she reflects on her teaching as
well.