Evidence in Schools

This semester, I have been working as an intern at Gilbert Classical Academy in Gilbert,

Arizona. This is a choice public school within the Gilbert Public School district. This particular

school is composed of only 500 or so students in grades 7-12 and 25 teachers. My internship has

been with the sole Spanish teacher on the campus. He teaches Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 to 9th and

10th graders. In addition, I graduated from this school in 2013. Due to my familiarity with the

campus in general, I decided to interview as many students as possible as well as the schools

principal. I decided these interviews would provide me with a unique perspective of the schools

environment that I would not necessarily get if I only interviewed students and my mentor

teacher. I was pleasantly surprised to receive feedback and responses from nearly 70 different

students. In addition, throughout the course of these interviews, I was able to gain feedback for

my own teaching practices, insight into students feelings regarding their school, and insight into

the vision of the school and goals for its teachers and students. For the protection of student

identities, all student responses are kept anonymous throughout this reflection.

My primary goal in conducting these interviews was to learn more about effective

teaching and how I can improve as a teacher in the future. My students were a substantial

inspiration in uncovering this information. As teachers, student learning and success must be our

priority as we develop lessons and incorporate activities on a day to day basis. In order to

interview a larger percentage of the students within my mentors classroom, I decided to issue a

survey asking several short-answer questions. Several questions discussed bias and how they see

it playing out within the classroom. When asked if they witnessed favoritism, most indicated that

they had. Each had their own explanations for why these biases existed, but one response that

resonated with me was that it is usually just based on the amount of patience they[teacher] give
them, what they'll let the student get away with, in terms of how permissive they are on

assignments, and in worse cases turning a blind eye to them and chastising other students for the

same mistake. Within my internship, I have seen my mentor exhibit these behaviors on many

occasions. As I have witnessed some students receive unjust consequences for inconsequential

disruptions, I have often wondered if I will make the same errors and let my students suffer. To

develop an understanding of myself and my biases, I also asked students if they believe I

personally treat them fairly. To this question, I was pleasantly surprised to see that most students

believe I do treat everyone fairly. The one negative response I received, indicated just because

someone is doing bad in participation doesn't mean they have the privilege to get picked on every

time they put their hand up. However, I feel that his feelings are more directed toward my

mentor who has more exhibited more control in allowing students to participate in the daily

activities. One positive remark that was beneficial to hear was I really do think that you have an

energy that sometimes other classes don't have and it makes people listen more. Many of the

responses were of this nature or noted that I attempted to help every student participate in class.

It was nice to hear that though I may not be perfect, my attitude and actions in class have had a

positive impact on many of my students.

Another series of questions asked students how I can help students when they are having

a hard time participating in class or if they are struggling with the course material. Though these

were framed in two separate questions, the responses were very much related to each other. To

the scenario where students are struggling with the material, it was suggested that I can always

approach them, especially if they look like they might be having a hard time. Another way is to

send out a survey like this so only the teacher has access to viewing a student's opinion without

the student feeling ashamed in any way. It appears from this response and many others that one
important factor in addressing student difficulty is to address it head on in a way that avoids

embarrassment to the students in any way. I want to create a safe environment for my students

and it is important for me to know what I can do to maintain that environment. For students that

have a hard time participating in class, a common response was similar to one in which the

student expressed Some people don't like to speak in class, it gives them anxiety or stress and

they learn nothing when all they can think of is that. Also some people don't learn by doing, they

learn by listening, watching, and absorbing, working things out in their own head. You have to

respect that to be a good teacher but still push when necessary. Anxiety appears to be a

significant factor in student participation and achievements and another thing that I must keep in

mind as I develop lessons in which I ask students to participate. Overall, these student interviews

provided me with a lot of feedback that I can use in the future to tailor my lesson plans to my

students so that I can provide them with the best education that I can (Students, personal

communication, April 7-28, 2017).

In my interview with the principal of the school, I asked many questions regarding the

school as a community and how I can contribute to the community as an intern and future

student teacher. When I asked Mr. Hood about his vision for the school he replied We are in the

business of getting students college ready in the form of pushing critical thinking skills and

pushing students to the limit of what they are capable of. He believes, students should be

constantly pushing themselves so that when they get to college it is not a difficult transition.

Specifically he says, we get to push kids to that limit of what they can do it creates growth they

need to be resilient they get to college. As a student teacher at this school next semester, he

recommends that I encourage these higher order critical thinking skills as well so that I can help

aid students in their journey toward college. College is extremely important to me and I look
forward to doing what I can to help students work toward that ultimate goal. I have already

planned to incorporate more analytical discussions and activities to foster this type of learning

upon hearing this advice. According to Mr. Hood, community is also vital to student success

within this school. He says, We have to make sure kids understand they can fail and not be

ridiculed. He advocates fostering and creating a safe learning environment and setting clear

expectations for students. He declares toward the end of the interview, They gotta know what to

expect so they know exactly what they need to do in order to succeed. This school operates very

much like a family based on my experiences and observations. Every teacher has knowledge of

all of their students and everyone works together to provide the learning environment that this

principal describes. As an intern and student teacher, I look forward to being a part of this family

and gaining more of a personalized knowledge of all the students that walk into my mentors

classroom (D. Hood, personal communication, April 21, 2017).

Every response I received as I conducted these interviews were extremely enlightening. I

believe wholeheartedly that I can use this information to guide my teaching as I begin my student

teaching and later when I begin teaching in my own classroom. Fostering student growth and

student safety must be my priorities as I develop my curriculum as it was a common denominator

in both sets of interviews. High school education is a complicated process with many different

parties that contribute to the success or failure of the school. By learning two very different

perspectives within the school, I believe my understanding of my responsibilities and my role

within this school has improved greatly. I look forward to gaining even more perspectives when I

student teach with the same mentor teacher in the fall.