Teacher Interview  

Interviewer : Elise Boyle

Info bio

• Why did you become a teacher

“The reason why I became a teacher is because when I was a little kid, I loved helping out people, and when I was in third grade, I was such a strong reader. I went to the first and second graders, and I helped them when they were learning how to read. I think it’s because I was a noisy kid, and the teacher was happy to get me out of the classroom, and I realized I really loved how I saw them feel when they really got the concept. When I got into fourth grade, I had one of the most amazing teachers I ever had in my entire life. She was just lovely, and in that moment, you know in that time period, I realized I really wanted to be a teacher. I like what I do, or not what I do, but I really like what this is. And then as I got older, I was still a teacher’s aide, a tutor, and all those different things as I was going through school. So I just saw it was kind of a natural skill set.

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years ?

In five years, that’s an interesting question, I mean I guess my age this year I’ll be 60, so basically people retire around 65, but if I retire before that, I can still see myself working, doing something really interesting. I mean I really like to be working with community college students, working with guidance counseling. I think that will be a lot of fun as a second career after retirement.  

• What do you find most challenging about teaching ?

I think probably the most challenging thing about teaching is for a teacher to not confuse “their stuff” with the people they work with or the student’s stuff. Um, a lot of times people will look at a student, and they’ll have feelings about the student, and the reality is students mirror, and if they use that opportunity to realize that education is not about you, but it’s about them. It’s about the student becoming who they are meant to become, and so I think the challenging part of the early years of teaching is to get out of your own way and to learn how to do that, and the second thing I think is probably the most important, to realize it depends what your motto in life is.

Interviewer : Sam Stump

Info bio

• Do you make learning fun for students?  how ?

“I try to make my lesson like relevant to their lives. I try to bring a lot of current events to English, try to make it matter to them, like why we’re reading these books like hundreds of years old”.

• Let’s say you wrote a really great novel and started to become very wealthy because of this novel, would you still become a teacher ?

“Uh, no, you guys would likely never see me again, just being honest. If I could do that for a living, I totally would”.

• What are you weaknesses as a teacher ?

(Student opinion by Logan) : “Well you talk to much, you assign us too much work, you don’t give us answers for quizzes, and your presentations are dry and you need to spice them up”.

“Id say all my weaknesses are actually my strengths, or the non-flexibility and understanding when it comes to deadlines and grading.”

• What do you like best about teaching ?

“I’d say just interacting with young people everyday. It’s much better than working in an office. I’d rather much be in a school with young people”.

• What’s your educational background ?

“I graduated from Ukiah High, I have a bachelor’s degree in History not in English,  I only took one English class in college, and then I have a teaching credential, and I have a masters degree in Education.”

Interviewer : James Eastman

Info bio

How do you manage your time to get all your teaching duties done within schedule ?

“ I try to take advantage of my prep periods to the best of my ability, like get as much done as I can. I’ll come in on Sundays sometimes, and I usually try to get as much planning done as I possibly can in one sitting, so that I know what I’ll be doing in the next two weeks or so.”

What’s the biggest challenge today’s students face ?

“Being curious.”

How many pairs of blue pants do you own ?

“I have like three pairs that I kind of have on rotation throughout the week, and then I don’t even know how many I have in my closet that I don’t wear anymore, probably like eight.” (Eastman not  only owns blue clothing but also has a pair of green pants he wears rarely to school.)

Describe your worst days in class

“Worst days in class: just when I feel like I can’t get students interested in what we’re doing, they don’t have any focus, having a lot of side conversations, and they’re generally being wild”