Artifact 5.2
Artifact Name: Administrative Interview
Date: Summer 2006
Course: EDEC280, Administration in Early Childhood Education
NAEYC Standard 5: Becoming a Professional
Rationale: Through this assignment I have learned the importance of interviewing. I interviewed a vice principal from an area school district. I used this opportunity to get to know the faculty, and hopefully make a good impression on them. I feel it is necessary to find a school system that compliments your teaching philosophy and strategies, and this was a great opportunity to do so. I feel it is just as important for a new teacher to interview their perspective employer as it is for the employer to interview them. Many times entry year teachers are more focused on obtaining a job rather than finding the right fit for them. This assignment has broadened my perspective on beginning my search for the perfect job in the best environment possible. I know that I will use my knowledge from this experience when searching for my first teaching job in the future.
I interviewed Mike Armstrong, the Assistant Principal at Northwest Elementary. We met during the summer school session, which was being held at the high school. Mr. Armstrong was very interested in my thoughts and opinions of the questions I was asking, as well as him answering them himself. This was not a typical interview in any regard. The Elementary and Middle school are both in the process of a major renovation. Due to this, many of the forms that he wanted to share with me were not available at the time. He did mention that I would be able to come to him right before the new school year began, and he would be happy to give them to me at that time.
1. Define your early childhood training and your familiarity with DAP. Bachelor of Science, Elementary Education 1-8, received in 1984, from a university in Tennessee. He is not very familiar with all the different terms and expectations of DAP
2. How much recess time does your Pre-K – 3 children get? How much music/art/PE/ library/technology? What are your feelings about the use of school time in light of the proficiency tests? Pre-k and K get 2~ 20 minute recess’ and a 15 minute recess after lunch. 1st - 3rd get 1~ 20 minute recesses a day. He said he did not think this was enough time, but it is what the school has chosen to do.
They run their extra classes on a 6 day rotation for 50 minutes per day. Out of those 6 days, 2 are PE, and 1 each of art, music, library and technology.
When asked about the time geared toward the proficiency test, he corrected me by calling them achievement tests. He said that he did not have a problem with the test itself, but every school is graded on their progress, and because of that there is a very heavy emphasis on the test. His problem is that the federal gov’t requires all the states to give the test, but there is not a uniform test for all 50 states. He stated that he has seen both Virginia, and Tennessee’s tests and Ohio’s test is harder than both of them. He said that once every body began to reach the first goal of 75%, they raised the bar, and made the test harder for the kids, which in turn allowed more kids to not be able to pass. They are constantly changing the rules.
3. What curricular materials do you use in your Pre-k – 3 class rooms? Saxon Math? Manipulatives? NO SAXON MATH, it is good for kids that are highly motivated, but not the average child. They use McMillan McGraw Hill Math, and Open Court reading, they try to keep it uniform throughout the school district. The standards drive the instruction, and they do use a district wide pacing chart. The use of manipulatives is generally in the Pre-k through 1st, with some in 2nd and 3rd.
4. Are content areas integrated or do students rotate through content areas? And at what level does this begin? Some rotation in 3rd, a little bit more in 4th, and every class rotates in 5th. They do not begin the rotation until 3rd.
5. When is Kindergarten screening and what is your feeling about readiness? I.e. have you noticed any differences between children that participated in a preschool and those that did not? They do their screenings in May; some of those kids that went to a “structured” preschool show some improvement over the others, but not all. He believes that Northwest should change their enrollment date to the last day of May, instead of the last day of September. Personally I agree with him. My oldest child’s birthday is July 28th and we sent her to school at the age of 5. She has just completed 3rd grade, and upon our requests she will be in 3rd grade again next year. He told me that by law a child has to be 7 by the time they enter 1st grade, so there really is no hurry to get them started. It benefits most of the children to wait another year, especially the boys.
6. Are there things that can be done differently to improve the transition from preschool to Kindergarten? Better communication between the two schools about the readiness. Such as counting, ABC’s, colors, shapes, and their recognition.
7. What are your feelings about inclusion? Impact of poverty on school performance? Inclusion is great if your district has the money and the teachers available to do it. We need more Intervention Specialist. There is an impact on performance, when there is a high poverty area. The kids are not able to experience all the cultural activities, and many times children are raising themselves because both of the parents work, or are just not available for the kids. This hurts them in the long run with their homework, and their desire to learn.
8. Have you participated in any grant-writing activities? No, not as a principal.
9. What is your school policy on field trips and do you have shareable forms? The teacher must fill out a request and tell what the relevance is to the subject matter as well as the standard that it would fit into. They are very limited in what they can do, or how long they can be gone, because they run a split busing system. They must always be back by 2:00, to allow the buses time to get to the high school for dismissal.
10. What do you consider your greatest challenge as an early childhood administrator? What are the greatest rewards? The biggest challenge is being able to find time to do the educational things, instead of the management side. He is the disciplinarian, and many times parents will come in and demand to see him, when he would rather be observing in the classroom. The reward is definitely the kids, and he feels the greatest joy, when he sees the light bulb go off inside their heads when they just grasp the problem they were dealing with.
11. As a “soon to be “entry level teacher and some day administrator, what advice would you give me? Always do what is best for the kids. Not all are the same, and you can not always treat them the same, all are equal and should be given the same opportunities in school
12. What qualities do you look for when hiring a teacher? He wants them to have a plan; he wants to hear them say they want what is best for the kids, and the proper certification.
13. Tell me about your Entry Year program, and how the mentors are assigned. Mentors must have the Path wise training, be in the same particular grade level, and do well with the give and take. If they see that you are struggling to teach a certain subject matter they will have you observe another teacher in the same level that is confident in their abilities to teach that subject. They feel that they hired you to teach the kids and that they must make every opportunity available to help you succeed in that mission.
14. I know that all school decisions are tied in to a building SIP and a district CIP. Would it be possible for me to have a copy of these? He would love to share them with me, but at the present time they are working out of boxes and it is physically impossible for him to retrieve them for me. He would be more than happy to give them to me before the school year begins in September.
15. In what ways do you actively recruit and involve parents? If you were to offer a parent seminar what topic would you address? They ask for volunteers for reading lab, reading week, MPT, it is mandated by the “No child left behind” “Suggestions to help your child be successful in school”
Mr. Armstrong mentioned that he just got back from a seminar about a new program called “Value Added.” This program groups kids by their abilities in each grade level. There are 4 different levels, and each child will receive a one page IEP in each subject matter. They will look at the previous year and how well they did as well as have their previous year teacher write a short paragraph about their abilities in the classroom. He said that he knew that grouping children is not a good subject with many administrators and the faculty, but that kids are already grouped by their ages, so he did not see the resistance to their abilities. He also said that this is just something they MAY try, and to stress that importance of the word may.
I did learn a lot about the programs available to the teachers in the district, and I do not think it is too early for me to begin interviewing different schools to see if I would fit in well with the administration. I was confused as to how he was able to carry the position of Assistant Principal without any kind of Masters Degree in the field.
Throughout the interview Mr. Armstrong and I had many similar views on different topics. I was disappointed that I was unable to view any of the documentation that I had inquired about. I was very interested in hearing about the new program that he was inquiring about. I think that I could learn a lot by talking to different administrators who were both for and against the program and there reasoning behind it. I believe that a teacher should remain open-minded, until all the facts are gathered and have been sorted through. I think the biggest mistake a person or teacher can make is to jump to conclusions before all the facts are gathered and presented to them. I hope to always remain open-minded to change and willing to realize that the field I am going to be entering is continually changing and I need to continually change with it as well as learn with the changes that are being made.
The faculty that I met appeared to be very friendly and willing to learn about me and my desires as a future teacher. I was informed that there may be a Kindergarten or Pre-Kindergarten opening, just in time for my Graduation. This is the grade level that I feel I would be the most beneficial in. I am concerned about the quality of the administration, based solely on the response to question #1.
I know that if I were offered the job, it would be a very hard decision to make. I am excited to see where the path may lead me and my family, and ideally it would appear to be at Northwest. I presently have two children enrolled there and am coaching 7th grade volleyball. I live just minutes from the school, and it would be very convenient.
I feel very confident in myself, and feel that I would be a strong voice for change in the school district. There are presently many seasoned teachers in the Elementary school who refuse to change their teaching strategies. I would like to think that I could possibly make a difference in a child’s life before they are thrust into a class that is unwilling to do everything possible to allow their kids to succeed.