Video Interview Transcriptions

Interview with Teacher

A = me (Ali)
L = Lilli Tomlinson
A: I dont know if I should introduce you
L: introduce yourself then Ill introduce myself
A: Ok, Im Ali Whitted, and this is my project. This is Lilli Thompso
Together: Tomlinson
A: sorry
L: Thats ok! And Im an 8th grade Language Arts teacher here at Gililland Middle School.
A: Any advice on how to get the most from your students?
L: Establish rapport, I think its really critical the first couple months of school to um, be patient
with student behaviors and here at Gililland we have our RLC program where students are sent
to the Respectful Learning Classroom, if they are being off task, being disrespectful during class
or being just defiant, and I made a commitment to my self the first 2 months of school not to
send anyone and I think that made a big impact because now when I do have to send a student
its much more meaningful, and I think establishing that initial rapport with them is what
motivates the students to want to perform for you. Really for themselves, but in your class.
A: I like that, thats one of my biggest things is getting those relationships with them.
A: Do you have any particular resources that are valuable to you or to me during my first year
teaching? Like books, any outside resources that youve brought in, or have learned from your
time here.
L: I havent brought a ton of stuff in from outside, but I feel the district has provided me with
good resources. Probably the first resource that comes to mind is my literacy coach, because I
teach Language Arts, its such a wealth of knowledge for me. You usually have somebody thats
on a curriculum development team that maybe is part of your district that is also a really good
resource for you, and they are eager to look at lesson plans with you and get, incorporate, the
group activities or the collaborative work that is sometimes really hard to plan, and they are
willing to do that with you as well. So I would just say your coaches, your district personnel,
your support coaches there, finding teachers that have been at the school for a really long time. I
remember the first thing I did was go to a teacher that has been teaching here for 25 years and
asked her whats your plan, whats your agenda for the week, that kind of skeleton really helped
me to determine what my overarching agenda would be. You can dive down into the particulars.
I would definitely say the people around you, ask a lot of questions.
A: yes, So we kind of talked about motivation already, you think rapport is a good way to
motivate the students, because I feel like now they are always either distracted, not distracted,
but they have so much in front of them at all times, so how do you keep them motivated in class
when they arent able to look at their phones every 5 seconds, and you know focus and motivated
because we dont just want to entertain them, because I do want to have a good time with them
and have humor with them, but when you need to get down to
L: business
A: yeah what motivates the students that youve found?
L: You know, when I was in school I learned a philosophy, its kind of like a timeline or a
progression from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation which Im sure youre learning
about too, and so I think its important to really be honest with yourself and realize that youre

going to have to start with the extrinsic motivators before you get that intrinsic motivation, and it
may not come until the end of the year it might be April before youre noticing WOW students
are motivated all on their own, I dont have to do any scaffolding for that. So overall, programs
like PBIS are really good extrinsic motivators, we do drive dollars here
A: I did see that thats cool
L: And when one well, those are really great for kids, also doing other motivators for your
students that are, I know it sounds crazy, but free time, they will work for free time, they will
work for utilizing cell phone for something academic, so earning that ability
A: We talk about that a lot, I want to do that.
L; You know using it as a dictionary, using for research, doing proper searches, for appropriate
apps, free apps but like historical apps or literature apps and of thing. SO theyll work for those
extrinsic motivators, and you know honestly when I thin about it, they will work for your
affection. Thats also an extrinsic motivator; the harder they work the more affection you give
them, thats an extrinsic motivator, and theyll work for that. So I think allowing yourself to work
with the students, especially the ones that are problem students, one-on-one.
A: They need it more, we keep talking about that. (in school).
L: yes and people dont think that its an extrinsic motivator, but it is. Because they need that
outside benefit in order to be internally motivated, yes.
A: that kind of goes to classroom management, when I was in here that day [I observed her class
for a period] everyone was on task, you did have to get on them a little bit, and you do have a
smaller class size so Im sure that helps
L: yes
A: But you can really tell that they respect you that they want, even though they may not want to
do the stuff, they will for you I think thats one of our things we are most scared of going into it
is the classroom management part of it
L: You should be its the hardest! (laughs)
A: It is the hardest! What did you do, what were some of the procedures you set right away like
right when you walk in the door I know thats the first thing we should be doing the first couple
weeks of school getting them being consistent with them, what are some gems htat work really
well
L: you have to have an extremely structured environment, when students come in they have to
have something to do the minute they walk in the door, so in my classroom they get their folder
their notebook, they have a seat they star ton their vocab, they know what to do and its the same
thing every day when they exit my class they dot he same thing and now they self monitor, so
now I have students that tell the other students you have to have your bottom in your seat to
leave, you have to have books under the desk, you have to have paper picked up off my floor if
you expect to leave. So having that rigor and structure and showing the kids that youre
unwavering and your expectations will never change. Thats really important and I know thats
kind of general and its hard to be specific but even with my students, they dont say yeah or yep
to me, they need to say yes and because I have been so consistent with that, I can say, I just look
at them I dont say anything and they just say yes.
A: the teacher look (laughs)
L: yeah, so little things like that expecting them to speak in a certain way, to respond in complete
sentences and just being unwavering, if they dont enter the class in the right way they have to go
back out and come back in. Its exhausting, the first two weeks or four, are exhausting. It was
hard for me to wrap my mind around that youre not doing much teaching, your just reaching

behaviors Im like how does that even work, how can you spend 95 minutes just teaching
behaviors and not get to content but its possible because heres the thing you dont move
forward with the next thing until everyone has behaved properly for that first paragraph or
whatever it is
A: and isnt distracted, and understands whats going on. All of these are kind of the same thing
but how have you built your classroom community?
L: I think you can repeat the same phrasing, so for me, its one really good piece of advice I got,
instead of saying dont talk when Im talking say, no one talks when someone else has the
floor, so its not just me. So I can say hey guys all eyes and ears on me, I have the floor, and the
more consistent you are with that it becomes your prompt, you have to have a certain prompt that
the kids know the expectation when you say it. So when I say all eyes and ears on me, all eyes
and ears better be on me. And the same thing for *name hast he floor which means no one else is
speaking and I repeat that entire phrase every time. This person has the floor, nobody else is
speaking, because what they have to say is important and deserve s to be heard. I think building
that community where people understand that what someone else has to say is important and
deserves to be heard really kind of bleeds into everything else you do in the classroom. Come up
with a phrase that is powerful and poignant and that you can repeat over and over that reminds
students that their thinking is respected.
A: yeah thats awesome. Thats all I have thank you so much
L Thank you Alicen, shakes hands and laugh.
Video Interview with student
A = Ali (me)
S = student
A: so what is your name
S = name
A: What teacher have you most learned from, like what kind of things do they do in class?
S: from _________
A: what does she do?
S: choir teacher she teaches me a lot of improve and how to act and facial expressions
A: ok cool, so you like doing things with your hands and seeing things done.
S: yeah
A: what do teachers do to make you feel valued in the classroom.
S: they pay attention to what I have to say and make the class be quiet so they can listen to what I
have to say.
A: Like letting you guys talk and have an opinion what motivates you to work hard, is it
getting good grades, is it something from home, going further in school, I know youre only an
8th grader but..
S: I want to go further in school
A: Good thats awesome! What can teachers do to help that along? To enhance that? Or the
opposite, what do they do that makes you not want to go farther?
S: um, well they do kind of pressure me, even though some kids dont like to be pressured, I like
to be so I know that they want something good from me
A: thats awesome. Do you feel like your learning is important like what youre learning is
important?

S: yes,
A: Pretty much everything? Or is there on subject where youre like I wish this didnt exist
S: No, I like everything
A: Awesome
A: What do you know a lot about, inside or outside of school are you encouraged to teach that
to your peers, are you able to get up in front of your peers and teach it to them? But do
discussions where you are the leaders more than the teachers?
S: yeah we did that last year where we would do a discussion and the teacher would get like out
of the room, not out of the room but go outside and we would have a discussion just the kids.
A: Did it work well?
S: yeah
A: thats really cool.
A: Along with that, what has a teacher ever gotten your guys opinion on stuff in the class like
what to do if someones being rude or if you know, what consequences what to do or have you
guys made procedures together?
S: Yeah,
A: did it work pretty well?
S: yeah
A: I really want to do stuff like that but I just dont know how it would work in real life, I have
all these ideas but in real life its hard to tell if theyll work, I just have to try them.
A: How should teachers react when students act out in class, whats your ideal situation when
student are acting out and being rude in class
S: tell them to be quiet because Im getting my education
A: Right thats the hardest thing here, theres people like you who really want that, and then
theres a lot who just dont really care. Do you think the RLC program works very well?
S: yeah, send kids out who dont, like Ms. Had to send 6 kids out for her class to be quiet one
time
A: yeah and hopefully that tells those students something, so. Ok thats all I have for you, thank
you!
( Shes very shy but a great student! I really like what she had to say though I want to do
this with all my students, get their opinions on stuff like that, what works for them, what doesnt,
how they learn etc. They will get nervous in front of the camera, but I think it will be super
helpful for the future.