1

Running Head: TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT

Teacher Interview Project

Melisa Rondomanski
Ivy Tech Community College

InTASC Standards Rationale Page

2
TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT
Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration
The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student
learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community
members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession.
Name of Project: Teacher Interview Project
Date: February 28, 2016
Course: Introduction to Education 101
Brief Description:
The purpose of this project was to help identify my personal reasons for teaching and to open my mind
about the pros and cons of teaching. I was to write a reflective formal paper about an interview I
conducted with a teacher in a school system. I chose a teacher that Ive had the opportunity to observe
and know personally. She and I have a lot in common and I learned a lot from doing this interview.
Rationale:
To document my understanding of InTASC standard 10, Leadership and Collaboration, I selected some
examples from the interview that show how Mrs. VanWinkle seeks appropriate leadership roles and takes
responsibility for student learning. I think her drive to be connected to her students came from her mother
who used to provide transportation for Head Start students. She connects with her families and students
by hosting a math game night and sending home news letters to keep the families updated on whats
going on at their childs school. She collaborates with other fellow teachers to plan lessons and make sure
all the students are where they need to be. She is also a part of the union and works with other teachers to
make sure they have the proper representation if they are wrongly accused.

3
TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT

Introduction
I chose to interview Rhonda VanWinkle because she teaches my younger sisters. I have had a chance to
observe her classroom and she invited me to be a guest reader to her students. Mrs. VanWinkle is a good
family friend and is very active in her students family lives and the community. She has helped our
family out in a crisis recently. My sisters are twins and one of them has a lot of medical issues. She had to
be rushed into surgery and Mrs. VanWinkle volunteered to have my other sister spend the night at her
house and take her to school the next morning so she didnt have to miss out on anything going on in
class that day. She also helps keep my other sister up to date when she has to miss school for doctors
appointments by tutoring her and giving her a little extra time to work on assignments. She has been a
great friend and educator. I really appreciate and envy her ability to be so flexible in different situations. I
have volunteered at that school many times, so I was able to see how different classrooms worked and I
enjoyed hers the most. She seems to really love her job and connects with each student on a personal
level. They seem to respond very well to her. She writes letters to her upcoming students over the summer
and hosts a lot of tutoring sessions to help the students get to where they need to be. She is the kind of
teacher I hope to become in the future.
Teacher Response
Rhonda said she knew she wanted to teach since third grade. She told me that her mother used to provide
transportation to the Head Start class, so she went there before kindergarten. It was an advantage to her
because once she got to elementary school, she was already ahead of her classmates. She loved to help
her peers learn a lesson if they didnt understand after the teacher taught it. She has been teaching first
through sixth grade at Sprunica Elementary for sixteen years. Rhonda is very active in the Teachers
Union and the community, and since she represents her school at community events, she feels that the
essential qualifications of being a teacher are having good language and communication skills. When

4
TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT
representing your school and corporation to parents and the general public, you have a responsibility to
show that you are a well-educated person yourself. (Rhonda VanWinkle, Interview, February 27,2016)
Mrs. VanWinkle tries to make her first interaction with her students families a positive one and continues
that by making positive phone calls to parents and sending positive notes home. She helps supervise
before and after school care to assist the families who need extra time at the beginning or end of the day
before picking up their child. Sprunica Elementary provides no/low cost meals for lower income families
to make sure the children are well nourished and ready to learn even if their family is not financially
stable.
Compare and Contrast
I think Mrs. VanWinkle has great relationships with her students families. She made her own website for
parents to follow what their children are learning in class that week and is the host of a family math game
night. That may be the only place I feel Rhonda and I differ; she enjoys math and I despise it. I think
handling a liability issue at Sprunica is a little bit more difficult than it would be at an IPS school.
Everyone knows everyone in that community so often times, parents will bring up another childs name
because they personally know them. I think that makes confidentiality a little bit harder to deal with at her
school. Some people believe that the school corporation will protect them, but the corporation has their
own best interests in mind. I believe that every teacher needs to be a member of the union to make sure
they have adequate representation in any matter. (Rhonda VanWinkle, Interview, February 27,2016) I
think she cares deeply about her fellow educators as well as her students after listening to her speak about
the Union. She seems to have their best interest in mind as well as her own protection when it comes to
law suits that can occur due to confidentiality and liability issues.
Sprunica lacks in diversity which hinders childrens depictions of the real world. I grew up in that
community and I graduated with only one African American in my class. It was a shock to me when I
moved to Bloomington and then Indianapolis because I wasnt used to being around that many cultural

5
TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT
differences. I think that community needs to find a way to expose their students to more culture and
different races so their more comfortable and prepared when they move on.
Personal Benefits
I think I benefit from doing this interview because it just helps me realize that every step I have to take to
get to my goal will be worth it in the end. Rhonda is very happy with her choice of becoming a teacher
and I hope to feel that joy when I finish my schooling. It has opened my mind a little bit when it comes to
the diversity issue in small towns. I think I would really enjoy working in a school where everyone knows
everyone, but I think I would benefit more from the experience of working in a diverse and multicultural
school. Every journal, discussion, project, and survey that Ive done in this class has only furthered my
dream of being a teacher.
Reasons for Teaching
Seeing the face of a child that has finally comprehended a lesson is one of the most rewarding things I
have experienced so far. I can only imagine it just gets better being in a classroom every day and creating
relationships with different students and their families. I want to make an impact on childrens lives for
the better. I want to be the reason a student decides to go to college to become a teacher. I want to be a
role model. I want to be someone a child feels comfortable coming to when they have a problem and need
advice. There are so many reasons I want to teach. Overcoming obstacles with challenging students will
be so rewarding in the end when they finally understand and move on to the next grade level. I am facing
some challenges with students in the classroom I am doing my service learning in. I really like helping
them one on one. Finding new, creative ways to teach a lesson is also something I look forward to in the
future. I know growing up when I was in school, I had teachers that only had us read a chapter and take a
test and I did not learn well just reading about a topic. I want to find ways to help enhance the
understanding of a lesson, not just reading out of a book.
Conclusion

6
TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT
In conclusion, I want to make a difference. After doing this project and being in Introduction to Education
101, I have decided I want to specialize in Special Education. Im doing my service learning in a
classroom that has a lot of special requirements. You have to be creative in finding ways to get through to
the challenging students and I think I have the capability to do that. I have worked with adults who have
special needs and now, in my service learning, I have worked with children that have special needs. I still
want to be an elementary school teacher in a small town. Also, to teach in a close-knit community for all
of the connections and resources available so close to me, but not only for that. I want to implement
things Ive learned in this class such as taking field trips to grocery stores to manage money and teach life
skills. I also want to find some way to further educate children from small towns like mine on diversity
and different cultural backgrounds. Preferably, my first years of teaching will be in an inner city school so
I can take that experience to a small town school. These goals are influenced by factors such as political
dynamics, social forces, the expectations of ones immediate family or community, and economic
conditions. (Author for inclusion in Authentic Educating, 2009, Lanham, MD: University Press of
America, Inc, pp 17-21) This quote stuck out to me because all of these factors play such an important
role in deciding where I want to teach. I am currently in the process of developing my Education
Philosophy and this interview project is really helping me achieve my goals.