Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Summary of Interview
For my report, I interviewed a general education teacher at one of El Paso’s local high schools. I
chose to interview this teacher because of her years of experience, and the vast groups of students she
says she’s had the privilege to teach. She holds a Secondary Education certificate to teach English grades
8 -12, and holds other certifications to teach AVID, Gifted and Talented (GT), and Advanced Placement
courses. Within a span of 25 years, she has worked at only one other school, and is one of the three
original teachers from when the school opened in the 1990s. She is currently the head coordinator of
the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program; a position she has held for the past
eight years. Before becoming the head coordinator of the AVID program, she also taught English, and
served as the English department chair for several years. She oversees multiple groups of students
With an immense amount of experience, this teacher has worked with students with disabilities,
special educators, and serves as a guide for special educators to understand what accommodations are
serving students best versus accommodations which may need some revising in the general classroom.
Although she may not be a special educator, she stated the special educators frequently as for her input
to ensure the student(s) are successful in her class. She also added that because of frequently working
with special educators, she has developed a close relationship with the Behavioral Improvement Center
teacher and they repeatedly collaborate when necessary. Between her classroom, and the six other
classrooms in her “pod”, which refers to the hallway she’s located in, she stated this pod experienced
the most co-teaching arrangements. One item I found very enlightening was when this teacher
described working with special educators. She stated the special educators she has worked with have
always been willing to serve as a resource, despite some of the overwhelming expectations put up on
them. She described them as always being positive in finding solutions for students academically,
This teacher described inclusion as the welcoming of all students in general education, as well as
providing students with the support necessary to succeed academically. She explained the importance
of practicing inclusiveness in the classroom was for students to have a sense of belonging. In the AVID
program, they have what are called “tutorial days” in which students are required to bring in homework,
or classwork they are struggling with and present them on what is called a Tutorial Request Form (TRF).
They form small student lead study groups, which are mediated by the AVID teacher. This teacher stated
that this activity was one of her favorites to do because she could see all her students collaborating,
even amongst those with disabilities. She said inclusion is implemented at her high school through AVID,
because they are a national demographic school, meaning many parts of the AVID curriculum is
Reflection
As a future educator, I learned it’s important to collaborate and communicate with special
educators to ensure the students need are tended to effectively and appropriately. I believe it’s
important to collaborate and communicate with special educators because it can bring an entire class
together versus isolating special education students. One item I hope to have as a future educator is a
close relationship with the special educator and related personnel. I believe attaining a strong
relationship not only benefits what I will be able to achieve in the classroom with or without a co-
teacher, but what the student(s) will be able to achieve in the classroom.
Another aspect I learned is that time is one of the most challenging aspects of being a teacher.
In my interview, this teacher stated that time was one of the most challenging aspects of being a
teacher because with each new passing year, more and more is being put on educator’s to-do lists. She
explained that so much focus has shifted on getting students to pass standardized test, teachers become
flustered and a lot of inclusion becomes lost in this process. I hope one day to teach math, which is a
Christian Tovar 3
tested subject, and as a future educator I worry of becoming lost in this idea of only teaching students to
In conclusion, I’ve learned that collaborating and communicating with special educators lays the
ground work for students with disabilities to succeed in general classrooms. Collaborating and
communicating with special educators guides teachers in seeing what modification adjustments need to
be made in order to have student(s) progress successfully. Special educators provide pivotal roles in
finding solutions which best fit the needs of students. Lastly, I learned that time is of the essence in
classrooms today. Although there are many items teachers need to tackle within the year, it’s important
to remember that each student learns at a different pace, and what may be required of a student to
learn, may take going above and beyond for them to achieve success.