For the purposes of this task, I called on a teacher-friend who I worked adjacent to many years ago in the nation of South Korea where we were both employed by the public school system in different schools but interacted socially. Her name is Redacted, and she is a teacher in Colorado teaching young learners the language of English as an additional language (ELL teaching). Since our friendship many years ago, we have both moved to different places, but have enjoyed social media as a way to keep in touch. She moved to the United States to teach, and I to China. Her eight years of experience here in the US along with her understanding for my perspective, such that she could speak insightfully considering my frame of reference during our interview, were valuable for our conversation. Within this task, I’ll be outlining many of her views about various specific points, sensory elements considering the emotive elements of the interview, I’ll evaluate my own performance of the interview, analyze my opinions of her responses, and finally summarize what I learned from the task, intoning “Hattie’s Mindframes” in the process. The task instructions alluded to a thirty-minute goal. Our conversation lasted over an hour as it was as much a pleasure to speak to an old friend as it was to talk shop, so to speak.
My friend’s years of experience in the American public school system have allowed her to form a number of well-informed views considering how things are set up and run in her district, and how they impact teachers such as herself. While she is a teacher in an area of the country that I don’t intend to teach, she is a teacher of a type of class that I will likely teach along with my stated focus of English, that of the ELL sort. Her opinions on the local-specific and Common Core standards as well as other influences, both internal and external, impacting the capacity for a teacher to teach, were enlightening. She described how there was a forum that allowed teachers to interact in a meaningful way so they could learn from each other and share data regarding shared students that she found notably helpful. Furthermore, it was a welcome surprise to hear how empowered and interconnected she felt as an individual, professionally.
Her comments about standards such as the Common Core were such that she valued them as a good baseline to work from so that people could have a common framework that people use both as goals and shared language for diverse teaching staff. She noted how they were useful for applying the tiered considerations (MTSS, or Multi-tiered System of Support) that focused on how to keep lower-performing students engaged and encouraged.
She spoke at length regarding how data was used for closing achievement gaps through a neat kind of symposium that her district hosts as part of a collaborative professional development and student-discussion forum. The forum is named PLC, or Professional Learning Community. As a group, teachers get together with administrators to discuss the data that they’ve collected about students so they can compare how their students are doing against other teachers. In this forum, teachers who have higher performing students are asked to share and discuss what they think might be working for them. Sometimes this is in discussion, sometimes this is in presentation format. E.g., perhaps a particular song or activity connected with students or was more engaging than other materials, etc. In that forum, teachers can demonstrate or share their experiences with others. As well, teachers with students showing lower-than-average results can spend time inquiring with others about their practices and perhaps gain insights that could help them in their efforts.
Considering how ELL was applied in her district was a particularly easy topic for her to speak to. She elaborated about how English language generally is given a special extra class period in the school day for students in her state so that students who are learners of English as an additional language can have a space to study in a respectful, non-remedial setting. During the same period, students who are speakers of English as a first language are to study English in another format, though in her experience (much to her chagrin) this is not always the case and many principals violate this state order and teach science or math to their students in this time, leading to a learning gap in those areas. She extended her discussion to point out that ELL is not considered a tiered issue (See: MTSS) and the course is still considered direct instruction, rather than a special education need.
She is currently in a strong position and comically described her sense of positioning by using the term “baby admin” because of how much design control she currently holds, while still officially being considered a teacher, as such. This is because, for one, she is the director of the ELL department and so determines how that area of study is taught in her school. She is also on the council that considers a path of action when other teachers bring data that is put together for the purposes of Civil Rights matters, special education, and learning patterns that might require an MTSS tier 2 or 3 designation. She is also on what she called the Leadership Team at her school, empowering her to be a part of the decision-making core group of individuals who design the bigger picture issues as well as the detailed implementation of larger plans. As she continued talking about her school, I came to understand that she is employed by a rather unique one at that. It is a magnet school with a focus on the performing arts, such that they have no Gym class, but have two electives in the Performance Arts areas made available for students instead of the normal, one. Her success has led to her feeling happy about her position, and leads me to believe that happiness is obviously available, even with the warnings of rigor that come as disclaimers to such introductory tasks such as this one, provided by the course designers.
Overall, I get a sense that this interview was a holistically sound experience considering how I might reflect on it, academically. Before the interview, I was calm. I began by reviewing the “recommend questions” page, imagining how I might discuss the topics in a conversational way and soon found myself snacking and surfing social media for a while to allow the thoughts from the preparatory material time to settle in the background of my thinking. It was a pleasure to speak to this old friend who I hadn’t taken time for an extended conversation with in many years. It was a pleasure to hear how well she is doing and enlightening to see how she is participating in the field upon which I aim to perform. It was clear to me through her interactive voice and energy throughout that she was also pleased with the path of the interview. It was both conversational the whole time, and we were able to discuss each point within the structure provided without it feeling stilted, rushed, or drawn out.
Considering how my expectations of this interview panned out, and what I did or didn’t do well, I’m biased, but comfortable. Philosophically, I carry few expectations when it comes to interactions with others. Though, of course, a few minimalistic ones can be touched on for the purposes of this pointed inquiry. I expected that we would be able to have an easy conversation and that we would be able to cover the content and more during it. These came to pass successfully. I was pleased that we were able to stray into personal experiences, that we were able to converse so easily about such a wide range of topics within what was still something of a structured conversation. There was no awkward moment in which we were shy or whatnot. The conversation seemed rather organic, even while I kept in mind that I had four specific topics expanded towards detailed points that I was intending to discuss. She was amenable to this structure, and it felt unforced as we are both comfortable being creative within such types of constraints, so we were comfortable while hitting the mark. The four areas seemed to blend well together and without struggle. Had I been quicker to think about it, I could have recorded the conversation. I was prepared to do so, with a recorder set up, turned on, and had her on speaker phone, but as I was holding myself to the restriction of asking for explicit consent first. I was taken in by our conversation as she was eager to chat, and I didn’t want to slow her down. Thankfully, my note-taking ability was concise enough to go away from our conversation with a complete tabulation of our conversation sans personal matters.
Without exception, I share similar views as she does in regards to content standards, the impacting influences we discussed, the generality of teacher identity, and professional development. I appreciated her view of the content standards as a shared platform of discourse such that students can be discussed as they are performing somehow in relation to them, a baseline for communication. Her description of the PLC exposed me to a great forum of communication for teachers to get together in order to cross-pollinate in all the ways, from sharing teaching techniques to asking for help from others, to having a social network within their field so that teaching them becomes more of a community project to bring the students together. When she shared that some principals flaunt the laws that are put in place by teams of curriculum designers on behalf of the state over a period of years with their own ad-hoc notions leading to learning gaps and struggles that are tough to address, I sympathized with her struggle.
I was particularly pleased to hear about her sense of self in relation to the profession. I found her to be situated in an empowered and confident state and I applaud her accomplishments to that effect. This capacity is important for teachers to feel (Killion). Through this integration of teacher input, greater impacts can be created. It was clear that she considers her position as that of a change agent and that the use of dialogue rather than monologue is the way of strong education in a broader scope (Hattie). It was clear to me she was a strong proponent of Hattie’s seventh Mindframe through her discussion regarding how she considers other staff and professionals in the field as being integral to the thinking process for creating a space for learning. Similarly, she related how students inform her teaching through her attentive listening and assessing of their work. She shared that while she’s been teaching in public schools for the last eight years, she’s only recently received her own master’s degree in the field, specializing in ESL. She related her path, which included an initial licensure through emergency means, allowing her to teach without the otherwise required educational path, with respect to her experience, ability, and drive. Her ability to study while teaching was a pleasure for her and was pleased to see me on the same path.
From this interview, I learned many insightful points such as the great cross-pollination made available to teachers through forums like her PLC that allow teachers to come together in a conference-like setting so that they can learn and grow together. Further learning about PLCs gave more detail to the forum (CLAS). She also expressed some distinct advice to me that I will do well to figure out how to organize for myself. Coming from the Asian patterns of over-working, the American system is exciting to me for its limited time-requirements. I have to be sure to find a balance with how I apply myself, timewise, so that I am not yet another statistic of the burned out teacher. It’s clear to me that I’ll have a greater capacity for setting boundaries, as the teacher-protections available in the United States in relation to hours, fairness of pay, and interactive behaviors far exceed those of Asia. The interview was generally complete. Perhaps I could have recorded it for the practice and policy, but in this instance, I don’t think it is a missed element.
Appendix: Actions
Discuss one of Hattie’s Mindframes that speaks to me.
I’m taken by the impact of the second Mindframe: “The success and failure of my students’ learning is about what I do or don’t do. I am a change agent.” I feel this is a statement that needs to be highlighted because it illustrates how the creative process of class design and performance are all important to the experience of the students. By taking in feedback along with the thoughtful production of classes, a teacher can improve their teaching skills and have a more effective pattern of teaching in the long term. I have a strong self-awareness having to do with this Mindframe that will allow me to progress within it at a measurable pace. On the other hand, I am aware that it is one of the toughest to keep in mind as a class is being produced, as time is a restraint, and sometimes allowing time for formative assessments or thoughtful reflection can be a struggle.
Discuss a SMART (Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-sensitive) goal.
Aiming to attain the certified level of Master of the Art of Teaching English Education, Secondary (MATEES) is the specific goal that is most obvious at this time. By enrolling in the courses provided by Western Governors University, I am able to attain this goal within a realistic and timely way. I expect to be able to complete this course of study by December 2024.
Citations:
CLAS Network, Unpacking Standards in Middle School PLC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_2KcxUqqnk. Accessed: August 16, 2023
Colorado State Standards. https://www.cde.state.co.us/apps/standards/6,10,0. Accessed: August 14, 2023
Hattie, John, et al. 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning. https://thinkingpathwayz.weebly.com/10-mindframes-visible-learning.html. Accessed: August 14, 2023
Killion J. and Harrison C. Taking the Lead: New Roles for Teachers and School-Based Coaches. National Staff Development Council. Oxford, OH. 2006
Washington State Standards.
https://learning.ccsso.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ADA-Compliant-ELA-Standards.pdf. Accessed: August 14, 2023
Teacher comments:
Your work conveys a pleasant interview experience with an old friend who teaches ESL in Colorado, citing an agreement with the teacher’s views on all aspects discussed, particularly highlighting the value of the PLCs as an internal influence and for ongoing growth and reflection. Further, you wisely note the role of the teacher is to set good boundaries and ways to apply oneself to avoid teacher burnout. Please see comments in the rubric below for one aspect of the work requiring revision.
Added one sentence to end in edit.
Your SMART goal includes a clear end date of December 2024. Good work!