FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 1

ASSIGNMENT

Field Interview Final Assignment

Katherine Hewett

University of Kansas

SPED 730

Dr. Sean Smith

October 15, 2021

 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 2
ASSIGNMENT

Summary

Suzanne Holcomb is a dedicated fifth-grade teacher who has dedicated almost half of her life to

teaching students in a highly-diverse school environment. Though she did not set out to become

a teacher, she has never regretted her decision to pursue a career in education. Suzanne has spent

the last fifteen of her nineteen total years teaching at Mary Beck Elementary School in Elkhart,

Indiana, and has stayed there because of her love for the students and the staff. Fifth grade is the

only grade Suzanne has ever taught, and has no intention of switching to a different one; she

finds equal challenges in navigating the content and the age group.

Suzanne has seen many changes over the years: laws and leadership, instructional

techniques, best practices; her teaching practices have changed accordingly, but always with the

goal in mind of meeting the needs of her students as best as possible. Though she does not have a

specific teaching philosophy as defined by psychological theories and terminology, Suzanne

does have a teaching philosophy that is centered on and around her students. Everything she does

inside and outside of the classroom is done intentionally to meet diverse needs. From specific

teaching practices to collaboration and everything in between, Suzanne has made and continues

to make adjustments in order to best meet the needs of her students. Suzanne collaborates

endlessly with staff members in order to determine which teaching practices and strategies to use

with students, as well as to gain more insight to what works with a variety of students. She reads

articles and books outside of her contract hours to further develop her own professional practice.

Suzanne makes extra effort to build positive relationships in order to help students succeed

academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally, because she enjoys working with those

students whom other teachers have written off as “unteachable. Though it is difficult work, being
 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 3
ASSIGNMENT

a fifth-grade teacher is incredibly rewarding for Suzanne, especially because she works with

highly diverse students.

Reflection

One of the most significant takeaways from this interview is the similarity between

Suzanne’s responses about best practice compared to what I learned in this course. Relationships

truly are at the heart of all teaching, including but not limited to special education. This concept

is proved true in both Suzanne’s answers as well as in this course: positive relationships help

develop positive academic, behavioral, social, and emotional outcomes for students. Knowing

your students well allow for more opportunities to best meet their needs; the teacher can adjust

instructional strategies, incorporate behavioral supports, provide avenues for students to

demonstrate their strengths, and foster an environment where students feel safe to struggle. This

is true regardless of the teacher’s specialty-relationships play the most important role in the

success of students.

Teacher collaboration is vital not only to student success, but also to the health of the

school building as a whole. As was the case in the final module of the course, having productive

teacher collaboration leads to positive outcomes in the form of goals and expectations for

students, as well as a specific plan on how to get the student to experience success. Though the

video meetings were acted, Suzanne’s answers support the information gleaned from the module.

As one of the many teachers she has collaborated with, I can attest to the effectiveness of the

process, which provides all staff members involved (including general and special education

teachers, as well as administrators and support staff) with multiple strategies to use with students

that contribute to overall positive student outcomes. In most cases, such as the meeting videos
 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 4
ASSIGNMENT

and Suzanne’s teaching experiences, this level of collaboration only takes place when

relationships with students are kept at the center of all teaching.

As mentioned previously, a substantial part of teacher collaboration involves the

discussion of teaching practices and strategies, most of which are driven by the latest data.

Though it was not explicitly stated in her answers, Suzanne alludes to her use of evidence-based

practices by stating that her teaching has changed over the years due to the change in strategies,

which comes from research. In this course, we explored multiple examples of evidence-based

practices: evaluated our own teaching practices, looked at current research and data, and

compared the similarities and differences between the two. What is most striking is the

consistency between the current research and Suzanne’s responses: both suggest that the best

teaching practices are beneficial to all students, including those in special education, English

Language Learners, and academically- and behaviorally-struggling students. In short, evidence-

based practice is best practice, because best practice meets the needs of as many students as

possible.

Overall, everything learned in this course was supported by Suzanne’s interview

responses, regardless of the fact that she is a general education teacher. Because she has been in

the field for such a long time, Suzanne has had the opportunity to live out what I have only

learned in undergraduate and graduate courses. There is no substitute for years of teaching

experience, but after going through this course and listening to Suzanne’s answers to the

questions, I have arrived at the conclusion that keeping students at the heart of teaching is vital to

the success of not only the student, but also the teacher and the school building. Student

relationships play a role in the use of specific teaching practices and the level of collaboration
 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 5
ASSIGNMENT

between staff members. Best practice changes over time due to the volatile nature of research,

but what remains constant is the necessity for keeping teaching student-centered.
 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 6
ASSIGNMENT

Interview Questions and Notes

Teacher Interview Questions: Suzanne Holcomb

1. How did you get into teaching?

I never actually thought I would be a teacher. I wanted to go a completely different route. I met
my now husband and he suggested that I go into teaching. I took a few classes and realized that I
truly had an interest in teaching. Once I got into my first classroom experience, I was hooked. I
never looked back!
2. Where have you taught? What drew you to teach at Mary Beck/in Elkhart
Community Schools?
I taught at a charter school in South Bend for approximately 4 and a half years. I taught art,
6/7th, 3rd, and 2nd grade before coming to Mary Beck. Honestly, I was drawn to Mary Beck
because the charter school I was working at was not well run. There were many, many, many
issues and it was impacting me in a negative way. Mary Beck had a position open, and so I went
for it. That being said, what has KEPT me here has been the kids and families. Building
relationships over years of knowing the families and their children is one of my highlights from
my career. Working with kids that other educators have written off as unteachable is a challenge
that I enjoy taking on every single year. Kids deserve an education, period. Just because they
have adverse experiences or live in poverty, does not mean that they are unteachable.
Additionally, the team of teachers at Beck, especially in the last five years, is top notch. The
support and dedication that these teachers show on a daily basis is at the top of the chart.
3. What made you want to teach 5th grade?
5th grade is my happy place both in content as well as in the age group. I truly love the content
that I get to teach in 5th grade, especially Social Studies and Reading. I also enjoy the
independence and humor of 5th graders without all of the hormones of older students.
4. What is your philosophy of teaching? How has that changed over your career?
“Make sure that my students become productive members of society” has been a phrase that
I have said many times in my teaching career. I want all of my students to becoming productive
members of our society that can provide for their families, help improve their community, and be
active in the governmental processes that are so important to our city, county, state, and country.
Education is the key for students to be productive. It is my belief that we (all teachers) are
responsible for providing numerous opportunities for students to pave their own way to
productivity. Allowing opportunities for students to work collaboratively, whether it is a
discussion group, a problem-solving activity, a reader’s theatre group, or any other project
prepares them to be able to work collaboratively in the workplace.
 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 7
ASSIGNMENT

“Be tough but fair” is another belief I have. I feel that I can help students to become productive
members in our community by establishing a sense of responsibility through fairness. In my
classroom, mistakes are encouraged and part of learning from mistakes is understanding that
there are consequences when mistakes are made. Building relationships with my students allows
me to be able to be tough on them. Being tough is never unfair, never inequitable, yet always
with high expectations. Building relationships is how adults get along with each other in the
workplace. There have been many students that I have had that have been labeled “difficult”.
Building a relationship, while maintaining high expectations, has helped me to navigate the
rough waters with these “difficult” students. Giving students an environment to learn in, not
only educationally, but also emotionally, socially, and developmentally is what I strive to
achieve each and every year that I set foot inside my classroom.
5. How is your teaching philosophy influenced by your students?
My teaching philosophy is directly influenced by my students on a daily, monthly, and yearly
basis. While I don’t always think about my exact teaching philosophy regularly, my students are
always at the heart of whatever it may be that I am doing. I am always learning, evaluating,
changing, and adjusting to best meet my students' needs which in turn impacts my philosophy.
While the basis of my philosophy doesn’t ever change, the things that I learn and understand at a
deeper level guides my philosophy to keep my teaching student centered at all times.
6. How do you adjust your teaching style to meet the needs of your students? Has that
changed over your career?
My teaching style has most definitely changed over the years! As a teacher, I believe that it is
my job to continually be learning and being aware of the current research that has presented itself
in the educational world. I feel that my style has changed as I’ve learned and changed my tactics
and strategies to better serve my students. I also have more experience as to what works and
what doesn’t work so that has definitely shaped my teaching style over the years as well.
7. How did your teaching style influence the way you designed your virtual learning?
What stayed the same? What did you change?
I am not totally sure that my teaching style was able to influence virtual learning much because
most of my virtual teaching was just assignments given to hybrid students on the days they
weren’t at school. I didn’t do much actual virtual teaching during the fall of 2020.
8. How did your teaching philosophy impact the way you designed your virtual
learning environment?
See answer above. :)
9. How do you define “inclusion”? How does your definition influence your classroom
culture?
 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 8
ASSIGNMENT

Inclusion is allowing all students, regardless of background, access to the classroom and the
learning that is taking place there. It also means equity for all students. Giving students what
they need in the general education classroom as much as is possible for both student, class, and
teacher. I think that the culture of my classroom is based on the foundation of inclusion.
Everyone is part of our class. Everyone has different needs and works at different levels and
speeds. But everyone deserves to be respected for who they are and welcomed into the
classroom as such.
10. How do you meet the needs (academic and behavioral) of students with disabilities?
Oh goodness, where to begin. Academically, students with disabilities are given multiple tiers of
support. All students get grade level instruction to assure that they are not stuck in the rut of
only things that are “on their level”. Additionally, small groups with highly qualified teachers
gives students an opportunity to ask questions, get guided support, as well as allows teachers to
give on the spot instruction to catch mistakes before they become habits. If needed, students can
also receive a third level of support with one on one or pairs or triads of students to work on any
needed goals that are not already being met.
Behaviorally, meeting the needs of the student is definitely a student-by-student plan. If students
need breaks, we figure out breaks. If students need one on one times with an adult to help them,
breakfast buddies, etc. Whatever we need to do behaviorally for that student is what we do. It is
a team effort though for sure. It takes admin, other teachers, and support staff to assure that
students are getting their needs met.
11. What is the most challenging part of meeting the needs of students with disabilities?
The most challenging part is assuring that you are modifying and adjusting and meeting all of the
needs of a diverse group of students. Being a general education teacher has its own set of
requirements for each student and when you have students with disabilities, you have to make
sure their needs are being met as well. There often feels like there are not enough hours in the
day to get all the things done for the students, both with and without disabilities.
12. How do you manage making adaptations/modifications for students? Students with
disabilities?
Generally, when looking to make adaptations or modifications for students, I rely on my special
education teacher and the student’s IEP to help guide me. After being in the classroom as long
as I have, I do realize that many strategies that would be employed for Special Education, EL,
and below grade level students are all very much the same. So having a “toolbox” of strategies
that I can use to help all of those students helps me to make sure that I am meeting the needs of
the student, whatever they may be.
13. How did you navigate making adaptations/modifications for students with
disabilities in the virtual learning environment?
 FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 9
ASSIGNMENT

This was a very difficult experience because there were some things that I wasn’t sure how to
modify for kids. Some of the basics of what I did were things like, provide recorded instructions
so that the kids could listen as well as read whatever I was asking them to do. I would provide
example videos or slides in Seesaw. And really having Google Meets available to students to
ask questions was a way that I had hoped would help students but they were not well attended.
14. How does having students with disabilities in your class impact how you collaborate
with others? (Fellow teachers, support staff, administrators, etc.)
Collaboration is a natural piece of teaching for me. It is necessary for success for both the
students and the teacher. Having students with disabilities in the room gives me access to
strategies to help all students that I may not have been aware of otherwise.
15. Does your teaching philosophy influence your collaboration style?
My philosophy is definitely influential to how I collaborate. I believe that students should be
given ample opportunities to collaborate and it is no different for teachers. Collaboration,
learning to work with others, is an essential skill in the world. Given that my philosophy
revolves around that process, I would say that my style of collaboration and philosophy go hand
in hand.
16. How do you navigate making connections with the parents/families of students with
disabilities?
Parent connections are one of the most important connections a teacher can make. Especially for
those “difficult” students and parents, I remind them that we’re all on the same team: we all care
about the student, we all want them to succeed, and we’re all trying to do what we can to help
them. I find whatever method works best with certain families, and take it and run. With our
population it can be challenging to keep the line of communication open and sometimes it takes
extra work, but it definitely pays off in the end!
17. How do you see the educational system changing for students with disabilities?
I think it’s definitely moving in a positive direction. Hopefully we’ll see an overall improvement
in the education system as a whole, where teachers aren’t having to do as much, and all students
have more access to the support they need.
18. What is your favorite part of teaching?
If I’d have to pick just one, it would be seeing students grow from the beginning of the year to
the end. You see them come in at the start and it’s such a struggle for them to even believe they
can do something, then by the end of the year they have so much more confidence in themselves
and their abilities.
FIELD INTERVIEW FINAL 10
ASSIGNMENT

19. What teaching strategies (instructional and behavioral) do you use to meet the needs
of all of your students? Are there ones you find yourself using more for especially
challenging students?

20. What would you say is the most significant change in education since you started
teaching?