Creative Writing: A Christian Interview

This year I decided to interview Mrs. Jackie Hammers, the choral director of our Jr. High School. I have a love for music and she was a very inspirational teacher when I was younger, so I felt the need to ask her about her job. Mrs. Hammers is like I said a music teacher, but to be more direct she teaches 7th grade general music and is the choral or vocal music director at the school. Her daily routine consists of the following, taking attendance and watching the morning announcements before class starts. Then she teaches 3 periods of general music, then she finally gets to have her half an hour choir rehearsal, which you have to audition to be a part of. Then she teaches another period, then off to lunch! After lunch she plans her criteria
for the future, then once again she teaches two more periods and then dismissal. But, once a week show choir meets after school, Depending on the time of year, after school she also attends musical rehearsals, her side job on Thursday’s and loves to escape to the mountains on weekends! So, it is clear that a sacrifice she has for her job is personal time for rehearsals. To get to where she began, there were some academic and qualities to get the job she wanted. According to Mrs. Hammers you do not need a lot of experience, but shadowing other teachers, student teaching, and actually possessing musical qualities would be a huge help to getting the job. To be a good music teacher or teacher in general, you must have compassion, the ability to be flexible with schedules and/or life, the patience with things or people, and also willingness to try new things, as well as learn things from your students. Once she got her job at Red Lion, her beginning salary was $39,000, and now with her completion of her Master’s Degree plus 15 credits, she hopes to make in the near future, $56,757. As the years go by, she states that changes in her career were made by state requirements and the school changing her work or day schedule. Basically, any dangers of this career can be faced anywhere like falling or having an intruder come into the school randomly. Mrs.
Hammers faces decision making in her job a lot, and it could be on the spot sometimes! To be any teacher you have to be ready for anything and to improvise with your life. It seems like a difficult job to structure, but according to her the students are told the first few days of class the expectations she has to eliminate conflict, and tells those instruction to what they need to do to help keep the day running smoothly. To end my interview, I asked her a few personal questions regarding her job. The first was what do you love about your job? She said she loves to create music with her pupils, and seeing the joy it gives them when they hear it themselves! Also I asked what would help me or anyone really with understanding a job they may want. The best bet is to shadow someone you know with that job, to really have a true experience with that job. To end, I let her say anything else regarding the job of a music teacher for me. Her helpful response basically was that you need to make sure you can work well with others, even if you don’t particularly like them! “There will always be someone you disagree with wherever you work, and you must learn how to now let it affect you and the job you perform.” I could have not have picked a better person to interview, Mrs. Hammers is a very productive, kind and trustful teacher. She actually fueled my passion for music and I am glad she could clear up the questions I had to be a music teacher. I may not go that route but i’m glad I
know what it takes to be a great teacher like she is.