Personal Narrative: An Interview With A Teacher

I chose to do my teacher interview in my home town at Richard D. Crosby Elementary School with a special education teacher named Mrs. Robistow. She has in the district for seventeen years and has been teaching for twenty two years. She teaches second and third grade special education. This year Mrs. Robistow has ten students on her caseload. I will be interviewing her on classroom management and her strategies that she uses with her students.
Mrs. Robistow tries to encourage her students to think of themselves as a team/family. She lets them choose a class name and model praising one another! Using manners and kind words is always encouraged, and are rewarded with Crosby Cash. They can spend this at her class store biweekly or weekly depending
This varies based on the needs of the students. She individualizes their point system by using a visual schedule for each student. They can earn "green" for good choices and two points. This includes being responsible, respectful and safe, which are school wide expectations. She also individualizes for students focusing and giving their best efforts too. Yellow is one point if they needed extra reminders and support to make good choices, and red or zero points for extreme behaviors. These points are used daily for a leveled reward time. If a student receives ninety percent or more points for the day they receive a level, or student choice for free time. If a student receives a percentage between eighty and eighty nine for their daily points she will what the student will do doing free choice time. If the students earn less than eighty percent of their points they do a reflection with the teacher. This is a problem solving paper so the child acknowledges what they were doing, and what they should have been doing and what choices they can make next
Robistow’s students are special education, so I usually am working more individually with them or they have an Individual Behavior Plan in their IEP. Gen education students with behavior issues get the Check In system for data collection purposes as part of RTI for Tier2. If the data shows this student is not making eighty percent of his/her points over six weeks, this would be discussed at a Data Review/RTI meeting. The student can become Tier 3 which would include Social Work group time and work on specific areas needed. These students get a more individualized point sheet and if needed an individual behavior plan. If these students are still having difficulty earning eighty percent of their points, the team will meet again and determine if there might be an emotional/behavioral significance that is impeding the child's success. If so, the team can open a domain for full evaluation from the Special Education