Name: Moreno, Sarah

Date: April 18, 2017

Master Teacher Interview

1. Find out if there are printed school or district policies about any aspect of
classroom discipline. Homework policy? District-wide homework policy?

The homework policy at Loma Vista is different per grade level. Students are not
given pen and paper assignments, instead the homework is technology driven and
the classrooms are designed in a flipped model. Upper grades tend to have more
iPad-centered work using interconnected apps such as Google Classroom. Were
as, Kindergarten tends to use ABC mouse to provide the teachers with reports on
the students progress. Primary classrooms assign homework in this manner.
Kindergarten provides math workbooks to the students and assigns homework
that correlates to work in class work they have been doing. Report cards are
divide them into a skills section and a grades section, providing parents with up to
date information on where their student is currently at in the trimester. Teachers
typically send home notes on the report cards to aid the parents in know what they
should review. These assessments are done at least two times every trimester.
These assessments are in math, language arts, and writing and are detailed in a
checklist for parents, showing them what the student has mastered and what the
students needs to develop more. Teachers can differentiate better using this
method and through the limited amount of homework. This increases the teachers
knowledge of how they can best assist the students growth in difficult areas.

2. Identify ways the Master Teacher and school principal/district handle mild
and moderate misbehavior.

My Master Teacher and her district utilize PBIS, with a positive behavior system.
One of the students in the class is apart of this program. My Master Teacher tries
to go about using positive reinforcement. She tries to catch the student doing
acceptable behavior to praise them in order to urge the student to stay within a
growth mindset. She hopes that this mindset will provide the students with the
tools to combat negative behavior before they turn to it. At Loma Vista there is a
school wide system in place that uses minor infraction slips, usually for
disrespect, and major infraction slips. Major infractions tend to be given out to
students who are fighting or blatantly going against the school rules. After a slip is
written the teacher must sign it and send it to the principal. At this point the
principal will input this information into their school wide computer system,
Aries, and this record will follow the students to their next grades.

3. What type of chronic misbehavior occurs sometimes in the classroom and

how does the teacher handle the situation?

For my Master Teacher, much chronic misbehavior occurs situational. MY Master

teacher tends to provide students with multiple warnings before escalating the
 consequences. At this point the teacher will use isolation to remove the students
from the situation as well as from the other students. She will then either take
away minutes at recess or have pull the student aside to discuss their behavior.
Sometimes this doesnt work, leading the teacher to have the student sit in with
her at lunchtime.

4. What is your Master teachers effective classroom management plan? How

does it help achieve areas for success in the overall classroom environment?

The management plan used in the classroom is centered around praising the
students that are on task in hopes that others will join in. The teacher will remind
the students of the rules and reviews what acceptable behavior is before each
lesson or activity. At times, the teacher will change her voice by lowering it to
enable to students to listen closely and lower their voices. She believes that by
modeling specific behavior the students will follow her motions and follow the
rules better. She also said that she enjoys having fun in the classroom and that her
class is centered in joy. It depends on the class and how they choose to behave,
this will dictate the amount of fun they will have as well as the amount of fun the
teacher will have.

5. What were some early mistakes your Master Teacher made in managing
their classroom as they started their career?

Some early mistakes that my Master Teacher recalls are: not being clear about
personal expectations and not following through on rules and consequences. She
said that through her years of teaching she learned that you much show students
symbols, be clear and concise about rules and never differ on how you treat or
react to each student. She now says that she constantly is practicing and being
mindful of how she is in front of the students. The teacher must be in a clear state
of mind in order to expect great things from the class. Lastly, my Master Teacher
stated that a reward system is only as great as you allow it to be. Always follow
through on the terms that you set for table points, marble jars or treasure box
rewards.