Interview: Mrs. Cunico (

Interview:

Mrs. Cunico 

1. How long have you been teaching? 10 years of teaching pre-school, 6 years of first/second grade. 16 years total!
2. What is your favorite part of your job? Seeing the growth that the kids make, just seeing them them be able to do something that use to be hard for them, or something they couldn't even do at all.
3. What is the most frustrating part of your job? When kids miss so much school. Also with how time crunching it is and time consuming, with making sure you teach everything in the core that you are required to.
4. What kind of disabilities do you see in your class? A.D.D and A.D.H.D. You just see that some kids have a harder time focusing in class, and some kids who just seem to be on a lower maturity level.
5. Do you get help/support from the Special Ed. Teachers? Yes, they help students with homework that I give, and they help with things that I notice they are struggling with in class. They are always willing to give me ideas of what I can do to help, and always willing to let me know what my kids are improving on.
6. What kind of parent support do you get? Pretty good, most parents are really good to help there students with there homework and reading each night. I even have a few parents that come in and help in the classroom, which is really helpful when I have a student that needs to review the last math lesson again before we go on to the next one.
7. How do you feel about inclusion? It is great. It helps kids be more excepting of others. Also helps the lower kids understand more if a class member is willing to help them.
8. What made you want to teach? I enjoy working with kids, love helping students understand things and be able to do things they once couldn't. Just really wanted to make a difference.
9. Do you have any I.E.P's or 504's in your class? Yes, one girl has an 504. I also have a student who goes to speech and he has an I.E.P in there, and then also another little girl who goes to reading and math and has an I.E.P in each of those.
10. What accommodations do you make for those that need them? I usually give extra time on quizzes and test. Repeating instructions multiple times so I make sure everyone hears. Working in smaller groups, so that I can give them all some one on one attention. Having students buddy up on a harder assignments so a higher student can help a lower student and they are both getting the assignment done.

3 Things I Learned from this interview:

          1. Learned that having kids with disabilities in your classroom is a lot more common than most                people think. I think it is great! Love that those kids are having the same experience as their                    peers, and also pushing them to achieve their highest potential.

2. There are so many benefits of teaching, it is so rewarding in so many ways. That teachers affect these young lives. Being positive with them and always encouraging them to do their best, that's the best thing you can do for those students. Being a teacher is not for everyone. They need to be selfless, as they are always doing things for others.
3. Also in the interview we talked about the different rolls that others play in the school, and how they all contribute to the students, and make things run smoother. How librarians can get students excited about reading, how principals can uplift students and give feed back to the teachers so that everyone is doing there best, how the recces workers keep everyone safe while they are having fun, and how the nurse is there just in case. Everyone contributes to the school.

Is Teaching for Me?

Yes! I am still so excited to become a teacher. My dream is still to be a resource teacher at an Elementary School. Sometimes I do get discouraged, because it seems so far away. I have to keep reminding myself that this hard work will pay off. So my next few steps will be finishing up my associates degree, raising my GPA, and taking the prerequisites, before I can apply to the program. I am definitely going to have to work hard and keep my eye on the end goal, even when times get tough. And especially with this baby boy on the way it will be important for me to stay focused and work hard. I definitely think this is the career for me. I love children, and I love to teach them, and watch them learn something new. I love making a difference, and to be able to do that on a daily would make work fun, and would be different everyday. Service Learning has been so fun, and I have learned students say the funniest things, making each day full of memories. I learned that in a cohort not everyone has the same opinions, and ideas. But I feel like it's important that everyone feels like their voice is heard, and it's important that everyone gives in a little. Service Learning was fun and I definitely learned so much from Mrs. Cunico. I have seen so many attributes of a great teacher in her. She is so selfless, kind, patient, smart, understanding, and so much more! I hope that when I become a teacher that I will be as amazing as her. I have loved this class, and it has gotten me so excited for all the classes to come. And it's so reassuring to know that by the time I graduate, I will have learned all that I need to run my own class.  

Classroom Assessment

I have loved the process of blogging through this course, and I feel I have learned so much from both this class and my service learning classroom. It has been great learning in the modules and then going into the classroom and seeing everything first hand. I feel like when I would do the modules I would learn, but it wasn't really until the service learning hours in the classroom were I really feel I gained an understanding, kind of like a testimonial of the things that I had learned in the modules. I loved learning about the different ways of teaching, and then when I would go into the classroom I would be able to point out, ok now Mrs. Cunico is using direct instruction, but here in this lesson she is using hands on learning for the kids. And the diversity lesson was such an eye opener for me. Growing up in the same town for most of your life, you don't really think of anyone else's schedule of circumstance being different from yours. So watching those videos, reading those articles, and then going into Mrs. Cunico's classroom and seeing the different kind of situations these students go through, and then to hear the story about one of Mrs. Cunico's past students. It really was just an eye opener, and it was great to see how to handle some of those situations, so that you can have a great outcome and be the difference they need in their life. Having a place to blog about my experiences has been great, because now I know I have a place to come back to, to read about my experiences, and I know that will help me in the future when I am stuck and wondering what I can do, but remembering that I can look back. It also has helped me see, that I would like to do a class blog so that all the students parents can see what we have been doing in class and to see goals that we have set and fun things like that. In my first blog I feel like I didn't relies how much I would actually would be contributing to the classroom in my service learning hours. But it has been amazing. I am so glad that Mrs. Cunico trusted me to do some of the lessons myself, and to trust me to handle situations, to really get that experience.  This has definitely been my favorite class this semester. It is getting me so excited to go into the teaching field, and getting me so excited for the classes that will lead me there!:)