Personal Interview

• Think back over your decision to become a teacher. What are the top five reasons for making this decision?

1. I enjoy working with children.
2. It seemed like a “safe” career choice.  Everyone said that teachers were needed and my undergrad teaching classes (when I was an education major at App) said that need always outweighed the new graduates.
3. Everyone I told about my career choice said I would be good at it.
4. I wanted career stability (able to keep the same job until retirement) unlike my parents who have changed jobs several times when I was growing up.
5. I need to have financial stability, so a job that pays the same amount each month would help me and my budget out.

• Who and what kind of systems, situations, and experiences inform the above reasons?

I grew up with cousins near my age so getting the chance to work with younger children was a rare and exciting activity for me.  I volunteered with my church’s children’s group during high school and worked in afterschool programs in various schools throughout my undergrad career.

A couple of the above reasons relate to job stability.  As a child I watched my parents work a variety of jobs, sometimes 2-3 jobs at a time for one parent.  There were times our family struggled financially even with the multiple jobs.  I don’t want to repeat my parents’ experiences.

• Consider your own career as a student. If you had to choose, what are five "critical moments" from your own schooling? How do these "critical moments" influence your image of a teacher?

1. In elementary school (maybe 2^nd or 3^rd grade), my class had a substitute who had a reputation for being very strict.  She taught the math lesson the teacher had left and part of it (or maybe just her wanting us to know the “proper” way to do it) was to read numbers out loud.  She explained that we should not use the word “and” in a number and made it seem like the end of the world if we did.  Then she called on me to try it.  As one of the shy and quiet kids, I was scared out of my mind.  I paused in reading my number to make sure I didn’t say “and”, but she yelled at me for getting it wrong.  It traumatized me from volunteering answers in class.

• Describe your own cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic background. How does this background influence your decision to become a teacher?

I am Caucasian with a background of Scots Irish and rural farming.  I don’t know much more about my family background and history. I come from a low income family, with parents working, sometimes more than one job each, and a small town where everyone knows me as either Cathy Alford’s daughter or Ruby Pearl’s granddaughter.  First big culture shock I received was going from elementary school to junior high: one small school with about 2 classrooms per grade to a large school of 4 elementary schools combining together.  I learned then that I prefer smaller schools/classrooms and calmer environments.

First, I wanted to have a career instead of a job so I wouldn’t have to bounce from job to job or have two or more small jobs to support myself.  I also had a plan to return to Middlesex and work at the elementary school I attended—to give back to the school I enjoyed most.

• Describe in as little or as much detail as you are comfortable with how gender roles were determined in your family. How does this background influence your decision to become a teacher?

My dad tended to do the outside house chores like grass cutting, handyman-type jobs, etc. though my mom also did these chores at times.  As far as cooking and cleaning, mom did do most of the cleaning with us kids to help and whoever was home at the time did the cooking.  Both mom and dad worked odd hours at times so it changed who cooked dinner and got us kids ready for school each morning.

Since my parents changed up on chores and there were no distinct man or woman chores, I don’t really see how this influenced my decision to teach, but it may have in a subconscious way that I’m not aware of right now.

• Describe major factors in the development of your current belief/value system. How do these responses influence your view of what a teacher should be and the role of education in today's society?

I was raised going regularly to church as a child for most of my youth.  My parents quit going for several years, and I relied on youth leaders and church vans to get me to church activities for a while.  In my head, I’ve tended to have a black/white view of people from my church and the college Baptist group I was a part of at App.  I took their “perfect Christian” persona at church at face value and tried to act that way myself.  Over the last 10 years, that black and white view has gained some shades of gray.  I’m still adjusting and figuring out what I really believe as I’ve started to live on my own away from mom and dad and their beliefs.

I see that a teacher should be viewed as a clean, respectable, perfect (not the word I want to use but can’t come up with another better word) person that is not involved in activities and groups that give a negative vibe to the community that they work in.  It’s similar to members of a church: they feel like they should have a good person persona especially around non-Christians in order to avoid the idea of hypocrisy.    Teachers (and Christians) tend to feel that they can have no faults, no mistakes, and no bad days.

• Do any of your reasons indicate that part of the teaching process includes doing research? Why or why not?

My teaching process would involve research simply because I am still learning who I am, what I believe and that involves changing my actions and beliefs in teaching and the world as I discover more about me.

• Why do you, or don't you, believe research should be/can be part of the teaching process?

I believe research should be a part of teaching because the teaching process is always changing.  Technology and culture and life are always changing and we as teachers must change too.  It’s also a way to improve the teaching profession for the teacher doing the research in their classroom.

• What, in your opinion, would make classroom research both beneficial and ethical?

I think that classroom research would be beneficial and ethical if the research and resulting conclusions/responses make the classroom, students, and teacher have a better learning and teaching environment. 

• Do you want to become a teacher/researcher? Why or why not?

I would love to be a teacher/researcher because it means that I am working to improve myself and my classroom so that the students and I can have a more meaningful and better teaching/learning experience.