Three Interviews Analysis - Essay Example

? Interview Analysis This sociological research consisted of three interviews. The interview participants included a teacher, a school administrator, and a parent of a child in the district. The teacher interview revealed a general disenchantment with the school’s ability to adopt innovative teaching methods. Additionally, the teacher believed the administrative staff was partly out-of-touch with the reality of the classroom. The interview with the school administrator demonstrated their strong embracement of district and state policies, most notably No Child Left Behind. Finally, the interview with the parent revealed a perspective greatly varying from the previous internal perspectives. The parent placed most emphasis on student success on the actual student. Introduction The 21st century has ushered in a new host of challenges. While globally there are emerging concerns over energy and the environment, some of the most prominent domestic concerns involve education. If the United States is going to remain successful in this increasingly competitive global world education will undoubtedly play a major role. As a means of investigating some of the challenges and perspectives in education this essay constitutes an analysis of perspectives gained from a teacher, administrator, and parent. To ensure confidentiality the names and personal information of these individuals have been withheld. Analysis The first interview that was conducted was with a teacher. There was a large amount of significant information gained from this interview. The specific teacher works at a high school. They informed me that they currently teach junior and senior level English classes. They have an Advanced Placement class, as well as classes at different ends of the educational spectrum; in this way they indicated that they gain a broad view of the different students at the school. In terms of specific background information they stated that they had a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and had worked for a period in instructional design. They indicated that there were a few difficult parts of the job. To a large extent these challenges seem to be indicative not simply of this teacher’s classrooms, but endemic of the larger school environment. In this way one of the greatest challenges is motivating the lower-tier students. Many of these students refrain from completing any after school work. This makes reading novels or any engaging in any extended material difficult. Additionally, classroom behavior in these environments oftentimes suffers as the students are disengaged from the lesson plan. While the teacher expressed a great amount of joy he received from his profession, it’s clear that he was also disenchanted with much of the process. For instance, he found some of the administration at the school lacking. He indicated that while he recognizes the importance of a strong administrative staff, many of the administrators at the school had not been inside of a classroom in many years. He believed then that there was a significant divide between what their perceptions were and the actual occurrences of the classroom environment. This perspective seemed to be thematic throughout the interview. In this way he believed that innovation and lesson plan development at the school was highly difficult to achieve because of an administrative staff that was chained to antiquated methods of instruction. One notable point he made was that with the onset of the Digital Age students are increasingly engaged with digital technology; still the school environment remains committed to traditional teaching practices. He believed that much of the behavior problems he had in his lower-level English classes can be attributed to students who were rejecting these traditional teaching methods. There is the recognition that research literature has supported this teacher’s position. For instance, Kember (2008, p. 249) indicated that one of the primary determinants of student motivation was perceived relevancy. In these regards it seems that some of the issues that this teacher was facing may have been linked to a resistance by the school system to increasingly allow the infusion of digital technology into the classroom environment. Additionally there seemed to be a need for more efficient administrative staff or more functional communication between teachers and staff regarding lesson planning and assessments. As the teacher interview revealed a number of teacher administrator challenges, it was interesting to gain a perspective from a school administrator. It must be noted, however, that it was not possible to interview an administrator from the same school. Still, the administrator was interviewed within the same district as the teacher. The administrator indicated that their personal background included a Bachelor of Arts and Master Degree in Education. Their professional experience involved teaching high school history for a number of years before becoming a school administrator. Their current responsibilities involve overseeing the Language Arts, Media Center, Performing Arts, Fine Arts, and Reading (Technology) departments. Additionally they have a series of subordinate responsibilities, such as student ID cards. While the teacher was willing to provide more candid criticisms of the school environment, this administrative professional assumed a greater role as an ambassador of the school. In this way they refrained from making any critical comments and seemingly worked to place great emphasis on the way that the school environment is highly successful and constantly improving. While there were minimal critical statements, they did indicate that funding was always a challenge. They indicated that this effected the school environment in many ways, including maintaining the school facilities and establishing extra-curricular activities. Rather than blaming the district offices for the funding issues, however, they seemed to attribute these funding challenges to the federal and state level. In terms of their relations with the district office they indicated that there is great cooperation between these offices. They said that they have significant control over decision making, however the district office passed down structural frameworks and initiatives with which they had to operate. While many educational professionals have been critical of No Child Left Behind, this administrative professional embraced it within the school environment. Notably, their embracement of NCLB is inconsistent with many public perspectives that believe the policy has been ineffective ("No child left," 2012). They indicated that while at first it was a challenge, the school environment was able to quickly adapt. In this way they indicated that they implemented it into a comprehensive plan of addressing struggling students. This plan also targeted at-risk and potential drop-out students. Subsequently, they believed that aiding struggling learners and bringing up their test scores was perhaps the greatest accomplishment that had been achieved throughout their tenure. What was clear from this interview was a degree of cognitive dissonance between the administrator’s embracement of district and state policies, such as assessment mechanisms and No Child Left Behind, and the teacher’s perspective. In this way it appears that the teacher may experience the challenges of implementing policies, while the administrative professional is more involved in the theoretical aspects of these policies. The final interview that was conducted was with a parent in the district. The parent candidly offered their opinions about the school. Their child was a sophomore in high school. They indicated that they believed the school district was doing a successful job. For the most part they believed that their child was given ample opportunity for success. They indicated that they were disappointed that the school discontinued its lacrosse program, but said they understood because of lack of interest from a large amount of students. They believed that for the most part their child’s success was contingent on the effort that the child placed into their classes; in this way they placed a great amount less emphasis on the school to ensure their child’s education. Despite not being actively involved in the school outside of parent and teacher conferences, they indicated that they believed that they could determine who the good and poor teachers were. For instance, they highly valued their child’s mathematics teacher, as this individual was able to engage their child and the entire classroom into a subject that many students disregard. Surprisingly they believed that the least effective teacher constantly was in contact with the parents; while they appreciate the updates they wished that some of the issues could be handled in the classroom. Ultimately, the parent’s perspectives on the educational environment greatly contrasted with the internal perspective offered by the teacher and school administrator. Conclusion In conclusion, this essay constitutes a sociological observation on the educational environment. Specifically, the analysis was informed by interviews with a teacher, a school administrator, and a parent. The research demonstrated significant cognitive dissonance between the administrator and teacher’s perspectives. While the administrator readily embraced state and federal policies such as No Child Left Behind, the teacher indicated a resistance to these policies. The teacher was more willing to try innovative instructional methods. The interview with the parent shifted the focus away from the school staff, instead placing the emphasis for student success on the students’ effort. References Kember, D. (2008). ‘The importance of establishing relevance in motivating student learning.’ Active Learning in Higher Education. vol. 9 no. 3 249-263 No child left behind worsened education, 48 percent of americans 'very familiar' with the law say in gallup poll . (2012). Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/no- child-left-behind-wors_n_1819877.html Read More

 

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