Teacher Interview

     Teacher Interview 

     I interviewed Rebecca Schwartz who is currently a Special Education teacher at Elim Christian School in Palos Heights, IL. She is now in her sixth year as a teacher at this school and attended Trinity Christian College where she received her degree in Special Education. I am a paraprofessional in her classroom and I was happy she was able to answer some of the questions that I came up with for her. 
     I first asked her about how uncooperative or cooperative parents affect students in the classroom and she touched on a number of good points. There are the parents that are highly involved and follow through things we do at school with the students. This usually helps because the student has consistency both at home and at school. There have been a number of students where we can tell when parents are not being consistent at home because it does cause behavior problems at school taking away time from their learning. 
     Another topic she mentioned was prevention such as stated in the book "prevention is the best medicine" (page 485). In our classroom we do try and prevent our student from being uncooperative from the start by using reinforcers such as discussed in chapter 7. This helps us be proactive with the student so they don't become upset or have behavior outbursts. She talks about how our last resort if the student does become aggressive would be to use safety care techniques with them if they are a danger to themselves or staff.
     Rebecca also touched on relationships with staff in her classroom. On page 487 the book talks about how we as educators should create a positive learning community for them. Wether that be building good report with staff, students, parents, and even other administrators. If all staff are on the same page I can usually illuminate problems within the classroom between students and staff.
Rebecca also talked about reinforcers that are used within the classroom with students. On page 489 The book talks about stopping problems quickly. One of the options that they give is to offer the student a choice. This is something that we do daily with our students once they have behavior outburst or even before. We present to them two choices that they have before a potential negative reinforcer is presented to them.
     When asked what kind of if I should give to a new teacher in special-education Rebecca said that patience would be a key. She also talked about how things might seem hard at first but if you just push through it'll all be worth it in the end. Working in her classroom and watching students progress so much gives you a lot of motivation to push through with them. It does get challenging but seeing how far they have come and watching them move classes and be successful is awesome.