Teacher Interview Paper

Sarah Carney
Dr. Kokiko
December 5, 2016

I interviewed Patricia S. Carney, a Special Educator in Rhode Island that has taught for
over 30 years in the school system. She was glad to sit down and answer questions from a
pre-service teacher about her perspective on student education.
Carney said that the formal curriculum varies slightly depending on the state that one
teaches in. Specifically, Rhode Island has RIPTS (teaching standards) that give the instructor a
guideline on what to teach for each grade level. She also mentioned that other curriculum
include unwritten values such as how students react with people around them, proper behavior,
self-control, cultural values, expectations, or school rules. As for assessments, she said that
there were three types: formative, interim, and summative. Formative can be discussion or a
written quiz and interim can be a project or a test. Summative could be a cumulative project or
a final. Carney also mentioned that standardized tests and the teachers informal assessment of
students(such as worksheets) can fall under the assessment category. According to Patricia
Carney, teachers evaluate student learning and assign grades by rubrics. Student learning
should be measurable and each benchmark of a grade should be thoroughly outlined or
standardized. She mentioned that students should be thoroughly aware of how they can
improve upon their work to improve their performance in class. Carney said that standardized
tests are administered to a broad range of students or a population on core subjects to see the
comparison of learning from all different states, backgrounds, districts, etc. Lastly, Patricia S.
Carney said that the responsibility for student learning is not pinpointed to just one singular
person or organization. She claims that the student, parents, teachers, school/ school system
and principal should be responsible for student learning, If student learning is a team

approach then the student should learn most successfully if all parties contribute to that
students success.

According to the text, Maslows Hierarchy states that a child has to fulfill the most basic
Physiological needs in order to continue on with other needs; these include: food, shelter, and
water. While interviewing Patricia Carney about student learning, she mentioned that student
learning cannot be fulfilled if these needs are met and known by the teacher and principal. If
the school does not provide breakfast, lets say to a student who is homeless Carney states
then the student cannot learn, all they can focus on is being hungry. She mentioned that she
has witnessed these situations in her classroom before. In class we learned the above
questions answered by Patricia Carney. The formal curriculum is what is mandatory to teach
and the other curricula refers to the hidden curriculum, that Carney said was behavior,
socialization, discipline, etc. Classroom assessments, as learned in class lectures, can be
categorized into summative and formative and is numerically evaluated through grades.
Standardized tests are administered by state since the states control the school system and the
federal government oversees them. As for student learning, in class we discussed that there are
a wide range of opinions and perspectives on the matter on who is really accountable for
student learning.
I also was able to ask Mrs. Carney two extra questions: How has technology changed
teaching in the classroom? And What is your opinion on the teacher evaluation system? She
replied that technology has made so many advances in student learning because society has
become so visual and that technology is also a useful tool for all types of learners. She added
that especially for her non-verbal students, the IPads have done wonders for their
communication with others. The teacher evaluation system was a good tool and she liked the
communication between the evaluator. She said that the evaluator came in and got the
information on the lesson before she was observed and this helped the evaluator observe more

closely how effectively she could relate and convey information to the students. Overall, she
believed it was a good system, but she has heard complaints of it before.
In conclusion, Patricia Carneys answers to the above questions compared to what is in
the text and lectures are relatively similar. Carney gave a lot of insight as an educator and the
procedures and rules specific to Rhode Island. In terms of similarity, Mrs. Carney gave an
example about how a student who is hungry cannot learn, which connects to Maslows
Hierarchy, which was learned in class. Carney also talked about standardized tests and how
they have an impact on teacher evaluations, relating to the presentations on various teacher
evaluation systems. Patricia Carneys answers and what was conveyed in class and through the
textbook assumingly match-up. It was insightful to get perspective into the teaching world as a
pre-service teacher and to be able to see the education system at a teachers level.