Rebekah Dutton

R294M674

CI 416

March 9, 2020

Experienced Teacher Interview

Stacy Swain has been teaching for a year and a half after graduating from Wichita State

University with a BA in Elementary Education. She did her student teaching through WSU at

Gammon Elementary and simply fell in love, taking a Kindergarten position that opened up at a

perfect time. Regarding her challenges with discipline and classroom/behavioral management

Stacy has one student that is particularly difficult. She knows that this student is not in the right

environment as he needs more help than she can provide. So one of her biggest challenges is

learning how to keep her other students safe during his outbreaks and tantrums while still giving

him what he needs to be successful. There has been a lot of behavioral improvement, but he loses

his temper over small triggers that vary from time to time.

When asked how she developed current rules, procedures, and classroom management

procedures Ms. Swain told me that most of her classroom management and routines are from the

two teachers she student taught for while at WSU. She kept track of the things that she liked

while adapting these practices to her specific class for the year. For example, her doorbell

method (Swain has a doorbell that hangs from her lanyard each time the students need to

collectively calm down she will press the doorbell and as it rings the students know to sit down

and face her.) works great for this class, but the other Kindergarten teacher for Gammon tried it
and it was incredibly successful because it did not work for her students this year. She enjoys

that this year's class thrives off of positive reinforcement and reflection by hearing other students

do well because they want to mirror it. They do not thrive off of negative feedback while one of

her students has to have a bit of firmness to cooperate. Something she is still struggling with is

more severe behaviors, as she tends to hesitate with severe reactions. Today was the first day she

has ever evacuated her classroom because of a safety issue with another student. So that is still

an issue she is working through. I also asked swain how her classroom management is

differentiated to each student’s needs and she expressed that each student has a different thing

that works for them. Some of her students thrive on positive reinforcement, isolation, etc while

other students are completely opposite. In addition, a lot of her students will thrive by being

disciplined by another adult like the AP or a behavioral teacher to make them feel more

comfortable. She understands that each student is different and so her expectations for each

student is different based on their typical behavior.

In addition to the given questions I expressed to Stacy that I had never been in a

classroom before the second semester point. I asked her how she implements the rules and

procedures that now look so easy when she first got her class. Swain told me that there is a lot of

repetition on very basic things, she spent a whole week learning just how to line up and use the

bathroom correctly. It is just really making them learn the procedure because once they know it

you burn through the curriculum faster so it is worth the time investment.

Overall, this interview went very well and I learned a lot. I hope to be as successful in

my classroom management as fast as Stacy was. She implements positive things such as self
coping mechanisms such as a clubhouse that help students self regulate and calm down. She also

gives out classroom jobs teaching students responsibility and encourage leadership. On the

negative side she does use a clip chart adjacent scoring system that rewards and punishes student

behavior, though it is less public it still poses the same issues.

Her current system relies on positive reinforcement, reflective reasoning, and

accountability routines. She encourages students to behave by pointing out good behavior rather

than discouraging bad. She never yells and only uses sternness when absolutely necessary for the

student. In addition she builds relationships with her students through things such as morning

meeting, greeting, and check outs. The only thing I think she could work on is her self regulation

during intense behavioral disruptions and the point (clip) system.