Teachers Interview Report

 

Landis Schonoffer, the interviewee, is a former colleague from college and a seventh-grade teacher at Anson middle school in Wadesboro where he has been teaching a classroom of over 25 students for three consecutive years. The interview was successfully conducted without any challenges since the interviewer and interviewee shared a personal bond, moreover, Mr. Sconoffer provided detailed answers on all the four and bonus questions asked during the interviews, he also made sure to stick to the question when giving his answer as a show of cooperation.  He adhered to my instructions and ensured that he conducted research into the Maslow hierarchy of needs prior to the interviews as I had requested. This interview was carried out with a focus on finding out how Mr. Schnoffer executes his duties and responsibilities of being a teacher and how the needs of his students are met through the Maslow hierarchy of needs.

            The interview was conducted through a series of questions presented to Mr. Schnoffer. The interviewer asked four questions and one bonus question. The questions were as follows; 1. What are your values? Do they change when you are handling students, or does it change for individual to meet their needs? 2. How do you manager your students and classroom? Do your students respect you as a person or the title you carry? 3. There is a theory that was created by Abraham H. Maslow called the hierarchy of needs. His philosophy can provide a reminder and a framework to teacher to aid their students, so they reach can their fullest potential. His theory is based on physical needs, safety needs, Love and belong, Esteem and Self-actualization. As a teacher has your students physiological needs met, how do you make the students feel safe, do you display love and belongs, how they feel good about themselves and after the previous stages are meet, how can you confirm that their steps to actualization had meet? 4. What do you think is the greatest challenge facing students today? Bonus question. Think of a time when you went above and for your students, how does that make you feel? The interviewee answered the questions in order from the first to the last question.

From the interview, it can be concluded that Mr. Schnoffer’s personal beliefs and values align with his profession, as a teacher he works towards the development of all his students, to include fast and slow learners, furthermore, he is concerned with teaching his students concepts that they can apply in the real-world setting. As a teacher the interviewee takes serious matters that are related to discipline, he ensures that his students know what is expected of them and what are the consequences of not abiding by the rules, with a focus on ensuring that his students are disciplined he relates with them on a personal level, and this way there are few discipline-related issues.  Being a young teacher gives the interviewee an upper hand when it comes to relating with the students since he is able to understand their behaviors after close examination of their personal lives away from school, this way he is able to help them which increases their respect for him.

 The interviewee is more informed about the Maslow hierarchy of needs and ensures that these needs are well catered for to increase the performance of the students.  The interviewee is concerned with meeting all the needs of his students, to meet the physical needs of his students he ensures that there is plenty of drinking water in the classroom to keep the children hydrated and energy-giving snacks are provided. The interviewee is aware that sleep deprivation decreases the performance of students, therefore, he ensures that they take a relatively short nap at school to give their brains a rest.   To cater to the safety needs of his students he encourages the students to have zero tolerance for bullying, in addition to this, he ensures that the esteem needs of the students are catered for through the provision of transparent and honest feedback.  The interviewee acknowledges that the issue of social media has become a problem that is constantly distracting and misleading students.  The feeling that comes from helping students and going an extra mile for them is undeniable, as a teacher it is important to show dedication to shaping the lives of students.

From the findings of the interview, it can be concluded that it is important for a teacher at any level to ensure that they meet the overall needs of their students while ensuring that their students gain knowledge, they can apply in a real-world setting. It is essential to put measures in place to ensure that the needs of students are met according to the Maslow hierarchy of needs. From personal experience I believe that meeting and prioritizing needs is important, the physical needs that are the top of the hierarchy require to be satisfied first, and the interviewee has done an excellent job at that.  The interviewee was very excited about the interview and about seeing a longtime friend again, the interview went smoothly since the interviewee was much dedicated to his job as a teacher. The interview provided much insight on how to manage students’ development, how to meet their needs, how to ensure that they are disciplined and how to assist them deal with out of classroom challenges. The interview also sheds light on problems that have been brought about by social media and the need and impact of going the extra mile to help students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix

Questions

1.What are your values? Do they change when you are handling students, or does it change for individual to meet their needs?

2. How do you manager your students and classroom? Do your students respect you as a person or the title you carry?
3. There is a theory that was created by Abraham H. Maslow called the hierarchy of needs. His philosophy can provide a reminder and a framework to teacher to aid their students, so they reach can their fullest potential. His theory is based on physical needs, safety needs, Love and belong, Esteem and Self-actualization. As a teacher has your students physiological needs met, how do you make the students feel safe, do you display love and belongs, how they feel good about themselves and after the previous stages are meet, how can you confirm that their steps to actualization had meet?
4. What do you think is the greatest challenge facing students today?

Bonus Question: Think of a time when you went above and for your students, how does that make you feel