Let's Learn About the Snare Drum!
Good Teaching Video
I chose this clip because it demonstrates a teacher willing to use his free time to help his student, who struggles to reach their goal, in learning to play an instrument. He teaches her that playing music is not about the notes on a page but, it’s about having fun and expressing your love for music through an instrument. Being able to feel an emotion, brings a piece to life. Touching the souls of others is such a beautiful moment in a musician’s life, and a teacher can only teach you so much in order to achieve that special moment. He encourages her not to give up and he tells her to close her eyes and play like the sunset because it brings her to a happy place. The look he had on his face was very meaningful. You could see that he was truly proud of her and the determination she had to achieve her goal for this piece of music. The teacher creates a safe environment for all his students to grow as musicians and as people. You need to trust yourself and let go of any insecurities you have with performing and just go for it. This is an example of exceptional teaching.
Bad Teaching Video
I chose this clip to show how teachers can belittle students from participating and learning anything educational in class. The classroom should be a safe environment for students and in this clip, the principal’s way of teaching misleads the students into the right direction of learning. Her aggressive approach to teaching brings fear into their eyes and loses their enthusiasm to learn and be creative. Ms. Trunchbull, the principal, believes that discipline and being strict is the only way to controlling a class. She takes advantage of her power and uses it to make herself feel better about what happened in her past and applies her anger to the students. As an educator, it is important to know your students and how they learn in a classroom setting to be able to teach according to their needs. Ms. Trunchbull doesn’t do that and this is why this clip is a good example of how not to approach your students in a classroom setting.
Teacher Interview
Why Did I Choose You?
I decided to interview someone very special to me and that person was my mom. My mom is a high school teacher and she has been teaching for over 25 years. She was one of many who inspired me to pursue education as a career. After the interview, I learned so much about her past. I loved hearing about her history and the journey she took to get to where she is today. Especially, since being her daughter, I was shocked that she never told me these stories before and I never even thought of asked her about them. We have shared so many similar stories together in how our passion for teaching came to be. In the interview, we both talked about how around the same age we both would pretend to have students and pretending to teach them. I never said this in the interview, but, it was also my grade 9 math teacher and my grade 12 music teachers that have inspired me to go into teaching. I just find it so funny how similar our past histories are.
What surprised me the most was when her professor stated that “teaching is not the real world”. I completely disagree because without education we would not have a working society. We rely on education to help build our economy to become a well running machine. Especially since her professor is already in the education field, the thought of her even saying this doesn’t make any sense to me.
Hearing my mom say she had doubts about being a teacher made me feel a little relieved. In my grade 12 year, I have had my multiple doubts and knowing that I am not the only one who feels that way is reassuring that I can be an educator. I have had people question my decision about being a teacher, saying how there are no jobs out there and you won’t be successful. After a while, I started believing these comments and questioning my own choices. I started thinking of other careers I could possibly go into, but, none of them brought as much interest to me as teaching does.
I’m glad that my mom never gave up on her dream to become a teacher. She is an excellent teacher and I am not being biased. She has helped so many students in and outside of the classroom and she is someone that I look up to because of this. Like mother, like daughter, I am following in her footsteps in becoming a high school teacher. I could not see myself doing anything else and even though I have had people question my decision, I am following my heart. I have learned so much about my mom’s journey as an educator. Being able to dig deeper and find out more about her journey has been eye opening. I know with her incredible teaching techniques and methods, she will continue to inspire so many more students to continue and grow in whatever path they choose to take, just like she did with me.
I decided to interview someone very special to me and that person was my mom. My mom is a high school teacher and she has been teaching for over 25 years. She was one of many who inspired me to pursue education as a career. After the interview, I learned so much about her past. I loved hearing about her history and the journey she took to get to where she is today. Especially, since being her daughter, I was shocked that she never told me these stories before and I never even thought of asked her about them. We have shared so many similar stories together in how our passion for teaching came to be. In the interview, we both talked about how around the same age we both would pretend to have students and pretending to teach them. I never said this in the interview, but, it was also my grade 9 math teacher and my grade 12 music teachers that have inspired me to go into teaching. I just find it so funny how similar our past histories are.
What surprised me the most was when her professor stated that “teaching is not the real world”. I completely disagree because without education we would not have a working society. We rely on education to help build our economy to become a well running machine. Especially since her professor is already in the education field, the thought of her even saying this doesn’t make any sense to me.
Hearing my mom say she had doubts about being a teacher made me feel a little relieved. In my grade 12 year, I have had my multiple doubts and knowing that I am not the only one who feels that way is reassuring that I can be an educator. I have had people question my decision about being a teacher, saying how there are no jobs out there and you won’t be successful. After a while, I started believing these comments and questioning my own choices. I started thinking of other careers I could possibly go into, but, none of them brought as much interest to me as teaching does.
I’m glad that my mom never gave up on her dream to become a teacher. She is an excellent teacher and I am not being biased. She has helped so many students in and outside of the classroom and she is someone that I look up to because of this. Like mother, like daughter, I am following in her footsteps in becoming a high school teacher. I could not see myself doing anything else and even though I have had people question my decision, I am following my heart. I have learned so much about my mom’s journey as an educator. Being able to dig deeper and find out more about her journey has been eye opening. I know with her incredible teaching techniques and methods, she will continue to inspire so many more students to continue and grow in whatever path they choose to take, just like she did with me.
Interview Transcript
Carinna: Hi Mrs. Valente. Thank you so much for joining me today and allowing me to interview you.
Interviewer: Oh thank you, no problem Carinna. Thanks for having me. By the way, how’s Western? How are you liking your program?
Carinna: I really love Western and I just love being in the music program. I am just learning so much and growing so much as a musician and as an educator. You know, I have chosen you because you are one of many who have inspired me to pursue education as a career and today, I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your lifes journey as an educator and to learn more about you. Is that okay with you?
Interviewer: Ya, no problem. You are so talented Carinna, so I am so glad that you are lovely Western
Carinna: Thank you. Okay so let’s get started. Just as a generic question, Why education?
What made you decide to teach?
Interviewer: Actually Carinna you now, my desire for becoming a teacher started when I was a very young girl. I was in elementary, about ten years old in about grade 5, and the house that we lived in, the house I lived in with my parents at the time and the basement had this very old chalkboard and I used to go down there and I used to pretend that I was a teacher and I would pretend that I had a group of children in front of me and I would write on the board and I had my books and I would pretend to teach the class. So, that desire to teach, I think, started when I was a little girl.
Carinna: It’s funny that you say that because I actually did that around the same time in my basement, I would my white board and my neighbours would come over and I would pretend that I was teaching them and that’s kind of how it started for me as well and why I wanted to go into education
Interviewer: Interesting because many of us that think that going into teaching for the right reasons, there is that passion I think that’s just within us at a very young age. Interesting good.
Carinna: So, going off of your what you said, did anyone inspire you to go into teaching? If yes, who and how did they inspire you?
Interviewer: Well, I mean again, I have always had that desire, but, you know in grade 9 I had the most wonderful math teacher and I always liked working with numbers so he inspired me and then in grade 12 accounting teacher was another one that really inspired me to get into teaching. Very, very good teacher, he was wonderful and I actually took the same route he did. He was the one that inspired me to go and take the same path he did. I actually went to the same university that he went to, which was Ryerson. It’s funny because both teachers work with numbers. I got my grade 9 math teacher who worked with numbers, and my grade 12 accounting teacher again who worked with numbers so I was always really interested in working with numbers. English for me wasn’t very good.
Carinna: Me too.
Interviewer: Ya, I couldn’t write very well and I didn’t like reading all that much. It’s interesting because now that I am older, I really do enjoy reading. Still love the numbers, but, now I really enjoy reading. I guess, I didn’t like the stuff they wanted me to read at the time.
Carinna: It is very forced.
Interviewer: Yes, yes
Carinna: You didn’t have an option of what you wanted to read.
Interviewer: That’s right, and you know things change as we get older. Our interests change and it was my grade 12 accounting teacher that helped me to say ‘you know what, I want to do what he did. I definitely want to become a teacher. I want to teach the accounting’. He went to Ryerson, so I went to Ryerson and that’s what I did. He inspired me to go to Ryerson, become a teacher and that’s how it all began.
Carinna: So, I know that in high school you need two teachables and I have friends now who don’t know exactly what their second teachable is going to be, so I was just wondering what are your two teachables and when did you realize those were the subjects you wanted to teach?
Interviewer: Well Carinna, you know me as a math teacher, but, I guess you didn’t realize that my second teachable is business. I have been teaching math full time for many years but I also have taught business. Like I said, in grade 12 it was that accounting teacher that I had helped me realize that one day that this is what I want to do. I want to go into teaching, I want to work with numbers and it was him that fully inspired me to go into accounting. Accounting was what I really enjoyed in high school and even in university. I thought I rather teach both cause I thought what else can it be, but, the whole thing with the numbers. I loved working with numbers because English wasn’t for me. Again it was my grade 9 and grade 12 teacher, so between the two of them that’s where I got the accounting and the math from and they both are numbers people .
Carinna: What universities did you go to for your undergrad and teachers college?
Interviewer: For my undergrad, I went to Ryerson and it was my grade 12 accounting teacher that went to Ryerson as well and I remember saying one day ‘ya that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to go to Ryerson just like he did’ and so, I went to Ryerson and then I got accepted into teachers college at Western at Althouse.
Carinna: Nice
Interviewer: First I went there for one year and it was wondering. I really enjoyed both.
Carinna: So, I know that you said that as a young girl you have always had the desire to teach so I was just wondering from that time to before applying for teacher college was there any doubts you had about becoming a teacher?
Interviewer: Actually Carinna, there was two situations. The first one was at the time with my dad. He worked for the north York board of education; which is in Toronto. He was the custodian and I remember him coming home one day saying ‘they closed another school’ and then another night, ‘they closed another school’. At the time, the opportunities for teaching were not very good. They were closing schools down; there were not many teaching opportunities so at the time. I started thinking, ‘I am not going to get a job. What am I going to do?’ That’s when I started having my first set of doubts about teaching. The second one was, and this is really interesting, in my fourth year of Ryerson. I had a professor who worked at Ryerson part time and she was a full-time finical analyst. I remember having a conversation with her one night and I told her that I want to go into teaching. She said to me ‘why would you want to go into teaching’. She had some difficult students that she had to deal with at the university level and I remember her telling me about those students she was dealing with. She asked me saying, ‘why would you want to go into teaching’ and then one thing she said, which today I wish I had a response for her, but, she said to me, teaching is not the real world. At the time I was very young, very naïve, didn’t really understand and I thought between what she had said to me, I thought maybe it’s not the real world. What am I getting myself into? My dad coming home and saying there are no teaching jobs, they are closing down schools then I said “you know what maybe forget about the teaching”, let me just focus on the business and go into business. Actually that’s what I did. I graduated Ryerson and I actually went into business and I worked for an accounting firm for a few years and from there, I then went and worked in an accounting firm and it was a desk job. I really did not like a desk job, it just wasn’t for me. I am more of a people person so from there I got an opportunity to work at a banquet hall as an assistant manager. I liked that better because I was interacting more with people even though I was doing accounting for them I had to do some accounting work for them. I was also managing the restaurant and the banquet hall cause I was the assistant manager. I really enjoyed doing that and so I thought ‘okay this is it’ and then as time went on I thought again that desire to go into teaching, I said “you know what, I got to do this”. I know there are no teaching jobs out there so one day I just decided that “you know what, no this is just not for me” that desire to teach just came back to me again and I said okay you know what I’m going back to school. I am going to apply to teachers college and if I get in, great, and if it takes me years, if I have to supply for years to get a permanent position so be it and that’s what I did so I applied to teachers college and got in. At the time when I graduated, I was very very fortunate because the time of the cycle change now they needed all kinds of teachers so I actually got into teaching at a very good time. If you notice now, there are so many people that have these teaching degrees but don’t have an opportunity. They have been supplying for many many years. So that what it was the combination of my dad coming home and saying there are no jobs and then that professor that just put that in my head that its not the real world. Ya so that’s it, that’s how I got into teaching.
Carinna: So you said that you professor said “teaching is not the real world”, how did you feel about it when she said it then and have your views changed about it now?
Interviewer: Oh ya. Then cause I was young and didn’t understand, I thought she was right. I thought ya you know, I am fortunate because like I said I didn’t go into teaching right after my undergrad so I am luck because I have experience in both. I have experienced the business world and I have experience in education and if I could go back now and respond to her, I wish I could, I really wish I could because I would say to her that you both worlds are real and they are different. Teaching is a real world. You know she is a financial person and she is coming from a world with certain expectations and it you don’t do the job right, they can just fire you. Teaching isn’t like that. Teaching is a real world, it’s just a different world. It’s a world where we are dealing with young people and we are dealing with young people who come to us with so many different issues and they are real issues. There are young people who are dealing with real issues and real struggles that I have to deal with you know. Maybe I don’t have to worry about people paying a bill but there are so many other things that I have to worry about. Like I said teaching is a real world dealing with young people with all sorts of issues. I have kids come to school who’s parents that can’t afford to put food on the table, they come to school hungry. I have kids that are dealing with anxiety and depression and all sorts of other mental health issues. I have kids who are academically do very well and others who really really struggle. So is it real? Yes, it is a real world. It may not be her business world but it’s a real world and real world with just different issues but they are both real. I really wish I could go back and open up her mind and tell her this is real.
Carinna: What were the challenges that you faced while teaching?
Interviewer: Its funny Carinna because before I started teaching, I had this vision of teaching that I would go into my classroom and I would teach my lesson and I would explain things, I could explain things thoroughly, put a great lesson plan together, I thought the kids would just sit there and listen and then they would just go home and they would do their homework and that’s not always the case. At the academic level, it’s not so bad. It’s when you are teaching the applied level students. You can’t expect them to be sitting there and listening to you for 70 min. You can’t expect them to do all their homework but that’s what I thought. Those challenges for sure, I find motivating the kids a challenge, but I find that if you’re excited about what you’re teaching, they will get excited. Kids that come into my class that hate math, will come in and they don’t like math and then they see how excited I get in front of the board and they will go miss you are so excited and you know I have kids say to me miss I never liked math but I like coming here and so those challenges of motivating kids that really don’t want to be there is difficult. Also, you got kids that learn and have different styles of learning is a challenge. How do I get through to all of them? How do I get them to learn? The different styles and different abilities. Some kids learn quicker than others. These are all challenges that we face but that’s what makes the job. That’s what I love about the job. When I was working in business, I just sat at the desk and honestly it was boring but teaching, even though we face these challenges and if your heart is in it, those are challenges that make the job so rewarding and not boring not monateness because honestly you are constantly learning and I would say that today even thought I am close to retirement, I’ve been teaching for a long time, I’m still learning. There are still things happening. Teaching is an on-going learning process so there are challenges but that’s what makes the job so interesting. I love it.
Carinna: Is there anything that you hate doing?
Interviewer: Oh yes. The marking. I don’t like the marking. When I first started teaching I got so excited about doing the marking. “Oh I have marking to do this is great”. That slowly wares away. Honestly, I think that really is the only thing that I really really hate is all the marking.
Carinna: I have a final question for you and that is, do you have any regrets?
Interviewer: About going into teaching?
Carinna: Ya
Interviewer: You know there are days that I get frustrated just like with any other job and all I think about is that I want to retire but no I don’t, I don’t regret going into teaching. Like I said I think it’s always been in my heart and you know I have always said to people teaching, for me, and this is the honest truth, teaching for me has never been just a job. I felt like it was a vocation for me. It has been a part of my life. Being able to deal with real people, with real problems in their lives and I find to with teaching that I am not just somebody who just stands up in front of the board and teaches them how to do math or teaches them how to do accounting. Sometimes as teachers and this is me, sometimes I’m a mother to them, not a biological mother but I feel like I’m a parent to them and some of those kids they really need that. I find that as teachers we do wear different hats, we really do, so when you ask me do I have any regrets, no, not at all. I love my job. Like I said there are days were yes frustrated just like any other job but it is not a job, it’s not a job. It has been a part of my life.
Carinna: Awesome, well that’s all the questions I have for you today. Thank you so much again Mrs. Valente for taking the time to answering questions for me
Interviewer: And thank you Carinna and thank you for the cup of coffee
Carinna: Your welcome
Interviewer: Any time
Carinna: Hi Mrs. Valente. Thank you so much for joining me today and allowing me to interview you.
Interviewer: Oh thank you, no problem Carinna. Thanks for having me. By the way, how’s Western? How are you liking your program?
Carinna: I really love Western and I just love being in the music program. I am just learning so much and growing so much as a musician and as an educator. You know, I have chosen you because you are one of many who have inspired me to pursue education as a career and today, I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your lifes journey as an educator and to learn more about you. Is that okay with you?
Interviewer: Ya, no problem. You are so talented Carinna, so I am so glad that you are lovely Western
Carinna: Thank you. Okay so let’s get started. Just as a generic question, Why education?
What made you decide to teach?
Interviewer: Actually Carinna you now, my desire for becoming a teacher started when I was a very young girl. I was in elementary, about ten years old in about grade 5, and the house that we lived in, the house I lived in with my parents at the time and the basement had this very old chalkboard and I used to go down there and I used to pretend that I was a teacher and I would pretend that I had a group of children in front of me and I would write on the board and I had my books and I would pretend to teach the class. So, that desire to teach, I think, started when I was a little girl.
Carinna: It’s funny that you say that because I actually did that around the same time in my basement, I would my white board and my neighbours would come over and I would pretend that I was teaching them and that’s kind of how it started for me as well and why I wanted to go into education
Interviewer: Interesting because many of us that think that going into teaching for the right reasons, there is that passion I think that’s just within us at a very young age. Interesting good.
Carinna: So, going off of your what you said, did anyone inspire you to go into teaching? If yes, who and how did they inspire you?
Interviewer: Well, I mean again, I have always had that desire, but, you know in grade 9 I had the most wonderful math teacher and I always liked working with numbers so he inspired me and then in grade 12 accounting teacher was another one that really inspired me to get into teaching. Very, very good teacher, he was wonderful and I actually took the same route he did. He was the one that inspired me to go and take the same path he did. I actually went to the same university that he went to, which was Ryerson. It’s funny because both teachers work with numbers. I got my grade 9 math teacher who worked with numbers, and my grade 12 accounting teacher again who worked with numbers so I was always really interested in working with numbers. English for me wasn’t very good.
Carinna: Me too.
Interviewer: Ya, I couldn’t write very well and I didn’t like reading all that much. It’s interesting because now that I am older, I really do enjoy reading. Still love the numbers, but, now I really enjoy reading. I guess, I didn’t like the stuff they wanted me to read at the time.
Carinna: It is very forced.
Interviewer: Yes, yes
Carinna: You didn’t have an option of what you wanted to read.
Interviewer: That’s right, and you know things change as we get older. Our interests change and it was my grade 12 accounting teacher that helped me to say ‘you know what, I want to do what he did. I definitely want to become a teacher. I want to teach the accounting’. He went to Ryerson, so I went to Ryerson and that’s what I did. He inspired me to go to Ryerson, become a teacher and that’s how it all began.
Carinna: So, I know that in high school you need two teachables and I have friends now who don’t know exactly what their second teachable is going to be, so I was just wondering what are your two teachables and when did you realize those were the subjects you wanted to teach?
Interviewer: Well Carinna, you know me as a math teacher, but, I guess you didn’t realize that my second teachable is business. I have been teaching math full time for many years but I also have taught business. Like I said, in grade 12 it was that accounting teacher that I had helped me realize that one day that this is what I want to do. I want to go into teaching, I want to work with numbers and it was him that fully inspired me to go into accounting. Accounting was what I really enjoyed in high school and even in university. I thought I rather teach both cause I thought what else can it be, but, the whole thing with the numbers. I loved working with numbers because English wasn’t for me. Again it was my grade 9 and grade 12 teacher, so between the two of them that’s where I got the accounting and the math from and they both are numbers people .
Carinna: What universities did you go to for your undergrad and teachers college?
Interviewer: For my undergrad, I went to Ryerson and it was my grade 12 accounting teacher that went to Ryerson as well and I remember saying one day ‘ya that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to go to Ryerson just like he did’ and so, I went to Ryerson and then I got accepted into teachers college at Western at Althouse.
Carinna: Nice
Interviewer: First I went there for one year and it was wondering. I really enjoyed both.
Carinna: So, I know that you said that as a young girl you have always had the desire to teach so I was just wondering from that time to before applying for teacher college was there any doubts you had about becoming a teacher?
Interviewer: Actually Carinna, there was two situations. The first one was at the time with my dad. He worked for the north York board of education; which is in Toronto. He was the custodian and I remember him coming home one day saying ‘they closed another school’ and then another night, ‘they closed another school’. At the time, the opportunities for teaching were not very good. They were closing schools down; there were not many teaching opportunities so at the time. I started thinking, ‘I am not going to get a job. What am I going to do?’ That’s when I started having my first set of doubts about teaching. The second one was, and this is really interesting, in my fourth year of Ryerson. I had a professor who worked at Ryerson part time and she was a full-time finical analyst. I remember having a conversation with her one night and I told her that I want to go into teaching. She said to me ‘why would you want to go into teaching’. She had some difficult students that she had to deal with at the university level and I remember her telling me about those students she was dealing with. She asked me saying, ‘why would you want to go into teaching’ and then one thing she said, which today I wish I had a response for her, but, she said to me, teaching is not the real world. At the time I was very young, very naïve, didn’t really understand and I thought between what she had said to me, I thought maybe it’s not the real world. What am I getting myself into? My dad coming home and saying there are no teaching jobs, they are closing down schools then I said “you know what maybe forget about the teaching”, let me just focus on the business and go into business. Actually that’s what I did. I graduated Ryerson and I actually went into business and I worked for an accounting firm for a few years and from there, I then went and worked in an accounting firm and it was a desk job. I really did not like a desk job, it just wasn’t for me. I am more of a people person so from there I got an opportunity to work at a banquet hall as an assistant manager. I liked that better because I was interacting more with people even though I was doing accounting for them I had to do some accounting work for them. I was also managing the restaurant and the banquet hall cause I was the assistant manager. I really enjoyed doing that and so I thought ‘okay this is it’ and then as time went on I thought again that desire to go into teaching, I said “you know what, I got to do this”. I know there are no teaching jobs out there so one day I just decided that “you know what, no this is just not for me” that desire to teach just came back to me again and I said okay you know what I’m going back to school. I am going to apply to teachers college and if I get in, great, and if it takes me years, if I have to supply for years to get a permanent position so be it and that’s what I did so I applied to teachers college and got in. At the time when I graduated, I was very very fortunate because the time of the cycle change now they needed all kinds of teachers so I actually got into teaching at a very good time. If you notice now, there are so many people that have these teaching degrees but don’t have an opportunity. They have been supplying for many many years. So that what it was the combination of my dad coming home and saying there are no jobs and then that professor that just put that in my head that its not the real world. Ya so that’s it, that’s how I got into teaching.
Carinna: So you said that you professor said “teaching is not the real world”, how did you feel about it when she said it then and have your views changed about it now?
Interviewer: Oh ya. Then cause I was young and didn’t understand, I thought she was right. I thought ya you know, I am fortunate because like I said I didn’t go into teaching right after my undergrad so I am luck because I have experience in both. I have experienced the business world and I have experience in education and if I could go back now and respond to her, I wish I could, I really wish I could because I would say to her that you both worlds are real and they are different. Teaching is a real world. You know she is a financial person and she is coming from a world with certain expectations and it you don’t do the job right, they can just fire you. Teaching isn’t like that. Teaching is a real world, it’s just a different world. It’s a world where we are dealing with young people and we are dealing with young people who come to us with so many different issues and they are real issues. There are young people who are dealing with real issues and real struggles that I have to deal with you know. Maybe I don’t have to worry about people paying a bill but there are so many other things that I have to worry about. Like I said teaching is a real world dealing with young people with all sorts of issues. I have kids come to school who’s parents that can’t afford to put food on the table, they come to school hungry. I have kids that are dealing with anxiety and depression and all sorts of other mental health issues. I have kids who are academically do very well and others who really really struggle. So is it real? Yes, it is a real world. It may not be her business world but it’s a real world and real world with just different issues but they are both real. I really wish I could go back and open up her mind and tell her this is real.
Carinna: What were the challenges that you faced while teaching?
Interviewer: Its funny Carinna because before I started teaching, I had this vision of teaching that I would go into my classroom and I would teach my lesson and I would explain things, I could explain things thoroughly, put a great lesson plan together, I thought the kids would just sit there and listen and then they would just go home and they would do their homework and that’s not always the case. At the academic level, it’s not so bad. It’s when you are teaching the applied level students. You can’t expect them to be sitting there and listening to you for 70 min. You can’t expect them to do all their homework but that’s what I thought. Those challenges for sure, I find motivating the kids a challenge, but I find that if you’re excited about what you’re teaching, they will get excited. Kids that come into my class that hate math, will come in and they don’t like math and then they see how excited I get in front of the board and they will go miss you are so excited and you know I have kids say to me miss I never liked math but I like coming here and so those challenges of motivating kids that really don’t want to be there is difficult. Also, you got kids that learn and have different styles of learning is a challenge. How do I get through to all of them? How do I get them to learn? The different styles and different abilities. Some kids learn quicker than others. These are all challenges that we face but that’s what makes the job. That’s what I love about the job. When I was working in business, I just sat at the desk and honestly it was boring but teaching, even though we face these challenges and if your heart is in it, those are challenges that make the job so rewarding and not boring not monateness because honestly you are constantly learning and I would say that today even thought I am close to retirement, I’ve been teaching for a long time, I’m still learning. There are still things happening. Teaching is an on-going learning process so there are challenges but that’s what makes the job so interesting. I love it.
Carinna: Is there anything that you hate doing?
Interviewer: Oh yes. The marking. I don’t like the marking. When I first started teaching I got so excited about doing the marking. “Oh I have marking to do this is great”. That slowly wares away. Honestly, I think that really is the only thing that I really really hate is all the marking.
Carinna: I have a final question for you and that is, do you have any regrets?
Interviewer: About going into teaching?
Carinna: Ya
Interviewer: You know there are days that I get frustrated just like with any other job and all I think about is that I want to retire but no I don’t, I don’t regret going into teaching. Like I said I think it’s always been in my heart and you know I have always said to people teaching, for me, and this is the honest truth, teaching for me has never been just a job. I felt like it was a vocation for me. It has been a part of my life. Being able to deal with real people, with real problems in their lives and I find to with teaching that I am not just somebody who just stands up in front of the board and teaches them how to do math or teaches them how to do accounting. Sometimes as teachers and this is me, sometimes I’m a mother to them, not a biological mother but I feel like I’m a parent to them and some of those kids they really need that. I find that as teachers we do wear different hats, we really do, so when you ask me do I have any regrets, no, not at all. I love my job. Like I said there are days were yes frustrated just like any other job but it is not a job, it’s not a job. It has been a part of my life.
Carinna: Awesome, well that’s all the questions I have for you today. Thank you so much again Mrs. Valente for taking the time to answering questions for me
Interviewer: And thank you Carinna and thank you for the cup of coffee
Carinna: Your welcome
Interviewer: Any time
Student Interviews
I found it really interesting being able to interview my peers and see their perspective on music and how it has been involved in their own life. Being able to interview both sides of the spectrum and compare answers reassured me that music benefits all lives. With a student who is pursuing a career in music and a student who is going into nursing, their experiences are different but also very similar and I got to find that out through asking them various questions. It was interesting to hear their answers because one of them is wanting to continue in the field of music and become a music teacher and the other is not. I didn’t expect some of what they said but a lot of it was expected, but, it still made me realize that music can have an impact on all types of people and not just people who go into music as a career.
Emma, who was the non music major, talked a lot about sharing music through others and that’s how she learned and progressed through music. Working with others and sharing those experiences with others in the community. She was a part of musicals and choirs growing up so this has helped her build confidence.
On the other hand, after talking to Anne, the music major, she talked a lot about how music has helped her build a foundation on how to be a good person and a good student. Having dedication, good learning skills and co-operation with others.
They both share the similarity of playing and listening to music for fun and having the enjoyment out of it. I think we all either play or listen to music because we love it so much and it brings us all these emotions that we sometimes can’t always explain through just talking. They both feel that music allows yourself to express yourself and who you are as a person and being able to share what’s within you with the rest of the world.
The differences they both share is through how far they took music into their life. Music means something different to us all and for some it speaks more than to others which leads me to think that everyone has a love for something but it doesn’t always mean that it is their passion.
Emma, who was the non music major, talked a lot about sharing music through others and that’s how she learned and progressed through music. Working with others and sharing those experiences with others in the community. She was a part of musicals and choirs growing up so this has helped her build confidence.
On the other hand, after talking to Anne, the music major, she talked a lot about how music has helped her build a foundation on how to be a good person and a good student. Having dedication, good learning skills and co-operation with others.
They both share the similarity of playing and listening to music for fun and having the enjoyment out of it. I think we all either play or listen to music because we love it so much and it brings us all these emotions that we sometimes can’t always explain through just talking. They both feel that music allows yourself to express yourself and who you are as a person and being able to share what’s within you with the rest of the world.
The differences they both share is through how far they took music into their life. Music means something different to us all and for some it speaks more than to others which leads me to think that everyone has a love for something but it doesn’t always mean that it is their passion.