Students-Climate & Relationships Flashcards
What is your experience working with students from diverse backgrounds? How does diversity impact student learning?
What is your approach to working with students with special needs?
Working with students with special needs you need to have patience and understanding. Not every student learns the same way and you need to instruct a variety of learning styles.
How do you build student relationships and encourage student leadership?
Making connections with students involves learning their interests and relating interests to them. Asking questions about certain apparel, complimenting on nice-looking clothes. Saying hello and smiling in the hallways when passing. Now that masks are off it’s important to smile and be friendly, that’s all it could take to turn a student’s day around. Have student-led clubs, set up a team to conduct morning announcements, student council, and sports teams.
Why do you want to work with Elementary/Middle School Students?
I have been working with elementary/middle school students for the past 10 years. I really enjoy the younger grades because you have the opportunity and duty to instil the love of school and learning in the kids. Showing kids how fun and the exciting school can be will aid in more positive attitudes towards school and increase attendance. Witnessing the joy and excitement on a young student’s face when they finally understand something is the ultimate gift in teaching the elemetary grades.
What action would you take to deal with hallway discipline issues?
Ensure all teachers are by their classroom doors to monitor hallways and to greet students as they are entering classrooms. Enlist in extra adults to be in the hallways during transition time. Personally, if there were issues in the hallways I would station myself where I could see what was happening.
How would you respond if a teacher came to you to report a suspected abuse of a student at home?
What is your philosophy of student discipline? How does it relate to students receiving special education services?
Describe your process for handling a disciplinary referral in which a student has been sent to the office for being disruptive and disrespectful in class.
First off, talk to the student’s teachers. When speaking with the teachers, you get a clear idea of the actual problems. You should talk to the student as well for their perspective. Administrators need to support and empower teachers. It’s best that the discipline comes from the teacher as opposed to an administrator. Teachers relinquish their power when they constantly call on administrators to handle student behavior. Therefore, I encourage the teachers to discipline their students themselves. When a teacher’s discipline isn’t enough, I’ll provide increasing disciplinary actions to the student. As discipline issues continue, I’ll move up the ladder from detentions and to loss of privileges. Increasing disciplinary action works with some students, but definitely not all students. A call home home can be very effective, and is an undervalued tool for educators. For serious problem students, I would look into behavior interventions and positive behavior support systems. These behavior plans must be individualized for each student. And last but not least, utilize wrap around services. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Wrap around services is just that. Reach out to anyone and everyone willing to help with this child.
Summary: First talk to the teachers, talk to the student for their perspective, support and empower the teacher to discipline the student, provide increasing disciplinary actions, utilize behavior intervention strategies for the student, positive behavior supports, and wrap around services.
How would you highlight cultural diversity in your school?
At the classroom level, I recommend incorporating culture studies to highlight different cultures. Students get to talk about themselves, and by extension, their cultures. Students are given the opportunity to research their country as a classroom project. They then present their research to the entire classroom. Teachers can hang classroom posters and decorations that reflect the cultural beliefs and heritage of the students. Just the same, our schools’ hallways should be culturally decorated as well. The school decor should be an integration of the school’s culture and that of their students. One way to highlight diversity include having a school-wide multicultural day. This event would include food, music, and other festivities. In the curriculum, diversity should be highlighted with culturally represented readings and activities. I want to see educators practicing culturally representative teaching styles. Also, course assessments should be culturally representative. For example, research has shown some races/cultures perform better on performance based assessments as opposed to classic tests. As an administrator, I will always advocate on behalf of the students, and work to make the necessary changes to the curriculum.
Summary: Culture studies, multicultural day, posters of cultural significance and heritage, integration of student culture within the classroom, culturally represented readings and activities in the curriculum, culturally representative teaching styles and assessments, and advocate for the students
