Cardsmax a Series of Five

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A series of five interviews were conducted to determine the views and perceptions of educators over various periods of teaching (3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years). These interviews were conducted over the phone, and compiled to show the ways that these teachers' philosophies and perceptions compare and contrast. A brief history of the No Child Left Behind law is also presented in conjunction with how each interview has affected my personal teaching philosophy and perceptions on the field of education. The conclusion of the interviews indicates that though five teachers may have varying points-of-view, one thing remains the same. They love what they do, and they have learned to work within the current framework given to them. For those that have been teaching a long time, change was a little more significant than for those that are new to the field of education. Those that have recently entered into the field had less transition to face due to the No Child Left Behind Law, therefore less compromise was needed. In contrast, those teaching foe extended periods of time have had to learn new methods and apply updated standards that were never expected before.

In 2005, Whitfield explained that the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act has had profound implications for teachers of young learners across the nation, especially those with special needs. The Act has two purposes: to raise student achievement across the board and to eliminate the achievement gap among students from different backgrounds. It demands that states both define a level of proficiency for all students to attain and establish a timeline for students to achieve that level by 2013 to 2014. The Act requires schools to use scientifically-based research to inform their classroom practice. This decision was based largely on the work of the National Reading Panel, which has been criticized for its reliance on the "hierarchy of skills" model, an approach adopted without debate by the Panel members as the basis for the program.

The No Child Left Behind act has managed to impact the teaching styles and concepts of educators across the board. Five interviews were conducted in order to see how the no child left behind act has impacted teachers at different stages in their careers. Interviews were conducted with teachers that have been in education for 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. In addition to determining their perspectives on no child left behind, the interviews will also find out opinions on standardized testing, personal teaching philosophy, and how teachers feel about who holds responsibility in preparation for testing.

The first interview was conducted with an educator that has been in the field for three years. When asked how the no child left behind act has affected the way that she prepares her lesson plans or teach her lesson plans Melissa stated that nothing really changed regarding my lesson plans or the way that I implement them. Honest the no child left behind act has been in effective I believe my whole teaching career, so needless to say there was no need to really shift to an alternate method. In fact the only thing that changed was the chain of command to have my lesson plans approved, but besides that it has business as usual. What are your views on differentiated education? I believe it is necessary, and I actually couldn't see having it any other way. This way allows me to insure that the needs of each student are being met, in a sense making sure that no child is left behind. Now you don't have to worry about if a child in not understanding the content or not receiving the information in a way that he or she needs in order to have total comprehension.

Since the start of your career in education, how has your teaching philosophy changed and how has this affected your method of teaching? My teaching philosophy has not changed much, it is pretty consistent since day one, and I think the one main difference really has to do with flexibility in my approach with students. I have learned that you can have a philosophy but the key is to know when it may need a little tweaking. Do you believe that educational systems should place greater emphasis or less emphasis on standardized testing and why? Less, stress should be placed on standardized testing. Every student has their own way to retain information, and there will be bits and pieces that one student remembers while the other may remember or comprehend the same material differently. With standardized testing if the questions are not presented in a manner that a student is use to they may do poorly, and actually have knowledge of the subject matter that cannot be determined through testing. These are just a few of the questions that Melissa was asked during the interview.

The philosophy of Melissa is somewhat similar to my personal philosophy. One difference is the focus that she has on special education, my personal philosophy. Experience in the classroom aids an educator in determining what methods work, what areas require more effort as well as what types of technology can be utilized in the classroom. This experience definitely would change a teacher's educational philosophy. At this time I would not revise my personal education philosophy.

The second interview conducted was with Larissa, she has been an educator for five years. She is currently thinking about transitioning into a more administrative role in the school system. This interview was conducted over the phone, and consisted of two parts. Here are the questions and answers from the interview. Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind law, what has been the impact on how you prepare lessons and teach the lesson(s)? There has been a significant impact actually. Now, I believe there is more stress on our lesson plans and how we intend to implement them. We actually have to prepare lesson plans earlier and they have to go through an approval process just to insure that the plan meets the No Child Left Behind standards. Plus, now we have a lot more evaluations that we go through ourselves and evaluations for the students as well. It honestly seems like we have moved away from the actually teaching of the students.

What are your views on differentiated education? Its okay, it is significant to the ability of most students to succeed in the classroom. The idea of individualizing a plan to each student is a good idea; on the other hand it also puts more on the teacher. Not only do we have to come up with a lesson plan that will work in the classroom, now we have to make sure that the needs of each child is met in that plan. But I guess with all things come negatives, you just have to be able to work with it. Since the start of your career in education, how has your teaching philosophy changed and how has the affected your method of teaching? My teaching philosophy has changed is the focus on the student as an individual, in the beginning it was more general, more like a goal. I wanted to say be able to make a change in at least half of the students in my class, now my philosophy incorporates them all. I want to insure that I make a positive impact on every student I encounter, no matter how small that impact is everything counts. This has directly changed my methods in the classroom. I take a lot more individualized time with each student, and I try to make myself more available outside of class time if a student needs it.

Do you believe that educational systems should place greater emphasis or less emphasis on standardized testing and why? Less emphasis should be placed on standardized testing. A lot of students just don't test well. In my opinion standardized testing just isn't a real good indicator of a student's ability. Students should be given a way to apply the knowledge they have learned to a given situation, I think that is a much better indicator than any standardized test. What recent changes or new educational methodologies do you believe hold the greatest potential for improving modern education? The implementation of a more psychological perspective I believe does have the highest ability of improving current methods and standards. Would you feel comfortable supporting a political party or candidate that espoused educational approaches with which you strongly disagree? I'm not sure that I would be alright with that. Luckily I haven't really been in that situation, so I can't say that I have been confronted with the issue at this time.

How has your teaching philosophy changed since the implementation of No Child Left Behind? Just like I stated earlier, my philosophy is more focused on the individual student than just generalizing. That is really the only way that it has changed. Are all levels of government responsible for solving the social and economic problems of society? Well no, I mean the community I think has to take responsibility too, but the government does call the shots, and when you really look at the fact that the funding that most schools receive is pretty small compared to how much the government can dictate what goes on in the classroom. Schools are the instrument of change. Do you agree? Why or Why not? Yes, I agree, we as educators have a lot to do with what way a child will go and choices that they will make. In school we have the power to build confidence, and show students how to communicate and what it takes to be a productive person, contributing to society in a positive manner.

Do you feel focusing the school year on standardized testing preparation prevents building the student-teacher relationship? Yes, I believe that those relationships are harder to build focusing on standardized testing. The classroom is more mechanical, and repetitive. However a great teacher will find ways to still build those relationships with their students. The interview with Larissa really made me evaluate my current philosophies. I understand the importance of focus on the student as an individual and attempting to mold those things in each student. This interview made me look at my personal philosophy closely and see how realistic it is and can I truly see myself sticking to those ideals and perspectives. And once again I found myself realizing how important it is to remain flexible at all times; you never know when the time may come for an alteration.

The third interview was done with an educator that has been at the same school and working in the field of education for 10 years. The teacher interviewed was Charles this interview was conducted over the phone; here are the questions and answers for this interview. Since the implementation of the No Child Left behind law, what has been the impact on how you prepare lessons and teach the lesson(s)? I have had to do a complete overhaul on my lesson plans and the implementation of them. I would have to say that the No Child Left Behind law has shifted teaching completely. I had to change the way I teach my course completely, as well as the milestones that need to be accomplished in class. What are your views on differentiated education? I disagree with a differentiated approach; you would think that it is beneficial in the classroom. However over my experience I think that it makes the job of the educator more difficult. Here you have a teacher that is already creating a plan that has a set of guidelines in the first place, now you have to go and attempt to make it suitable for all of the kids in your class instead of generalizing it. It can be more work than it really is worth in my opinion.

Since the start of your career in education, how has your teaching philosophy changed and how has this affected your method of teaching? No changes have been made to my philosophy, I stood by it ten years ago and I continue to stand by it now. Isn't the whole purpose of having a personal philosophy for education, for life, for whatever to stand firmly behind it? Well that is what I do. Do you believe that educational systems should place greater emphasis or less emphasis on standardized testing and why? Yes, if there was more emphasis placed on standardizing testing it would be easier to weed out those kids that probably will not be too successful further down the line in education. Now the downfall is that now they have it set up where we spend most of the school year preparing students to take standardized tests, so students that normally wouldn't do well may even be able to pass it just because of the amount of preparation that takes place.

What recent changes or new educational methodologies do you believe hold the greatest potential for improving modern education?

Not sure right now, things seem real up in the air. This is not a sure time; everyone is searching for answers, not sure what the next big thing will be. Would you feel comfortable supporting a political party or candidate that espoused educational approaches with which you strongly disagree? Yes, I would be comfortable with that. It is just like a president, you may not agree with 100% of what they say but a large portion of it you support. You don't turn your back because you don't agree with everything. Sometimes you just need to put yourself in the shoes of the other guy. How has your teaching philosophy changed since the implementation of No Child Left Behind? It hasn't changed.

Are all levels of government responsible for solving the social and economic problems of society? No, they are not. Government as well as the average citizen is responsible for the problems that we as a society are having. Don't get me wrong the government plays a significant role, but it is not totally their responsibility. That is a real copout to put it all on the shoulders of the government. Schools are the instruments of change. Do you agree? Why or why not? No, I don't agree with that statement. I believe that the home is the instrument of change more than school. School is a facet but not the ultimate component to change. Do you feel focusing the school year on standardized testing preparation prevents building the student-teacher relationship? No, those bonds will form regardless. You are still spending time with the kids on a daily basis, learning each other. The interview with Charles was interesting, his views and philosophies contrast the previous ones. Though our opinions are different I respect the fact that he stands behind his philosophies and is willing to support them completely.

The following interview was done with an educator that has been teaching for 15 years. Elizabeth has taught at the same school for that 15-year period. Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind law, what has been the impact on how you prepare lessons and teach the lesson(s)? I have experienced a complete shift in how things are done. You could actually say that it is a shift back to way things use to be. Testing has always been important, making sure that students reach milestones is important; we got away from that premise. Now we have more of a focus on standardized testing and making sure that all students are prepared for success on those tests. What are your views on differentiated education? It is a shift from the norm that is for sure. There are a lot of teachers that seem lost in the concept, but it makes sense. It has made the classroom a little more taxing for the teacher, but I believe it is all in good measure.

Since the start of your career in education, how has your teaching philosophy changed and how has this affected your method of teaching? My education philosophy has not changed by much. I have always had a focus on the individualized student and bringing out the best in them all. Do you believe that educational systems should place greater emphasis or less emphasis on standardized testing and why? Less emphasis should be placed on standardized testing. It puts too much stress on students, there has to be a better way. There are other ways and methods to test the knowledge of students; we need to use those methods. What recent changes or new educational methodologies do you believe hold the greatest potential for improving modern education? Let me think about that, what is the next question? Would you feel comfortable supporting a political party or candidate that espoused educational approaches with which you strongly disagree? Yes, in any given situation you have to be able to take the good with the bad. And this would be one of those situations.

How has your teaching philosophy changed since the implementation of No Child Left Behind? My style remands unchanged, I have always taken the same position as those stated in the No Child Left Behind law, so there has not really been any significant alteration to it to mention. Are all levels of government responsible for solving the social and economic problems of society? Yes, they make the rules, and then they are responsible for when those rules don't work. Why should the blame lay with someone else? You make a law stand by it whether it fails or succeeds. Schools are the instruments of change. Do you agree? Why or why not? I agree the teacher has the ability to make a change in the perceptions of a student, their self-esteem, and how they view learning in total. Though the teacher must have the help of the parents, school is absolutely an instrument of change.

Do you feel focusing the school year on standardized testing preparation prevents building the student-teacher relationship? No, I have managed to build the same relationships with students throughout my career. The only thing that has changed is the way that we present material, and instead of preparing them for test that we have created more focus is on standardized test prep. My students still have the same bonds with me as the students I had ten years ago. This interview allowed me to see that with time, wisdom is created. You can stand by your philosophy and still be flexible while understanding the significance of compromise. The educator is a beacon for change in a student; teachers are a true key to student success.