Impacted Student Interviews

For this section, I interviewed my boyfriend Aj, my best friend Danielle, and my co-worker Kyle. I asked the same questions in each interview, and took down a few notes.

While interviewing Kyle, he told me all about his high school teacher named Mr. Sheers. As he talked about him, I could tell that he was different than the rest because Kyle had told me previously that he really did not enjoy school as a kid. One statement that he said during our conversation was that he thinks Mr. Sheers made such an impact on him because he "tried to relate to us more than he tried to get us to relate", which I thought was fascinating. This is the core of what it means to be an ally for your students - becoming their confidant & friend prior to trying to teach content is very important. For Kyle, he knew that Mr. Sheers would always make a point of getting to chat with him about things he enjoyed rather than just content or homework. Especially for students who already dislike school and many of their teachers, this is important.

My second interviewee, Aj, explained to me that he loved his high school Spanish teacher (Miss Stivers) because she was patient with her students and got to know most of them on a more personal level. Aj said that she would always take a few minutes to ask the students about their weekends, what was bothering/exciting them today, ect. which made her more appealing to students like Aj. Simply knowing that the teacher cares about the things you like and enjoy, creates a better relationship. Caring about your students is also crucial to becoming a teacher as an ally.

While interviewing Danielle, she told me about her first grade teacher, Miss Moss. She explained that Miss Moss made quite an impact on her at such a young age because she was a fun teacher who still had rules for her classroom. Danielle said, "she was respectful and creative, and helped us think outside our own boxes". Later on in our interview, Danielle also confided in me that she used to get bullied quite a bit during her first grade year, and Miss Moss would allow her to help her out in the classroom during lunch so that she wouldn't have to go out with all the other students. This is also an important part of becoming a teacher as an ally - knowing when a student needs a safe place to rest. Even though her experience with Miss Moss was at such a young age, Danielle still remembers it vividly because it meant so much to her at the time, to simply have a safe place to go during lunch.

I think all three of these amazing teachers were great allies to their students, or at least to these three students I interviewed. They were supportive, encouraging, personal, kind, and caring. Each one wanted to better the environment that their students were learning in, and create a safe spot of every kind of child. Let's all aspire to be teachers like this!