Interview Questions and Observation

Interview Questions:

High-Preforming Student

T: Do you enjoy school?

S: Sort of. (long pause)

T: What do you like about school?

S: Play ninja at recess. I like being student of the week.

T: What kind of student are you?

I think I’m a good student. 

(talks a lot in between questions about random things)

T: What do for fun outside of school?

S: Playing with Legos and whatever I want to do.

T: How would your classmates describe you?

S: They would say I nice

T: Would they say you are mean?

S: (student smiles really big and shakes head) NOOOOO!

T: Who are you friends with? What do you and your friends do together?

S: (Lists two of his classmates) Just two friends. We do whatever we want.

T: Tell me a good memory you have about school? 

S: Playing outside. Playing Ninja

T: Tell me a bad memory you have about school?

S: I don’t like pulling sticks, I’ve only pulled a stick twice and I earned it back.

(This is their behavior management system. They loose “sticks” when they are bad but always have the opportunity to earn it back.)

T: Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.

S: Preschool teacher. She was nice. (names his teacher)

T: What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you?

S: I wish she knew I liked to play with the Wii.

Low-Performing Student

T: Do you enjoy school?

S: Yes. I like to play.

T: What kind of student are you? Are you a good student?

S: A good student.

T: What do for fun outside of school?

S: I like to play with my big sister and little sister. I pretend to be animals. My sister pretends to be the cow she says ribit ribit.

T: How would your classmates describe you?

(Student looks confused)

T: Would they tell me your favorite food? Would they say you are nice?

S: My friends would say I’m nice

T: Who are you friends with? What do you and your friends do together?

S: Names friends in her class. We play Legos.

T: Tell me a good memory you have about school? 

S: I like to be the door holder.

(This is one of their classroom jobs. They get to hold a classroom job if they keep all of their sticks for the day)

T: Tell me a bad memory you have about school?

S: I don’t like play with puppets

T: Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.

S: (Names her current teachers) because they teach you stuff

T: What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you? Do you wish they knew what you like to play? A favorite food?

S: Wish they knew my favorite food. Macaroni.

What can you conclude about this information?

Other students kept coming over to talk after I was done interviewing students. I even had to pretend to interview one of the little boys because he wanted to “be asked questions”. However, once a student was in the process of the interview, they became very bored with it and were ready to move on to the next thing. Both students I interviewed are good students. The student I pretended to interview answered that he was a good student and that he NEVER talked when the teacher talks. This is interesting because he is very ornery and seems like talk a lot when the teacher is talking.

Observations of a struggling student during stations:

I am observing this struggling student during stations. For some background information, this student struggles academically and also has some unfortunate circumstances going on at home as well. His teacher explains that his work was better at the beginning of the school year but has progressively gotten worse as the year has continued. She feels it is because the issues at home started after school started. It’s obvious that it has impacted his performance.  He seems interested at times and then at other times he does the exact opposite of what he is supposed to be doing.

At the morning workstation he has a hard time staying on task. Instead of doing what he is supposed to do he goes to the computers. Once the teacher redirects him, he goes back to where he is supposed to be. Once back at his table he distracts others at his station. The teacher has to tell him to stop distracting his classmates. He gets back to what he is supposed to be doing.

He has moved to the next station and he is interested in sharing what he has in his “supply bag”. He likes to talk a lot and often distracts his classmates. At his current station he is on task and doing what he is supposed to do. At this station they are making legs for their spider hats. This student likes to be praised and asks often if he is doing a good job.  When he hears it is time to clean up he listens at first but then he gets off task and distracted. He seeks a lot of attention from his peers.

The student is now at the journal station where there is no teacher (normally the station I help with). He began working independently at first. He wrote his name and wrote the date. At this point he stopped working and started yelling at one of his classmates. He told her to move her stuff out of his way. He then made his way to sharpen his pencil. When he got back he began drawing his picture instead of writing his sentence. When told to write his sentence he got very frustrated and did not want to start. He was copying from a piece of paper but he did not want to start. He may have a hard time seeing the paper but he is very frustrated. Finally he begins working with many stops. When he says that he has finished writing his sentence it is very hard to read. He begins drawing his picture. When he considers his journal done he shows his teacher. When his teacher sees that he has not correctly written his sentence, he is told to fix it using his own card that tells him how to spell a specific word. Once he has his own paper to copy from he does better and stays on task.