Interview with First Grade Teacher – A Day in the Life Video Series #6

This week’s Day in the Life Video series is an interview with first grade teacher, Kristin, who is in her third year.She switched careers later in life and started teaching in 2020 which was a challenge. During the pandemic, she was doing concurrent teaching where she taught live in the classroom and distance learning at the same time. Now she is returning to her “new normal” with 18-22 students. She is a regular education teacher where she has students with special needs in her classroom. Kristin works very closely with special education where her students receive pull out services for reading recovery and other services.

PROS AND CONS OF BEING A FIRST GRADE TEACHER

We talk about the pros and cons during the interview with first grade teacher, Kristin. She really enjoys the relationships she creates with her students which keeps her motivated to teach. She is very passionate about reading and seeing her students succeed in this area is very exciting for her.

It can be difficult to have demands on her time that have nothing to do with her classroom responsibilities that take away from planning so she can teach. It is tricky to implement interventions from related services.

We discuss how this can be hard for a lot of teachers and possibly solutions such as:

  • boundaries for your personal time. If you are burned out it doesn’t matter what you are doing in the classroom because you will have a negative attitude. The kids can sense that.
  • prioritizing tasks.
  • establishing routines in the classroom where kids can work independently at certain times which allows that time to implement interventions.
  • scaffolding the routines by adding more choices for the students.

If Kristin could wave her magic wand she wishes that there was more time for free play and multiple recess times throughout the day! She tries and builds free play into her schedule. Her students have centers as part of their morning routine instead of morning paperwork/worksheets.

HOW CAN RELATED SERVICE PROVIDERS SUPPORT TEACHERS?

We discuss suggestions regarding how related services can support teachers in the regular education environment:

  • simplify things so that they can be accomplished. It can be too confusing if related service providers too much information which can be overwhelming.
  • make activities “turn key” so the teacher doesn’t have to print or laminate the intervention.

THE BENEFITS OF A SAFE SPACE IN THE FIRST GRADE CLASSROOM

One final discussion is about the benefits of creating a safe space in the classroom to help with emotional regulation. She teaches her students how to use it. One item that is included in there is a small laundry basket that they can calm down in. She works on teaching her students deep breathing for emotional regulation. Her students are allowed to use the calm down corner whenever they need to and flip a sand timer when they enter the area. She reflects on how the students do not need a lot of space for this to be effective.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE FIRST GRADE TEACHER INTERVIEW FOR THE DAY IN THE LIFE SERIES

Check out this interview with a School Based Physical Therapist.