ED522: Interview with Val Sheridan Comer (Version 1)
- 1. Interview with a Val-pire By Wyatt Hall, with the great help of Valerie Sheridan Comer ED522 June 21, 2012 Prof. Lynne Wissink-Tressler
- 2. Just the Facts, Jack • Interviewed Valerie Sheridan Comer • Since 2006, she has worked at Holy Trinity School, which is located in Georgetown • She is a reading specialist
- 3. Explain a typical Monday in your classroom. • Empty classroom at 7:30 AM (because she’s a specialist) • DLR: daily language review • Introduce spelling pattern of the week • Brainstorm words and pre- test • Picture walk with predictions for story • Reading together from chapter books • Draw and Write
- 4. What are some of the biggest problems you had to face this past year as a teacher? 3rd Grade: 4th Grade: • Almost half of the • Males - beginning of students have pecking order special needs • Females - beginning • Those needs are of cattiness addressed by school • Intake year for a through few new students observations and • Questioning why rearrangement of most things need to student’s class be done schedule
- 5. What ideas or activities from your graduate classes are you implementing? • Storyboard, i.e. digital storytelling (ED554) • Running records (ED522)
- 6. Is there anything there is not enough in the classroom? Physical space: • Because it is an older building, rooms not designed for classroom purposes have been converted Necessary for: • kids’ movement • creating different learning centers
- 7. What advice would you give to a teacher who was just entering the elementary school system, specifically 2nd to 4th grade? • LISTEN. • Kids will try to communicate to the best of their abilities, but not necessarily just in words but also behavior, gestures and other actions.
- 8. Recap questions • Where does Val teach? • What’s a DLR? • What’s the main difficulty with her third graders? • What should new elementary school teachers remember to do, and why?