Teacher Interview

Teacher Interview

Deborah Grimes

3rd Grade

Stagecoach Elementary

1. Did you have to supply everything in your classroom; does the school give you an allowance to supply, prep, and/or decorate your classroom? 
    I have collected all of this over the past decade. My school is fortunate enough to be able to supply each teacher with $200 to help to whatever she wants for his/her class. Some use is wisely and pick and choose, others like a first time kindergarten teacher down the hall used all of hers on a fancy rug that matched her classroom. It was ruined before Christmas. If your blessed enough to receive money for your class, use it wisely! Get discount books, go to yard sales and thrift shops, and check with retiring teachers. Some sell their old stuff really cheap or even give it away!

2.  How much would you say a teacher spends out of pocket on their classroom?
    It just depends on the teacher. Some will only use that $200 given to them and make it stretch all year, and others spend so much that they should have an insurance policy on their classroom. It's a personal preference. I personally spent a couple of hundred dollars my first year or two. Now, my classroom is full of frogs and I have supplies from three years ago, so I usually only spend more money when plan something new... Maybe $50-$100 for the whole year.

3. What system do you use to access/check-out books from your personal library?
     Students have to bring the book they wish to take home to my desk, and let me check both their current reading level, and the books. They each have a colored dot on the spine that tells me the level. Once I okay it, I write it in my book journal; it's a simple printout that has a blank for book title, author, date, and student name. When they return it, I highlight their name.

4. Do your books tend to come back damaged, or do they last okay?
     I've had a lot of my books since before these kids were born. Some books I got used and others, new, but if students are actually carrying the book with them and reading it, it's going to get some wear and tear. Unless a book becomes unreadable, it's fine to go back into the library. If one student did an obscene amount of damage, I may ask them to replace it depending on the child and the book. But for the most part, it's not a huge issue.

5. Are your books categorized or sorted in any way?
     Mine are sorted my Genre, and have a colored dot on the spine telling the book level. Each child knows his/her color.

6. Do you have both fiction and non-fiction books?
     Yes, I carry both in my library, but I mostly stock non-fiction.

7. Where do you get your books? Are there discount sites/stores you've found useful?
     I've acquired mine throughout the years at yard sales, a discount book store that went out of business, and teachers before me. When I want to add new material I use Scholastic quite often. If your class orders books and spends a certain amount of money, you get some free books.

8. Do your students test or do some sort of assessment for reading chapter books on their own?
     Yes, we so AR testing where they can test on either books they've read on their own or that we've read as a class. They get points and need to hit a certain amount per grade, and for those who excel, they get a prize at the end of each nine weeks.

9. When are your students allowed to check out books?
     They can visit our class library or the school's library any time as long as their work is complete and it's not during class.

10. Do your students utilize the class library?
       I always advise them to look through our class library first before going to the school's library. I think they use it wisely.

11. Are all of your books in English?
       Yes. I have a section of books inspired by other cultures, but because we try to mainstream students and get them in an English setting, I don't keep other languages in my class. I also don't know that I would unless I spoke that language before putting that book in my classroom. I'm responsible for all the material my students take from my classroom, and I personally read my books carefully before putting them in the library.