TASK 8: Interview your mentor on the roles and responsibilities of a teacher (Teaching Practice year1 semester2)

Roles & responsibilities	Questions to ask mentor	Comments
Planning	How do you plan your lessons? Do you differentiate your plans? Do you plan weekly or daily? Do you plan individually or in a group?	She look at the objectives and search for activities linked to the objectives.  She then begins writing the plans.  Whilst looking for activities, she ensures the work is differentiated to suit the students.  She plans at grade level on a weekly basis.
Pastoral	How often do you meet parents? What does your pastoral work involve?	Generally she meets parents once a term or when there is a concern about a child.   Any concerns regarding the child are passed on to the social workers.
Professional Development	What PD do you do?  How often do you have PD?	She has PD twice a week.  It is related to aspects related to the whole school, for example, whole school behavior management, SIP goals, 21st-century skill ideas, professional conduct.
Class Management	What do you need to manage your class? How do you manage your class?  Do you have any problems with class management?  Which classroom rules do you use? Why?	Class dojo is an effective behavior management system which is used widely in our school.  She set clear expectations and rules so the child can follow and know what the consequences are if rules are not followed.  The children are often very excited to answer questions and will call out answers.  At times, this can become an issue especially if they all want to say something and you can’t hear what they are saying.  In order to manage this effectively she count down from 5 or shake a musical instrument which instantly tells them to quiet down.  Reminding children to raise their hands is a constant battle but reward them for doing so reminds them of doing the right thing.
Teaching Strategies	What is your favorite teaching strategy? What important strategies should we follow?	She appreciates small group teaching which focuses on specific needs of a group.  Whilst she with that group, the other groups are getting on independently with other activities suited to their needs.  She would suggest that you find a strategy that suits you and the students you work with.  In some cases, children in her class can work independently whilst in some cases they simply get distracted and, therefore, whole class teaching with differentiated work works well.