This document contains an interview with Rochelle Deter, the head of the mathematics department at University Preparatory School. In the interview, Ms. Deter describes her classroom set up, typical teaching day, teaching style, classroom management approach, views on understanding students, motivating students, technology policy, homework policy, advice for new teachers, and approach to meeting the needs of all students. She emphasizes understanding students, modeling expected behavior, allowing opportunities to succeed, and being willing to adapt lessons as needed.

1. Taylor Angley-Holman
National University

2. Education
■ Bachelor’s Degree
– Christian Brothers University
– Memphis, TN
– Bachelor of Science
Business Administration
– Summa Cum Laude (4.0 GPA)

3. Athletics
NCAA Division II Athlete
• Christian Brothers University Baseball
• 2018-19 Team Captain

4. Academic
&
Athletic Awards
• Christian Brothers University Summa Cum
Laude (2016-2018)
• Buccaneer Gold Scholar (2016-2018)
• Highest GPA of all Athletes
• Christian Brothers University Lasallian
Transfer Scholarship (2016-2018)
• Christian Brothers University Baseball
Scholarship (2016-2018)
• Division II Athletics Directors Association
Academic Achievement Award (2016-17)

5. Shasta College Basketball
■ Assistant Coach (2018-19)
– Player Development
– Recruiting
– Opponent Scouting
– Statistics
– Social Media

6. Social Media
■ Director of Social Media
– Christian Brothers University Baseball
(2017-18)
– Shasta College Basketball (2018-19)
– University Preparatory School
Basketball & Football (2018 – Present)

7. Shasta County Office of Education
Substitute Teacher (2019)

8. University Preparatory School (2018-Present)
8th
Grade Basketball Head Coach Junior Varsity Football Offensive Coordinator

9. Learner
Autobiography
and Philosophy
of Education
• National University
• ITL 600
• Identify goals as a professional educator
• Focus on continually improving

11. Enjoy
The
Journey

12. Artifact
Reflection
National University

13. Resume

14. Infographic
ITL 602 - Education in the U.S.

15. Field Work Interview
ITL 602 - Education in the U.S.
Interview with Rochelle Deter
University Preparatory School
Head of Mathematics Department

16. Field Work Interview cont.
1. Please provide a brief description of your classroom.
My classroom is arranged in the “traditional” way, with students in rows of desks. My desk is
at the back. White boards are in the front and back of the room. I use the white boards in
front to teach with and the one in the back has the weekly agenda. In the front of the room,
opposite the door, is where students place their cell phones. It is in front so students can
keep an eye on it but opposite the door so it’s harder for one to magically walk away.

17. Field Work Interview cont.
2. What does a typical day look like in your classroom?
I put up a “warmup” on the doc camera while students pass their homework forward. I quickly give each student a score of 1 to 4 on their
homework and record the score while they work on the warmup. Homework is graded on completion so a score of 4 means that it’s
complete, etc. The warmup contains problems like the ones they did on their homework.
After I pass back the homework and students are finished with the warmup I choose a student to roll a big foam die to determine how we
grade the warmup. If the die rolls an odd number, we review the warmup but it’s not graded. A 2 or 4 means that students trade papers and
grade the warmup based on accuracy, while a 6 means that everyone gets full credit on the warmup.
Next, I take homework questions. These are questions about homework problems that students had from the previous assignment that they
got stuck on.
Next comes the presentation of new material. I give example problems similar to the ones that students see in their textbook. I try to make it
so students have several different examples to look at in order to do a certain type of problem. At the end of the lecture (but often midway
through it) I give students a problem or two for them to do on their own. After I check their work to make sure they understand, they begin
on their assignment. Homework is the remainder of the assignment that wasn’t finished in class.

18. Field Work Interview cont.
3. Tell me about your teaching style.
I believe we tend to teach in the way we prefer to be taught. For me, that is through lecture. I
explain the material and show how it’s related to previously learned material. I demonstrate
how to solve the related problems, often several times, before I give the students a chance to
try to solve a problem without my help. When they are confident that they’ve “got it,” that’s
when I leave them to work on their assignment alone or with a friend.

19. Field Work Interview cont.
4. How do you handle classroom management?
I am a pretty easygoing person, but also serious. I find that if students clearly understand
what I expect from their behavior, I’m most likely to get that behavior. Of course, students are
people too, so they often need reminding or redirecting. It is very rare that I have a student
act out and misbehave on purpose. If that’s the situation then I get counseling and/or admin
to help me.
I show my students respect and model the behavior that I expect from them. I also try to find
a way to connect with as many students as possible. When we can see each other as people
and not just teacher-student then that also builds respect. It also helps that I have an
incredible amount of patience, so if I have to take time out of class to lecture students about
behavior (this happens maybe once a year) then they all take me very seriously.

20. Field Work Interview cont.
5. How much do you want or need to know about your students in order to be most helpful to
them?
I want to know as much as possible. Knowing about students and their lives, especially any
difficulties or hardships they have, helps to remind me that the part of their lives that they
share with me for one hour a day is a very small part of their world. I find that it is easier to be
empathetic and work with students to help them get what they need from me if I can learn
about who they are as people.

21. Field Work Interview cont.
6. How do you keep students motivated?
In my experience, most students want to do well, or at least well enough to get by. I do
everything I can think of in my power to allow students to succeed in my class if they put in a
decent amount of effort such as practice tests, retake tests, homework graded on completion,
assigning odd problems so students can check their work, etc. I don’t think anybody, or at
least very many people, want to fail. I think students give up when they don’t think it’s
possible for them to succeed. If I can show students what they need to do to succeed and
(importantly) show them how much I want them to succeed and am rooting for them, almost
every single time the student finds the motivation within themselves to keep going and try.

22. Field Work Interview cont.
7. What is your policy on the use of technology within the classroom?
The most important piece of technology in my classroom is calculators, especially graphing calculators. I began
teaching towards the beginning of the smartphone era, so as time has gone on more and more students have had these
computers in their pockets. Today all or most of my students have smartphones and some have smart watches as well.
My policy is to collect those at the beginning of the period and allow students to have them back at the end of the
period.
While smartphones can be useful (free apps like Desmos and wabbitemu, a TI-83 simulator, are very powerful), I find
that they are more distracting than useful. Students get dozens of notifications from texts, snapchat, instagram, and all
kinds of apps. We know as adults how our brains automatically want to check that notification when we see, hear, or
feel it. Even when the phone is on silent it draws us to check to screen to see what the newest thing is.
Besides being distracting, students are drawn to use the (crummy, in my opinion) calculator on their phone instead of a
“real” one. First of all, those calculators aren’t the greatest, and second of all, they’re not going to be able to use that
phone calculator on quizzes or tests, so it makes more sense for them to practice using a real calculator.
In the past I have allowed students to listen to music while they work. I think that for a lot of people music helps to focus
them and drown out the outside noise so they can concentrate. Unfortunately, that privilege has to go away when they
turn in their phone. I’m still unsure of what my policy about wireless headphones should be.

23. Field Work Interview cont.
8. What are your homework and late-work policies?
Students who are present at school or are absent due to a school-related activity have their
homework due on the due date or as soon as they return to school, whichever is sooner.
Students with an excused absence have as many days as they were gone to turn in their
homework, per Ed Code. I’m not super strict about that. As soon as an absent student
returns their work in a reasonable amount of time I give them credit.
I give students two homework passes per quarter. Each pass allows them to turn in an
assignment late for full credit. Otherwise, late work receives a 0 (I take away the “red box” in
Aeries that shows that an assignment is missing). If they combine two passes together for a
missing assignment I give them an NA for that assignment. Any unused late passes at the
end of the semester are worth 2 points extra credit in their assignment/formative category.

24. Field Work Interview cont.
9. What advice would you give a new teacher?
Don’t be afraid to try new things. Either it will be a hit or a dud, but either way you have
learned a little more about the best way to teach.
Don’t stick with a lesson plan that is no good just because you already started it. Be willing to
change on the fly in order to make your lesson better.
Don’t be afraid of parents. They all want what is best for their child. As soon as they realize
that you want the same you’ll be able to work together to help the student.
Be confident. Pretend you’re confident even if you aren’t. Be aware of your body language
and tone of voice. This is especially true when you are a young/new teacher because often
students and parents believe that you might not be “as good” as a veteran teacher.

25. Field Work Interview cont.
10. How do you meet the needs of all students?
Because every student is unique, every situation is unique. This is where it’s valuable to
communicate with the students, parents, and counselors about what is going on with a
student to understand the best way to help that student. I do everything I can think of to help
students with different needs. I am not afraid to “bend the rules” or change policy for a
particular student if I believe that it is what is necessary to help that person. Sometimes being
fair means not treating everyone the same. Students usually understand if another student
has different needs and therefore has to follow different rules. If they don’t understand that
and protest that someone else is getting “special treatment,” I tell them that the other student
has a private situation and that it’s none of their business.