Shirley Davis has been working as a teacher since fall of 2000; this upcoming school year will make it her 11th year as a teacher. She attended FIU and majored in Elementary education. She has been teaching Kindergarten at Little River Elementary since August of 2000.
When asked why she wanted to become a teacher, she said “I feel that teachers are more than just teachers, they are more like fortune holders. They hold the keys and tools that you need to discover your place in the world and by becoming a teacher I would be helping many students find their places in the world.” Her idea of the “ideal” teacher is one that tries to incorporate all of the FEAP’s in themselves. She feels that the problem with education today is children aren’t getting a chance to really spread their wings in school and try things out due to all the testing practices. However, she does feel that it is a good thing that students are beginning to learn better due to smaller class sizes.
Davis feels that her greatest strength as a teacher is her ability to make sure she gives each child the amount of attention they may need. Her weakness is that she sometimes takes things personally if one of students do not do as well as she expected of them. When one of her colleagues was asked how they felt about Davis’ relationship with her students, he said “The way Shirley interacts with her students is amazing! She is always finding ways for her students to better understand the subject matter.”
Davis believes that communication is the key in keeping a successful classroom. This why she sends home a home-school communication log everyday so that parents can see what their children are learning, how their behavior has been in the classroom, and their progress in the subjects. Davis believes that unless you develop a relationship with the parents of your students, you will not have a positive teacher student relationship. Whenever she has a student that decides to go against the grain and refuse to do or complete assignments, she has a parent teacher conference and things are put into order.
When assigning tables to her students, she likes to establish a unisex environment to influence gender diversity. Davis expects all her students to be able to write their names, color inside the lines, and to learn how to think outside the box by the time the school year ends. She uses positive reinforcements in order to get her students to do what they need to do. Some examples of this is having a sticker chart on each desk, whenever a student completes an assignment on time or follows the rules, they get a sticker on their charts.
Davis believes in both individual and total class punishment; total class punishment has been more effective in her classroom however. Whenever a student is off task one of the other students will try and get that child to behave because they know that they may all get punished. She used individual punishment more when a child is expressing behaviors that are harmful to the safety of the students and her, like throwing chairs. When a child exhibits these types of behaviors, she takes them to the counselor’s office so they can have a 1:1 conversation.
After interviewing Shirley Davis, it is apparent that FEAP # 2, communication is a major part of her role as a teacher. She tries different ways to teach her students things so FEAP # 3, continuous improvement is also in practice. Most importantly however, she does everything possible to make sure that FEAP # 11, role as a teacher is a positive on her students and colleagues.
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