Interviewer: Chistina Marie Tschida, Phd - Associate Professor-Department of Elementary Education
and Middle Grades Education.
Interviewee: (Mr. SETH BROWN – PITT COUNTY SCHOOL)
Interview Setting: Interview was conducted in the office of teacher education at East Carolina
University Speight building. The interview was conducted on 30th Oct 2014 at 8:56 AM on Thursday
morning.
Affiliation with interviewee: PITT COUNTY SCHOOL is associated with East Carolina University for
co-teaching program. The associate professor Dr. Tschida is interviewing Mr. SETH BROWN
Administrator at PITT COUNTY SCHOOL, to know, “how the program is impacting the school,
interns and students?”.
(Start of Interview)
Interviewer: Can you introduce yourself? Tell us little bit about how you incorporate co-teaching.
Interviewee: My name is Seth Brown, I am the beginning teacher coordinator for pitt county schools
aahm I work with co-teaching for the last several years, I was the principal at Chicod school the first year
, co-teaching was introduced ahmm I also have the opportunity to work with the co-teacher last year who
was aaah a clinical teacher ahmm my daughter was in his class and I also have the opportunity to ahmm
work this year one of his intern who my other daughter is with aahhm so had over idea of the experiences
with co-teaching.
Interviewer:
Interviewee: One of the things I really remember ahmm as a principal at Chicod School was the impact
of the two co-teachers interns working and planning together ahmm their classroom was actually a breeze
ways towards the copy machine workroom was ahmm I remember their was 3 or 4 instances were there
they walking across breeze way and I am walking, my principal walk with a purpose but I remember just
stopping and listening to the conversation of e ach drop in in it’s always about teaching, it’s about what
they doing , its about planning, ahmm that’s stuck with me to the point we hired our interns with better
school, and it was powerful ahmm that part was really neat, ahmm also remember as a parent last year as
one of the teachers about her math teacher was is a phenomenal teacher ahmm and I mention to them
about open house , you got two interns who doing co-teaching. He mentioned a yes I had ahmm probably
would never had one working for this , whole of this, But he talked about the concept , is being able and
ok with co-teaching with an intern but he was not ok with give up his classroom under the old model.
Ahmm so that that stuck with me as well as a parent , have an intern he is co-teaching with him ,an
seeing that was pretty new ahm. This year actually my daughter has one her former intern as round
teacher with a second year teacher ahmm and we had a parent meeting and in the meeting he was sharing
a strategy he learned from the master teacher two years before, So the Impact of, here is a halfline
beginning teacher who all worked with now not job but also is my daughters teacher but just the power of
the co-teaching model and seeing the impact of it, that was powerful as well.
Interviewer: In what way do you see co-teaching influencing our teacher family and ________?
Interviewee: It’s, For me it’s a better model of a how a inductor for co-teachers , have inductor student
teachers. The whole model for me you sit and observe you not actively engaging, aah, the whole idea for
me for been able to have intern planning from beginning really getting into the metacognition getting
into why I am planning that way, its powerful because they have to understand and the consciously
component of why a teacher is planning this way? Why teacher is doing this ? And if that is been the
model from day one, and if they slowly getting into involve in working with the teacher, aah, it can be
powerful , aah, especially if if , you know , is aah, by the end of the semester when they are almost pick
each other brains and teaching with each other that part is neat as well because, there is symbiotic
relationship that you forming and it’s a lead powerful thing going on.
Interviewer: What Impact would you say, aah , that you seem in terms of the K12 students themselves
in the classroom is is co-teaching impacting them?
Interviewee: As a principal I saw its aah, I remember my first year 2 to 1 models so having two interns
with one teacher ahh mm, they doing aah , guided reading program getting involve this year, so having
reading groups, been able to differentiate “aamh” , in their class once they, students pretty sever needs
aah in so they were able to better need its differentiate aah intern were able to teach but , it helps the
classroom teacher I think they ever able to have other people work within the better differentiate , they
be able to they switch group so different, the kids work with different teachers , aah, so I think over all
one there was . As a principal, was good with the kids, they when the class students, K12 students.
Interviewer: Can you speak to the Idea, that you told me, told us about the data, because when you
start looking at those few, co-teachers they from at 2 or 2 +1 what are the teachers you talking about
the classroom that as the district even as a in the teachers that’s.
Interviewee: That’s “aahmm” aah. This was actually a mmm in my current role , I was asking a principal
of one of the co-teaching school ahmm a about the teachers how they doing. It was actually 3rd grade
teachers She was talking about , aah and of the teacher she mentioned , she mentioned 3 teachers of
the teachers 2 of them aah will beginner teachers they will finish the first year and so gone be second,
those teachers she talk about aah their test score aah those two let the 3rd grade school and its was a
high performing school and aah so she was proud of it aah which made me proud because I was
beginning teacher coordinator you can claim credit and you feel good about it aah but it was need to
know aah in a high performing school having too BT ones really not going part with the data was me
aah and I think I know both of those two interns that they gone through co-teaching , they were short
people aah by the training help them as well
Interviewer: One of the things I saw yesterday was >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Interviewee: I can I As a aaa, this year’s parents at wintergreen school but as a parent ahmm we had a
as a parent boot camp as they call it so we were talking to parent about what is it mean to be in 3rd
grade ahmm and again one of the teachers is now a second year teachers was a intern ahmm and but
they were talking about the planning ahmm they were talking about the interaction of he was doing a
video to model about a maths concept that was pretty difficult and they were using an ipad from apple
he has learned from the 4th grade teacher so the 3rd grade teacher doing it , the interesting thing for me
other 4th grade teacher has a son in that teachers class and didn’t pick on the , the idea of using that app
into a the inters, the teachers I ‘ll beginning planning with her, and he started doing the videos then set
a positive , peer pressure for her start doing in of the all the maths teachers in the team were doing and
sharing , so that something almost was an “aha” moment , ahh at that that parent meeting of we doing
the videos is in just started now so there all the doing all work together ahmm you sharing as I have to
create the video every time and ahhm I can work with someone else ,we can partner in pair its team
concept of how they were doing.