The Interview Process
The assignment is to interview two people that work or has experience in
the area of my Course Project. I have chosen
to interview a program manager for a city funded Family Source Center and a
single father that has been off and on homeless since the death of his wife, almost
7 years ago.
My interview with the program
manager has been rescheduled two times already, the second time was during the
interview. The center had a family come in that was Spanish speaking only and
they needed emergency service and he was the only one there at the time that
spoke Spanish. I have to admit that it is kind of fustrating that the interview
keeps getting rescheduled but I understand that the families that this program
service comes first. I respect him for taking care of the needs of that family
before anything else. I have another appointment with him on Monday he is aware
that I have to have this interview done this upcoming week so hopefully everything
goes as plan.
I have conducted the interview
with the father and I will be finishing up with him Monday evening. This
interview has been very hard for me to do. It breaks my heart to hear how this
father lost his wife to cancer and how he has tried to provide for his daughter
and how people would look at him strange when he would try to get help. His
daughter seems to be well adjusted and happy. She is very protective of her
father. She wanted to know who I was and why I was talking to her dad and she
stayed right next to her father. This made it difficult to ask some of the
questions that I wanted to ask him because I did not want to bring up what
might be unpleasant memories for her. That is why we will continue on Monday,
when she is supposed to be with one of her aunties.
So far in these interviews
they have made me thank God that even though I went through a lot growing up
that I had the strength to fight to be different than what I knew growing up.
We should be thankful daily. Many of our families suffer small and or large tragedies all of the time and we do not even know. We as teacher have not taken the time to know our students and families to be able to pick up on their cue's that let us know that something is wrong. As human we are quick to judge when as teachers (a service oriented field) we should show respect, have compassion, and understanding plus provide resources for families who need it. The old saying, "don't judge me until you have walked a mile in my shoes," still hold true in today's society. You never know what a child/family brings with them when they enter a school. Whatever it may be can become a learning experience for all.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested to hear about your interviews and it sounds like you had a rich meeting with the father to talk. I am curious how the interview process will change once the daughter is with family. I think you have a great attitude about the rescheduling; how frustrating! It goes to show how hectic things can be in the social services. Has the rescheduling process made you think of other potential interview questions or remove some of the questions that you previously thought were important?
ReplyDeleteVictoria