Hi, everyone!
I didn't have an opportunity to see most of you last evening after your mock interviews. Let's do some debriefing through your posts. Tell me two things:
1. What question/questions did you feel extremely prepared for?
2. What question/questions did you feel unprepared for?
Hope all is well!
Professor Bellew
1. While interviewing, I felt the most prepared when answering questions regarding what I am implementing within the classroom. I felt comfortable when answering these particular questions because a lot of it is what I am doing now and I can draw my answers from direct experiences. I felt that my answers were strong and I was able to describe content that my students are learning currently. Being that I was so strong in these answers was a good thing in the present, but makes me a little nervous for when I am in interviews in the spring and I am not in a classroom. This is where I feel that my portfolio will come in handy.
ReplyDelete2. I felt unprepared when answering questions regarding where I want to be in five years. I know where I want to be, but what does the school district that I am interviewing for want to hear. I am nervous that I may say something that is not what they are hoping to hear and it will jeopardize my candidacy. We discussed some possible answers and situations with the gentleman who interviewed us and I do have a better idea of what answers are acceptable. I think that my unpreparedness is even just of where I hope to be in five years and if I will have the chance of getting to that point.
That five year question caught me off guard too! It was good to talk over though.
DeleteAlthough after the session I have a lot of changing to do to many of my answers, I did feel prepared for questions as to why I want to be a teacher and questions about my classroom management. Questions that I wasn't as prepared for were questions like "What do you see the role of the principal to be to a first year teacher?" and "What makes an outstanding lesson?" because they just weren't questions I had necessarily thought of on my own. I had thought of my own personal experiences with lessons that went well and lessons that didn't quite go as planned, but I was unprepared for what others might also look for in an outstanding lesson. He had been referring to parts of a lesson plan, but my first thought was about the way the students reacted so I just thought the different ways the questions could be taken was interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe principle question is a trickster! I hadn't thought of that until I saw this. I need to really think outside the box to prepare for questions like these!
DeleteThe question I was most prepared for was when I was asked about prior extracurricular activities and experiences, if only because I feel like I've been answering that question since I applied for Etown! I feel like there wasn't one specific question I that I was unprepared for, however I did glean good insight about how I respond to random questions. The questions I felt most comfortable with were the ones that just lent themselves to conversation naturally, but my mind tends to go into a thousand different directions. Still, it was a good opportunity to practice.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Sarah about the extracurricular activities. Between writing resumes and different applications that is an easy one!
DeleteI felt that you spoke very affluently and confident when discussing your extracurricular activities. It showed that you were very passionate about the activities that you are involved with and how they connect to aspects of teaching.
DeleteI felt most prepared for the questions that included why I wanted to be a teacher and questions about my experiences. These were questions that were very easy for me to answer because it was very easy to talk about myself and my experiences. I was able to strongly answer these questions with examples from my portfolio and from my classroom experience. This is something that I have been working on first hand and have experience with every day. The questions that I did not feel as prepared for were questions that included specific examples on how I applied different “buzz words”. I know what most of the new “buzzwords” are but going back and finding examples was a little difficult. It was easy to think of things but it was kind of hard to think of the best example on the spot. I do feel a little more prepared for interviews now. Going into this mock interview session I had no idea what to expect!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point Shannon! I forgot about the buzzwords and am now wondering...is it okay to just flat out ask someone what the buzzwords for that district are? I'm not sure how different things are when we switch back to our home states to teach either; everything seems to be changing all the time.
DeleteThe mock interviews were a really good way to get us thinking about how to best organize our ideas, best practices, and relevant experiences into answering questions most appropriately. I think the questions I was most prepared for are the ones many of you had already mentioned, which is about why I want to be a teacher and how I am going to do that in the most efficient and appropriate way. I also like the questions that dealt with the domains and what I think professionalism means, etc. I feel like we have had some really great discussions about the domains and we are all pretty familiar with them. I now that I have a lot of work to do preparing for future interviews, but one question that caught me off guard was a relatively simple one, and it was what scholarly articles or journals am I a member of and what is a recent article I read pertaining to the field. I get NSTA every month but never read them, so I panicked as to whether or not I say anything or to just admit I don't read any. It's so hard to think on your toes sometimes!
ReplyDeleteI thought the mock interviews were great and were definitely eye opening. I feel I most prepared for questions that were based on my own opinions and experiences like why I want to be a teacher, what would make me a good teacher, and questions like this. Questions I did not feel prepared for were things that I have had little or no experience in, like what do you feel the role of the principal should be for first year teachers? Another question that I had a difficult time answering was how I could differentiate a specific social studies lesson. I do not have much experience with social studies so I was not sure how to answer the question.
ReplyDeleteStating the role of the principal is tough - especially when it's the principal interviewing you! It's going to be hard to decide how much they want you to say. You don't want to seem like you have no opinion, but you also don't want to overstep your boundaries as an candidate!
DeleteI felt comfortable with questions that related to what I am doing in the classroom - how am I differentiating, what is my philosophy on behavior management, how can I reach all learners? I can pull from recent student teaching experiences and easily answer these questions. When questions were asked such as to describe myself in five words or what do I look for in a school, these are more personal reflections and it takes me longer to form an answer. I was glad to hear that it's okay to take a few seconds to think before answering. We give students think time, so we need to take it too!
ReplyDeleteI felt extremely prepared for the questions regarding my use of technology in the classroom because technology is an ever present entity in my classroom. I enjoyed talking about the various ways I have incorporated technology in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI felt unprepared for the question regarding my philosophy on teaching literacy, because honestly, I am not sure I even have a "philosophy" on how literacy should be taught. There are so many different ways to teach literacy that I haven't even had the opportunity to observe that I feel that my philosophy is still developing.