Interviewee Trauma

Today we did mock interviews in class for two pretend schools. Colleen (or Dr. Corrigan) was the principal for Imagination School, a cooperative learning and constructivist based elementary school. Mike (or Dr. Harvard, as we so affectionately named him) was the principal for Maple City School, a direct instruction based school looking for a third grade teacher.

I interviewed on a panel with Becky (Miss Foreman), we started with Colleen. I was much more comfortable answering her questions, as I feel I am more comfortable with cooperative or inquiry instruction methods. I believe in the idea that students should build their own learning, and work together to accomplish this when possible. Colleen's questions were about how we would organize and run the classroom to make it student centered. These ideas were already ones I had in my head for my future classroom, so it was easy to draw answers.

Mike's questions were difficult for me, as I am less confident in the direct instruction method. I know that I will need to embrace it at times in my classroom to impart information about a new topic, but I don't want it to be an overused method. I know my answers were weaker to his questions, specifically about how I would design classroom to suit a direct instruction classroom. It was hard to tailor answers to his needs in a teacher candidate.

By the time I got to Mike, I was however, more confident in questions I had devised for him as an administrator. Being interested in special education, I am always ready to ask questions about the special ed population of a school or how they integrated and mainstreamed with regular ed students. I feel like a school like Mike's would not be a good for me, as direct instruction is not a great fit for special education.

Ironically, Mike hired me for his school! His biggest compliment was that my answers were knowledgeable. He also said that my confidence in my answers made it seem like I was prepared about the subject matter.

One thing I need to work on before I begin full interviews is how much I "talk with my hands." I think I gesture a lot and need o become more comfortable leaving my hands in my lap when speaking and letting my words speak for themselves. I also need to embrace the silence more while I am searching for the right word or formulating an answer, instead of using "um's."

I think this is a great experience as most teacher candidates are walking blindly into an interview with no real idea of what to expect. As we learned today, it is important to know the school you are applying for and to be ready with answers that will specifically suit their needs.