Job Interviews

On the last day of classes the whole class took part in mock interviews for teaching positions.
Three people volunteered to be administrators. There jobs were to come up with questions beforehand and ask them to everyone else who were interviewing to be hired. The administrators told the class a little bit about themselves, and gave made up back stories.

The administrators asked questions that really forced the interviewers to think about how they want their classroom to run, as well as what's most important to them in building a learning community.
Some of these questions included:

If you could teach in one place in the world, where would it be and why?

How will incorporate cooperative learning in the classroom?

If I walked into your classroom 20 minutes into a lesson what should I expect to see?

If you were to describe yourself as one piece of technology what would you choose, and how would you bring this into your classroom?

After the administrators finished asking their questions, they left the classroom to discuss who they would hire. The people who interviewed were asked to reflect on the experience.


My Reflection
The job interview experience was eye opening, and was great practice for the real world. The questions the administrators asked  made me think critically and really forced myself to think about how I want my classroom to be one day. This experience also made me think about instructional methods  I will use, and how to differentiate instruction based on the needs of every student.  The job interview gave me an opportunity to practice presenting myself as a person. It is important to come off positive and confident. Administrators want to hire the person who shows them they are easy to work with, and are personable. 


When the administrators returned they announced who they would hire. They used their made up backgrounds to make this decision. I was fortunate enough to be hired based on my answers to the cooperative learning questions. I was nervous coming into this class, so this was very exciting news to here. All in all I felt this was a worthwhile experience that I can think back to when going on actual interviews.