April 1st, otherwise known as April Fools day, was a very stressful yet experience filled day at Oley Valley to say the least. I had my last University Supervisor visit and a mock interview with the high school principal. My middle school students gave me a run for my money because they were all excited for it being a Friday and April Fools day, but overall it still was a good lesson! The purpose of this blog post is to reflect on my experience of having a mock interview with a school administrator and detail what I learned to improve upon for future interviews.
Although this was only a mock interview, I was still intimidated to answer the questions and showcase what I have learned over the past few weeks of student teaching. Mrs. Finnerty is Oley Valley's high school principal and she was able to take time out of her very busy schedule to conduct a mock job interview for me. It was a great experience for me to learn what type of questions I will be asked during an interview and I can now work on my confidence and ability to come up with answers.
Mrs. Finnerty asked me a series of questions that were placed under certain categories, which are as follows: planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, professional responsibilities, and content. She asked me 1-2 questions from each of the categories and then Mrs. Rice asked me a few related to Agricultural Education and being an FFA advisor. A question I was asked under the planning and preparation category is, "What modifications/differentiation in your lesson designs have you made to assist special education, ESL, or gifted students in your classroom?". I was able to use what I learned from my workforce education course work at Penn State and student teaching to answer this question about modifying assessments and using my resources to accommodate each learner. Another question I got asked is, "Describe a situation when a student attempted to break school/classroom rules or became confrontational and your response". I was able to describe what situation occurred to Mrs. Finnerty and told her how I handled it, however she pointed out that I should shed a more positive tone to my response by including how I am still trying to create a positive relationship with this student. This was a great piece of advice, as I would also want to try and give students another chance and come into class the next day with a positive attitude related to the classroom environment.
I asked Mrs. Finnerty what she would expect candidates to have prepared for the second round of interviews. She explained how I would need to prepare and teach a lesson for 15 minutes to administrators about a topic related to my content area. I wasn't too aware about how the whole interviewing process works in the world of education, but I am happy she was able to describe the steps to being hired into the school district. The one question that I was unable to answer was as follows, "What other types of student data do you use and how does it guide your instruction". I asked Mrs. Finnerty at the end of the interview what type of response she was looking for and she told me about the data base collector that Oley Valley uses to assess students' knowledge. We then discussed using other resources such as Schoology or standardized test data to assess where students stand. I now feel ready to answer a question related to student data.
Once Mrs. Rice asked me a few questions related to Ag Ed, we had a debrief sessions where she shared some tips and offered advice for interviews. She said that if I am interviewing for a school that would be a multi teacher program, it is important to stress these two key words: compromise and communication. These are 2 very important aspects that must be present for a successful multi teacher program to occur. During an interview, I learned to mention that I would be willing to compromise and work together to reach and end goal. Communication is also vital to ensure that tasks are being delegated appropriately and problems are being addressed and solved.
The most important thing I took away from this experience was that confidence is key. Confidence has been something I have learned to work on over the past few years. I have never been a confident person and have struggled with that during my academic and personal life. Mrs. Finnerty said that I was very strong and confident answering the questions right until the tail end when she noticed I would sort of second guess myself and laugh a little. I'm really happy she pointed this out as a thing I need to improve upon for future interviews, as I don't want that to ruin an opportunity. Overall, I learned a lot for this mock interview and I am grateful I was able to identify what I need to work on for future ones. Thanks for reading this reflective blog post and please share some advice down below for future interviews!
- Lauren :)
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