Entry # 34:
At the Hiring Fair
Saturday morning I had the privilege to interview candidates for Turner's
open teaching positions at our district's hiring fair. The experience gave
me more insight into the hiring process than any other preparation I have
ever had.
We have a large number of positions open for next school year: 6th and 8th
grade social studies, 8th grade language arts, family and consumer science,
art, vocal music, resource, and one special education room. Because of my
background in reading and my big mouth (I told our Instructional Coordinator
a few months back that teachers should be allowed to interview teacher candidates
since we were the ones who had to work with them...), my principal invited
me to participate in the process.
My principal let the assistant principal, the I.C., and me conduct all the
interviews and make the recommendation to hire the candidates we wanted.
I thought the process might be really easy or really hard; in reality, it
was both.
I had a little over a week to prepare, but when I sat down to write the
interview questions I wanted to use, I suddenly froze up. There are so many
ingredients that go into the making of a good teacher, so how could I possibly
touch on them all in the 4-5 questions I would be responsible for asking?
What if I did not ask the right questions? What if I misjudged someone?
Beginning with the basics
As the week went on my mind brewed over the quandary. Finally, Friday evening,
it came to me. Since I could not cover every possible area of teaching,
I would have to decide what basic qualities are necessary for teachers to
have. I had been looking at all of the parts of instruction instead of taking
a more holistic view, and that had been holding me back.
In the end I decided upon the following questions:
1. Describe your ideal project or unit.
2. If you had a student in your class who was struggling academically, what
interventions would you make?
3. If you discovered several of your students are having a difficult time
reading the materials you assign in class, what actions would you take?
4. Why do you want to teach at the middle school level?
5. If most of the students in your classroom fail a project or other assessment,
what would you do?
It is important to note that the other members of the team covered issues
in classroom management, teaching diverse populations, and other important
areas, so my list is far from exhaustive. It is, however, a list of questions
that attempts to address the instructional qualities and attitudes of prospective
candidates.
As I was creating the questions, I realized that it was not as important
for each candidate to know everything about instruction-- what was critical
was their willingness to learn and seek answers to problems instead of assigning
blame. After all, most successful teachers I know are still learning and
solving problems in their classrooms. The key is being aware that we are
able to solve the problems set before us if we consciously work at them.
What I was looking for
1. Describe your ideal project or unit. I
was looking for varied instructional methods and integration of other content
areas. Our top candidate for the day for social studies described reading
and writing myths during a unit on Greece, something she had actually done
during her student teaching experience. She also talked about taking kids
through the writing process.
2. If you had a student in your class who was struggling academically,
what interventions would you make? I was looking for parent involvement,
differentiated instruction, and giving the student extra help. One poor
candidate said the first thing he would do is refer the child to special
education. While special education is sometimes necessary, I believe it
should be considered only when other interventions are not successful. I
wanted prospective candidates to describe positive, student-centered interventions.
3. If you discovered several of your students are having a difficult
time reading the materials you assign in class, what actions would you take?
I was not looking for a comprehensive knowledge of reading strategies
but rather a willingness on the teacher's part to do something different
with the text or seek help from others. Our top candidate said she would
partner-read with the student and ask the language arts teacher on the team
for assistance.
4. Why do you want to teach at the middle school level? I
was looking for an awareness of the developmental idiosyncrasies of adolescents
as well as an appreciation for their unique characteristics. A less than
stellar candidate told us he wanted to teach middle school because they
were easier to handle than high school students were. Yeah, right...
5. If most of the students in your classroom fail a project or other
assessment, what would you do? I was looking for an awareness that while
failure may occur, we cannot accept it and move on. My favorite answer of
the day was, "If the majority of my students fail a project, then it
is my fault. I have to go back and look to see what I was not happy with,
then go back and reteach the concepts they missed in a different way until
they get it." Fabulous!
I am happy to say that among the three of us on the interview team, we were
able to get a pretty good picture of each candidate. Without exception,
we were in agreement about who would be a good fit at Turner as well as
who would not be. I was surprised about how easy it was to decide; I am
very excited about our new additions.
The art of the interview
I learned a lot about interviewing, but I also learned a lot about being
interviewed. I discovered that answering the questions was more about conveying
an overall attitude than covering every piece of knowledge about teaching.
The interviewer has a purpose behind each question, and if you understand
the purpose, it is easy to answer the question. Of course, if the interviewer
seems to lack purpose or preparation and concentrates more on isolated bits
of knowledge, it is a signal to me that I will not be happy in that person's
building.
Although I would love to be able to serve on the interview team at every
opportunity, I think it is more important for all of the other members on
our staff to become involved at one point or another. Not only do I feel
I have more of a stake and say in my school, but I also feel a real responsibility
to help our new teachers be successful at Turner. Hopefully, if more of
us become involved in hiring, more of us will also become involved in teacher
development and collaboration. That would be a dream come true.
Read next week's entry >>>
READ COMMENTS ABOUT
THIS ENTRY
<<< Read last week's entry
Read some background about Ellen and
her school
Comment on this week's entry
Back to Ellen's 2000-2001
Diary Index
Ellen,
Thank you for posting this journal! I have my first interview tomorrow
at a middle school. The position is for a Language Arts/Math 6th grade
teacher. It really helped to read an interviewer's perspective.
Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Brenda
---------------------------------------------------
I have also had several opportunities to participate in the interviewing
process for new teachers and administrators. This is my retirement year,
and I have been participating in the interviewing process for the hiring
of my replacement.
I am one of two network resource teachers at my middle school. During discussions
with my partner and my principal, we realized that we would not find a person
with the varied high levels of skills and strengths that I possess. We decided
to focus on the people skills, attitudes, and track record for meeting
new challenges. We quickly eliminated people who only had technical skills.
Working with other teachers demands different kinds of skills and attitudes.
A classroom teacher brings understanding and a power to suggestions that
mere technical expertise doesn't provide. Potential replacements needed
that bond with the rest of the staff. The final factor was not about where
the replacement would be after 6 months on the job (both would be at about
the same level), but how well the individual worked with a partner in problem
solving and the vision of how to facilitate change within the gestalt of
the school community.
Sandra S. Watson, Ph. D.
Network Resource Teacher
Francis Hammond Middle School
Alexandria, VA 22304