Job Interview

Today during class we did a role play job interview.  Four of our colleagues were administrators and asked us different questions on the content that we had learned throughtout the semester.  We first started out by having the administrators introduce themselves and the school that they work at, also the postion that is available.  Each of the administrators had a main focus that they use in their school, one was technology, one was direct instruction, one was the inquiry method, and one was the cooperative learning method.  The rest of the class was interviewing for the different jobs at the different schools.  The class was split up by our fieldwork groups, and the administrators rotated through the four differnt groups.  When the administrators came to our group each time they would start by introducing themselve and would shake our hand and we would introduce ourselve, we kept it very professional the whole time.  The different types of questions that we were asked were about Direct Instruction, Inquiry, and Cooperative Learning, and Technology.  The types of questions that were asked were how would we use the certain method in the classroom?  When we think of the method what is the first color or animal that comes to mind and why?  For technology some of the questions were how we would implement technology into our lessons, and what kind of technology it would be?  Some of the questions that I was asked were fairly simple to answer because I had the experience of teaching the different lesson methods in my fieldwork experience for the course.  I was able to connect some of my experiences from the fieldwork to better answer the question that was asked.  Other questions made me think a litter deeper.  Some of the questions on technology were a little challenging to answer because I did not use a lot of technology when teaching my lessons in the field.  After we had finished going through all the administrators they went and discussed who they thought would have been best for the postion at their school.  They then came back in and announced to the rest of the interviewers the people that got the jobs.

This simulation was a really great way to end the course.  It tested the knowledge that we had learned throughout the course in a different way, a way that would be useful to us.  It really gave me an idea of what a job interview could be like in the future and how to prepare, also an idea of some of the questions that could be asked.  The feedback that the class recieved from the administrators was also very helpful for the future.  They told us to be confident in what we were saying and to connect back to previous experiences that we have had in fieldwork.  Also some of the skills that are good for an effective job interview: communication, experience, and education.