Preparing for the Real Thing: Mock Interviews with Etown Administration

            On Wednesday February 25^th, 2015, I completed a mock interview with Mr. Steven Schoessler, the assistant principal at Elizabethtown High School. The interview lasted 40 minutes. Mr. Schoessler asked me the 11 standard interview questions that the school district uses in real interviews. We then talked through each question, analyzed my responses, and he offered me suggestions to improve my responses and better prepare me for an actual teaching position interview.  Mr. Schoessler asked me the following questions:

1) Describe your resume. How does it relate to your desired position and why do you want to work at Elizabethtown School District?

2) What factors do you take into account when planning daily, weekly, and course lesson plans?
3) How do you evaluate the success of your lessons?
4) What techniques/strategies do you use to motivate students?
5) What is important for you to know about the students you work with? How do you get that information?
6) Describe your approach to classroom discipline. How do you ensure your students are on task and what steps do you take when they aren’t?
7) Describe how you use technology in your classroom to promote student learning.
8) Explain how you would differentiate a lesson. What would the format and differentiation look like?
9) Describe what current research says about teaching agriculture.
10) Which formal/informal diagnostic techniques have you used in assessing developmental and ability levels of students?
11) How have your educational experiences prepared you for including special education students in a regular classroom?

            I felt somewhat prepared for the interview I knew some of the more standard questions would be asked such as those regarding classroom management, lesson planning, and my experience/background. I was not prepared for the question about current research in agriculture but used my experience in Schreyers and writing my thesis to my advantage. Overall I thought I did a pretty decent job on the interview questions but I know there is always room for improvement. One thing I will be sure to do for an actual interview is to prepare more questions I want to ask the interviewer. I did this today with my mock interview but could have prepared more questions that I did. (Part of this was because I have gotten to know Elizabethtown so well and questions I would have typically asked, I already knew the answers to!)  I asked Mr. Schoessler the following questions during the interview:

 

1) What do you look for in a teacher candidate?

2) What would you consider some strengths of your school?
3) What is one area that your school can improve upon?
4) How are your teachers evaluated?
5) Who would the audience be in a second round interview?

            What impressed me most about the interview was how inviting Mr. Schoessler was. He was very polite, calm, and made me feel comfortable for the interview. He also offered me great advice and suggestions as I begin to prepare for real interviews with teaching positions. He talked through each question with me afterwards and shared with me what I did very well and what areas I could improve upon. There was not anything that stands out to me that didn’t impress me about the interview. The only thing that would have impressed me more would have been if Mr. Schoessler would have created more questions to ask me other than the standard 11 questions asked by the school district. This would have given me more practice and a wider variety of questions to answer.

            In order to better prepare for a real teaching position interview, I need to take my time while answering questions and really think about how I want to answer the question. Mr. Schoessler explained that in some of my responses, I did a very good job at describing specific examples and details, but in other responses, the specifics were weaker. He suggested I talk less about theories and ideas but instead explain practical situations where I have implemented the ideas behind the theories as well as the results. After reflecting upon the interview, I know I need to make my responses more student focused. After all, I chose ag education because I want to make a difference in the lives of students! I think that I must also decide what I want the interviewers to know about me and what kind of impression I want to leave. Overall, this was a very beneficial assignment and I left the mock interview with plenty of suggestions that will better prepare me for a real interview!