Preparing for a Job Interview

Mock Interview

At Mount Saint Mary College I am finishing my junior year, and student teaching next semester. The closer I get to my senior year, I will begin to go on job interviews. In my one Presentation to Media IT course, we had to create a PowerPoint of how to prepare for an interview. After preparing the PowerPoint I had to present it to my class last semester. This gave me an idea of how a "Mock Interview" may go. Dr. Smirnova gave the class the opportunity to have a "Mock Interview" event and three of my peers were the Interviewers as myself and two others were the interviewees. I dressed professionally and brought my resume to class to present to my Interviewers. Dr. Smirnova explained that we will be given about ten minutes to be interviewed with each school district. I was a little nervous because I was not sure what questions they were going to ask. However I put my nerves aside and made eye-contact, smiled and had a great attitude with the interviews providing their time for me.

Round 1

Ainsley and I were being interviewed together with Kelli. Kelli asked us the first question together and I stepped in to answer it right away, which provided Ainsley some time to think about what she was going to say. The following four questions that Kelli had left she wanted us to answer separately. Although I was being interviewed with Ainsley, I thought this was a great opportunity for me to see how she answers each questions differently from my responses. The four questions Kelli asked I found fair and easy, but when she asked her fifth question I hesitated and had to think for a minute. The question she asked was, "Can you give me an example of an objective?" This seemed easy, considering all the lessons I have wrote throughout my education at Mount Saint Mary College, but since I was nervous I could not think straight. I also felt like this question was so broad and I was not sure what Kelli was looking for. 

Kelli's Questions:

1. What color comes to mind when I say behavioral model/direct instruction?
2. Mrs. Jones is a fourth grade teacher who is teaching a social studies lesson on the causes of the American Revolution. How would you envision a teacher starting a unit on the American Revolution for a direct instruction lesson? Explain your answer and why you chose it.
3. What do you like best about teaching a direct instruction lesson? What do you fin difficult about it?
4. Keeping the levels that relate to Bloom's taxonomy in mind, give an example of an object that could be used to teach a direct instruction lesson on the American Revolution.
5. What are some ways that you can meet the diverse needs of your students while planning for a direct instruction lesson?

Round 2

Our next interviewer was Lindsay and by this time I felt more confident since Kelli just asked me some questions. Lindsay did the same format as Kelli did by asking us one question together and then Ainsley and I answering two questions by ourselves. Lindsay asked me, "How would you incorporate technology into an inquiry lesson focusing on the discipline of 'geography'?" I thought this question was easy because I used my experience from teaching a current event lesson. I explained to Lindsay that I did a current event lesson and each group was assigned a different article to read for homework. I then went through the lesson briefly and stated that I would incorporate technology into his specific lesson by using Google Earth because I think it would be beneficial fro the students to go on a "trip" to that location they are discussing. I explained that my major was Information Technology and I try to incorporate technology in multiple ways and challenge the students and myself. I tried to show Lindsay that I do have experience with using technology during an inquiry-based lesson. I was excited to share my experience and hoped that this was the answer she was looking for. Ainsely got a situation question, which I thought was interesting to ask during an interview, but this type of question puts you on the spot to have a response quickly. I thought that all of Lindsay's questions were easy and I had enough experience to answer them based on my fieldwork and observations in a classroom.

Lindsay's Questions:

1. What type of music do you associate with the information processing model of instruction?
2. If I walked into your classroom during an inquiry lesson, what would I see?
3. How would you incorporate technology into an inquiry lesson focusing on the discipline of “geography”?
4. You have a diverse class that consists of the following students: 3 gifted, 10 average, 3 LD, 7 ELL, 1 ADHD, and a selective mute student --- How will this impact the choice of methods you utilize in the classroom?
5. What is the one question you would most like to explore at this moment using the inquiry process?

Round 3

Christine was our last interviewer and at this point, I thought I could answer anything based on my fieldwork experience that I provided Lindsay with. Christine wanted Ainsely and I to just answer separately and not together. I found some of Christine's questions easy, but I also thought I was well-prepared. Christine asked me, "How will you teach one of the cooperative learning lessons of a Civil Rights unit plan using the five elements of cooperative learning?" I immediately jumped to the five powerful elements of teaching, such as meaningful, value-based, integrated, challenging, and active. But jumping into a response, I realized that my answer was incorrect and she was looking for "PIGS" acromion’s, such as the following:

From this experience, I realized that I should think about my response before answering right away to make sure I know the correct answer. Although I was feeling more confident, I learned that I should take a minute to think of what I am going to say before speaking. 

Christine's Questions:

1. What dance comes to mind when you think of cooperative learning?
2. If I came to your classroom for the first 10 minutes of a cooperative learning lesson, what would I see?
3. How will you teach one of the cooperative learning lessons of a Civil Rights unit plan using the five elements of cooperative learning?
4. What technology programs or tools would you use to enhance your teaching of a cooperative learning lesson?
5. What would your closure of a cooperative learning lesson look like on the Declaration of Independence?

I thought doing this Mock Interview was very helpful to me because I got to experience questions on the spot and may experience some of these questions in my future interviews. I learned that I should think before I speak, therefore I do not provide the wrong answer as I did with Christine's question. I would also being in some sample lesson plans I have created to show my work and try to use as much fieldwork experience in response to questions I am asked. Although I do not have teaching experience yet, by providing my interviewer with my observations through fieldwork they can see that I have been into classroom. I would mention that I got the opportunity to teach a fourth grade class with thirty-one students with another teacher candidate. Together we implemented a direct, inquiry-based and cooperative lessons in Social Studies. I would also provide the Interviewer my e-Portfolio for both my Information technology courses as well as my education courses. I felt prepared having my resume and professionally dress, however I hope I presented myself well to the Interviewers. I am glad Dr. Smirnova implemented a "Mock Interview" in class because I will take my experience and reflection upon what I can do differently in my next interview in the future! 

Thank you for reading,

Works Cited

The Ultimate Interview Guide: 30 Prep Tips for Job Interview Success. (n.d.). Retrieved May 7, 2015, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-ultimate-interview-guide-30-prep-tips-for-job-interview-success