A few weeks ago, I had a Mock interview with the principle here at West Perry High School. For this interview, Mrs. Miller and Mr. Rahn were asking questions.
The interview did not start off as I had expected it to. I walked in expecting to shake hands and introduce myself as I would at a normal interview, this did not happen because of the time constraints.
In order to best prepare me for a real interview, Mr. Rahn had around 20 questions ready to go ranging for my pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of instructional methods and assessments, to questions about my own personal reasons for teaching agriculture. The interview was very fast paced.
At the end of the interview he gave me the opportunity to ask him questions which I did. I received answers that I was not expecting. I asked what, if anything, he would like to see the agriculture department doing to improve the program. His answer to me was basically "nothing" he added that 10 years ago there would have been a good long list of additions he would have liked to see, but he said that now that the program is at the national level he has happy with the program and what it has been doing.
After the interview I was given a lot of advice by Mr. Rahn and what I need to do to improve me interviewing skills and my answers. Some of the advice he gave included expanding on my answers more, a regular interview will last just as long with half as many questions. He also told me not to be afraid of talking about myself and what exactly I've done, he wanted me to give specific examples of my achievements.
Overall this experience was a great one that has really helped me prepare myself for interviews, and find a confidence in my answers and my experience that I never had before.
Showing posts with label Improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Improvement. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Clarity for projects
This Blog post is going to be focused on an assignment that I gave last week to the students in my Small Animal Science class.
We started a unit on dog care and breeds last week. To start this unit, I gave the students an assignment, they were each given 3 names of dogs and what they had to do was find several pieces of information about each breed and one breed of their choice (after completing the breed selector found here)
The students were then to identify their breeds on a power-point, describe each breed, and select one breed to watch the dogs 101 video on.
Sounds simple, right?
Everything was going well, the students had all the information they needed, I was going to give them a demonstration to show them what I expected for each breed, and then... I over did it.
I was only expecting the students to give me 4 pieces of information which they had sections for on a notes sheet I gave them. I got so excited about this project that while I was giving my presentation I just kept talking and talking and talking, giving the students ALL of the information I asked them to find.
This ended up confusing them a lot more than I expected. As soon as I finished they started asking me questions about what I was actually expecting from them and how long their presentations should end up being. Because I did not think I was going to confuse them this much there was a few things that I did not have a good answer to at that moment. So they were left confused and I knew it.
That night, after talking to Mrs. Miller, I went home and reworked my rubric, and talked myself through everything they were asking me about. I walked into class the next day and took the first 10 minutes of class to re-explain my expectations and clear up any confusion that there may have been.
Since this time, my students have been giving their presentations, two students per day, and doing great at it.
This "flop" that I had has shown me just how important it is to be extremely clear on my expectations, and also to make sure I know exactly what I want before I expect my students to know what they need to do.
From now on, I will be looking at every project I have and every set of instructions I give to make sure they are as clear as possible. I don't want to be the cause of my students frustration and confusion again.
We started a unit on dog care and breeds last week. To start this unit, I gave the students an assignment, they were each given 3 names of dogs and what they had to do was find several pieces of information about each breed and one breed of their choice (after completing the breed selector found here)
The students were then to identify their breeds on a power-point, describe each breed, and select one breed to watch the dogs 101 video on.Sounds simple, right?
Everything was going well, the students had all the information they needed, I was going to give them a demonstration to show them what I expected for each breed, and then... I over did it.
I was only expecting the students to give me 4 pieces of information which they had sections for on a notes sheet I gave them. I got so excited about this project that while I was giving my presentation I just kept talking and talking and talking, giving the students ALL of the information I asked them to find.
This ended up confusing them a lot more than I expected. As soon as I finished they started asking me questions about what I was actually expecting from them and how long their presentations should end up being. Because I did not think I was going to confuse them this much there was a few things that I did not have a good answer to at that moment. So they were left confused and I knew it.
That night, after talking to Mrs. Miller, I went home and reworked my rubric, and talked myself through everything they were asking me about. I walked into class the next day and took the first 10 minutes of class to re-explain my expectations and clear up any confusion that there may have been.
Since this time, my students have been giving their presentations, two students per day, and doing great at it.
This "flop" that I had has shown me just how important it is to be extremely clear on my expectations, and also to make sure I know exactly what I want before I expect my students to know what they need to do.
From now on, I will be looking at every project I have and every set of instructions I give to make sure they are as clear as possible. I don't want to be the cause of my students frustration and confusion again.
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