When Bad Interviews Happen To Good Teachers

Well, at least you can say I'm consistent. Year after year, when that summer break comes-- relaxation time for most teachers, resume update and scour EdJoin time for me-- I have played my part faithfully, never breaking from tradition. And this summer, like the four summers before, followed the familiar formula: letter of introduction, interview prep, tie and sock choice, nervous babbling, thanks for inviting me handshake, phone call wait, the sigh of resignation....

Now to be fair to myself (aka "rationalizing") it wasn't the best fit. I'm sure the first interviewer caught the look on my face when she said "Sixth grade Math and Science"-- I'm sure the same face I made when my new bride first made dinner, a well-intentioned yet feeble attempt to convey, despite facial contortions saying otherwise, my inner "joy" at what was placed before me and the anticipation of getting to enjoy it for the next 50 years* -- but I recovered quickly, and while admitting my passion was readin' and writin' I talked about the thrill of discovery and importance of problem solving as keys to both wonderful disciplines, math and science being the backbone of any successful society.

And maybe that last paragraph is evidence of my Failure As Interviewee. A bit rambling, I'd say. Incoherent in most places, you may say. It's not like I opened with a joke ("How many Principals does it take...") or replied in monotonous grunts, but for some reason I must not come across as intelligent, or at least worthy to get paid for teaching children, when I am interviewed. There is a fine line between answering how I really want to and how I think they want me to answer, all while trying to surreptitiously read upside down to see what they're writing about me as I talk. I want to say Yes, my classroom will have/do this... but how do I know if the school allows that? Maybe the Principal wouldn't know a Tweet if it bit her but I want to connect with my students using Twitter?

Part of me wants to jump up on the next conference table and give voice to the Sorkin-style proclamation within: I can teach! Give me a room, give me students! Let me coax them, cajole them, encourage them to let the learning spark in them burst! Quit blaming faulty technology and get students into the 21st century, stop moaning about class size and get to know what every student needs to learn, cancel the parties and movies and demand hard work, proof of learning, and excellent results! I AM Superman! And then again part of me, mainly the student loan repaying part, wants to say Please, I need a job, tell me what to teach and how to teach it and I'll be there for every after school function and I'll spend all weekend grading and planning but please just give me a chance...

So now I (hopefully) go back to teaching elementary P.E., a job I absolutely love at a school I absolutely love with students I absolutely love, by the way, and spend the next 11 months learning as much as I can in order to try again next summer. I'll finish my GATE Certification, complete my P.E. Credential, keep working through the Stanford Math MOOC, discuss students and teaching during lunch break, slip $20 a week under the Principal's keyboard, and work towards another chance at interviewing for my own classroom next year.  I'll firm up my handshake, practice my interview answers, study successful educators and their best practices. I'll find a way to impress the entire room on my next interview, I'll have them presenting the staff restroom key and offering to drive me down to HR and sign that contract before my sweat has even dried.

Truthfully? I think it was the wrong tie.




*Yes, 17 years later, she is a fine cook these days. Delicious pastas, awesome tacos. Otherwise we wouldn't still be married, now would we?**

**Kidding!

Week One 2011

A strange beginning to the new school year...

No job offers, but encouraging news from a few districts relative to future prospects. Of course, can't write a mortgage check on that.

Back into last year's position, Elem PE Coach, which I do enjoy -- so cool to have all the kids welcome me back and say they can't wait for PE! -- but it's just as a day-to-day sub at sub pay, and it's not in a classroom.  I feel like the adage "Use It or Lose It" applies, the longer I stay out on the fields and courts the longer I go without classroom experience and I forget how to do what I need to know how to do. And others forget that I am a teacher (not that PE Coaches are not teachers, but...).

And to make the 1st week interesting they are tearing up the dirt field to put in turf (couldn't do that over the break?!?!?) so there are fences and tractors all over, a temporary teacher's lounge bungalow on top of the tetherball courts, and the county-wide power outage that closed all the schools Friday.  Oy vey!

Drats.

Hmmm..., thought that interview went well. Except for the part when I got a little choked up at the end, but that's because it seemed like it was going so well and it would be a great grade at a great school in a great district and I. Want. The. Job.  Otherwise I thought I was confident, spoke clearly, used relevant examples, had nothing stuck in my teeth... But the ol' lack of experience probably cost me. Someday.

What I Bring to the Table

Another interview tomorrow.  5th grade. My friend/mentor suggested I write out answers to possible questions, including how to sum up who I am as an Educator and what talent/skill/attributes I would bring to a classroom...

• Experience with children in many forms: parent of 3 boys, (5th/9th/12th, loud/quiet/goofy, GATE, ADHD); parent volunteer at school, sports, cub scouts; football and basketball coach Kinder through HS; Substitute Teacher K-9; P.E. Teacher K-8; English Learners to Gifted... so I've seen 'em all and from every angle, I understand how to communicate, how to listen, how to motivate, how to instruct, how to help them reach their full potential.
• Communication skills -- the ability to listen well, to express thoughts and intentions clearly, to find a new and/or different way to say something if needed; customer service expert, parent liaison, project group presenter... 

One Word Descriptions

Had my first Teacher Interview yesterday... first interview of any sort since hiring on at Robinson's-May back in 1998.  I'd like to think I was calm, collected, totally prepared, smelled nice, had my fly zipped, all the essentials in order for that overwhelmingly awesome first impression, but...

I know I stammered and bumbled through too many questions, gave vague answers instead of definitive, academic term filled answers. Probably showed myself the door by mentioning my lack of classroom experience.  I blanked on the "Do you have any questions for us?" -- and then of course thought of several before I was across the parking lot.

One question was the ol' standby "Describe yourself with one word" -- or was it 3 words? One word 3 different ways? No, it was 3 1-word descriptions. Anyway, not wanting to appear too self-centered with excessive contemplation, I blurted out the first three popping to mind:

Here. Tall. Trekkie.

So if they gave me a mulligan, possibly all 12 ears were momentarily ringing, and they asked me to kindly repeat my answer, I would probably go with completely different answers...

• Competitive: I want to be the best. Yes, I want to beat you, but the focus is beating me, constantly getting better, setting high standards, not settling for "that's all I can do" -- I want my class to be the cleanest and best looking, my students the smartest, most eager, respectful, polite, my family the happiest and proudest. And I want you to be the best as well, I want to work with the best, play against the best, measure up against the best.
• Excited:  I get excited when lessons go well, thrilled when kids "get it" and learning happens, electrified when students want to learn;  I get energized when I get to go to work, when I get to learn something, when I get to teach! 
• Appreciative:  It's not a perfect world; in fact it can be a scary, hopeless place if we dwell on all that does or can go wrong.  But instead I appreciate each day I have with my sons, my wife, my friends and family.  I appreciate the physical miracles of my body and the world around me, and the amazing gifts of thought, art, music, creativity, compassion, love.
• Right: not right as in the "I am always..." I repeatedly tell my sons, but the Right as in there is a right way to do things, to do everything.  The right way is doing your best, thinking of others first, learning something, improving something, doing it right the first time but if not finding the right way and doing it again.  The right way does not include shortcuts, cheating, or selfishness.
• Studious: I like to be prepared, I like to get as much resource material as possible, look at all angles, research the right and best way to do something -- whether I get the job of Defensive Line Coach or 4th grade Teacher, no matter if the assignment is native California flora, jump roping, or 3-digit division, I'm going to read about it, google it, watch a video on it, scour the Library shelves for it, and make my lesson plan the best it can be. Then I'm going to make it better for the next time.
  

First Interview

Ok, I don't think I was this bad, no visible drench marks, but I will confess to some nervousness -- what if they expose me as a fraud? Use all these technical and academic phrases that cause my face to go blank and a dreaded "Uuuhhh..." to slip from my lips? 

Aaron Struggles On Air



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Room 21

An "Online Social Learning Platform" -- the District I'd really, really love to work for is starting to work with this -- has anybody tried it?

Go the "About" link for an introduction video.  I wonder if it;s used Sept through June or goes by the wayside 1/2 way through the year. What grades use it? Good intro to social networks for 3-5 grades?



no connection to Room 222?

Will Teach for Food

               

   

Will Teach for Food

I can update my eFolio...

One Step Up

After years of stressing whether there would ever be any jobs out there I could apply for, and years of stressing over those "you did not advance to the next level in the application process" automated do-not-reply emails, I can finally stress over the very real possibility I may get an interview -- now what am I gonna do?!?!?