A First Interview

As I am coming to the close of my internship with only a short 62 days until the graduation ceremonies I have begun applying to different jobs in the area. I by nature am the kind of person who needs to know what is going on in my impending future and have thus decided to apply to different private schools rather than waiting for the middle of the summer for when Baltimore City begins hiring for the next school year. I have applied to four or five different schools through the Association for Independent Maryland Schools and had my first full day interview this past week. I would like to relate that experience for my future self.

After having a forty five minute phone interview with the headmistress of the school, I was notified of a four to five hour interview the following week. I was given a set of different options for a sample lesson and a series of individuals that I would be interviewing with throughout the day. I choose to do my sample lesson on the writing of similes by having a series of instruction cards and a form sheet where students follow the directions from the cards that correspond with the sheet. Students then choose words and constructed sentences from a box of 150 words to choose from.

The interview process went very well. I spoke with the headmistress for forty five minutes, then did my sample lesson for forty minutes, then spoke with the curriculum coordinator, other middle school teachers, the other middle school English teacher, and then the headmistress again for about forty five minutes with each person.

The most important thing that I learned was just to stay confident and to remember that I would not have already been there unless they really had an interest in me. While starting my lesson with the students I got very nervous at the beginning because it was the first time I had ever turned around from a whiteboard and seen a group of students that was not already my own. I saw a group of students that were very different from the ones that I interact with every day, but were really just the same. This note I will expand on later.

I have to say that it was a very good experience for me and that I enjoyed it. A few friends asked me before and after if I was nervous. I had to admit that I was not. Because, just like with nearly everything else, there is only so much you can do. The school is looking for a person who will fit them just as much as you are looking for a school that will fit and support you. And with that all I can do is keep myself knowing that I will wind up where I am supposed to be!