interview questions

History Queen · 25-06-2015 9:11pm #1

So today I received yet another rejection letter from an interview. I took it quite hard as I had left that particular interview feeling like I had done well whereas normally I am critical of myself. Anyway instead of wallowing in it I decided to be proactive and have asked for my scoresheet to see if I can identify where I am going wrong...

I also thought it might be useful to create a thread discussing some unusual/difficult questions that people have encountered to discuss possible answers/ approaches to answering the questions if people are open to that? Might be useful?

So I'll kick it off by giving you some examples of questions I have been asked that I found difficult to answer and see if anyone has tips or suggestions.

1. How do you teach your subject? (This stumped me as it was so vague- I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions)

2. What is your opinion on homework?

3. What differences if any have you noticed working in ETB school vs Catholic ethos school?

Feel free to offer suggestions for the questions I have posed or to add your own questions.

Mardy Bum · 25-06-2015 9:21pm

History Queen wrote: »

1. How do you teach your subject? (This stumped me as it was so vague- I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions)

2. What is your opinion on homework?

3. What differences if any have you noticed working in ETB school vs Catholic ethos school?

Feel free to offer suggestions for the questions I have posed or to add your own questions.

Question 1: Buzz words: Student centred, AFL, Differentiation, Literacy, ICT, Questioning, Discussion, Videos, Practising, Exam prep, Prior Knowledge, Self evaluate, Reflect, Collaboration, Modelling. Give relevant real world experiences.

Question 2
Homework should be used to solidify classwork and should be relevant to the lesson objectives. It's important the whole school policy on homework is followed otherwise.... Describe ways to make homework interesting.

NCW feen · 06-07-2015 6:33pm

Does anyone use peer to peer learning sa rang Gaeilge, or have any ideas on it ?

tomissex · 09-07-2015 5:25pm

History Queen wrote: »

1. How do you teach your subject? (This stumped me as it was so vague- I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions)

2. What is your opinion on homework?

3. What differences if any have you noticed working in ETB school vs Catholic ethos school?

Feel free to offer suggestions for the questions I have posed or to add your own questions.

Had an interview yesterday. Felt well prepared but two questions that I hadn't thought of were:

- How can you and the teaching staff contribute to the pastoral care of the students?

- How should you teach a class that is half Higher level, half Ordinary level?

Naoko · 09-07-2015 10:55pm

tomissex wrote: »

Had an interview yesterday. Felt well prepared but two questions that I hadn't thought of were:

- How can you and the teaching staff contribute to the pastoral care of the students?

- How should you teach a class that is half Higher level, half Ordinary level?

I was asked both of these this year for the first time too.

evolving_doors · 10-07-2015 12:15am

tomissex wrote: »

Had an interview yesterday. Felt well prepared but two questions that I hadn't thought of were:

- How can you and the teaching staff contribute to the pastoral care of the students?

- How should you teach a class that is half Higher level, half Ordinary level?

Hmmm here's my spoof response.

Q How can you and the teaching staff contribute to the pastoral care of the students?
A. Essentially a whole school approach and an awareness of everyones role/skillset. Referring to the correct people before going it alone (student may already be in discussion with career guidance or year head so from that perspective you might be bringing up thorny issues already being hashed out).
Being proactive...anti-bullying initiatives, mentoring system, prefect system, issues around student confidentiality, social media, exam stress, health and wellbeing etc.
So basically it is anything not got to do with 'your subject'.

Q How should you teach a class that is half Higher level, half Ordinary level?
A. That's just differentiation I would think. Maybe view the whole class as being on a spectrum rather than 2 distinct ability groups. Most of the curiculae should allow for this so that general topics are the same for both levels.

m*pp*t · 10-07-2015 5:38pm

Q: What CPD would you be interested in undergoing in the future? (Maybe an obvious question, but not one I'd considered really.)
Everything else I was asked is a blur....

History Queen · 10-07-2015 10:02pm

m*pp*t wrote: »

Q: What CPD would you be interested in undergoing in the future? (Maybe an obvious question, but not one I'd considered really.)
Everything else I was asked is a blur....

I was asked this question last year and I said that I would like to pursue CPD in relation to SEN i then expanded on how i thought this would help me with differentiation and classroom management (while mentioning all the good things i was already doing in this area) .

I tried to show them that though i was interested in this area that I was already strong in it. I was afraid they asked me the question as a twist on the "what are your weaknesses" question so I tried to turn it to display my strengths.

Ended up getting that job... ☺ hopefully will be as lucky this year

NCW feen · 24-07-2015 8:30pm

Can anyone recommend an interview coach for 1 to 1 coaching around Limerick ? Disappointed with how my last interview went.

Dave0301 · 25-07-2015 4:25pm

NCW feen wrote: »

Can anyone recommend an interview coach for 1 to 1 coaching around Limerick ? Disappointed with how my last interview went.

I would suggest getting feedback first. Not to be harsh, but if it highlights deficiencies in your responses to teaching specific questions, a coach won't help this.

Corkgirl18 · 28-07-2015 7:27pm

Great idea for a thread. Just finished college, had a few interviews so far with some sticky questions that I wasn't expecting.

1. Do you think past teachers of yours could manipulate you into doing work for them?
2. What is the thing you need to work on most/greatest weakness?

3. What was the thing you learned most about yourself on your J1?
4. What are the differences in the ways boys and girls approach learning?
5. Can ICT be overused?
6. What could you bring to the staffroom of our school?
7. How do you implement classroom management in theory classes?
8. How would you approach teaching 5th years coming from Transition Year and some coming straight from 3rd year?
9. If I walked into your class on a random day, what would I see?
10. What would you do if a student told you to f*** off?

Would be interested to see how people answer question #2. It was the one that stumped me.
Hope the above qs are of use to someone.

deex · 28-07-2015 10:26pm

I was asked what my opinion on the use of triangulation in schools was.

I've honestly NEVER come across that word during my degree and teacher training, and I "uhhhhh"-ed for a minute before being upfront and admitting that I didn't know what the word meant.

The interviewer explained it to me in such an unclear, convoluted manner (while looking very unimpressed that I wasn't familiar with it) that I still had no idea what on earth it referred to.

I "ehhh-"ed for a second longer before stumbling over a sentence so irrelevant and nonsensical that it might as well have come from one of those Miss USA beauty pageant queens who go viral.

At which point the interviewer looked at me half sympathetically, half patronisingly and said "Well... thanks for coming anyway."

Spent the rest of the evening in a mess poring over online papers about triangulation and feeling sorry for myself.

Needless to say, didn't get that job.

NCW feen · 28-07-2015 10:39pm

I would suggest getting feedback first. Not to be harsh, but if it highlights deficiencies in your responses to teaching specific questions, a coach won't help this.

I did get some feedback but it was rather vague. It was an ETB I interviewed for.
The two areas I did bad in were interpersonal communication skills (10/20) and capacity to contribute to the overall development of a learning organisation including other relevant experience (35/60).

Alex Meier · 29-07-2015 11:04am

tomissex wrote: »

How should you teach a class that is half Higher level, half Ordinary level?

The reality is that you cannot teach two levels simultaneously.

You can choose to spend half the class with one level and the other half with the other

Alex Meier · 29-07-2015 11:16am

deex wrote: »

I was asked what my opinion on the use of triangulation in schools was.

I've honestly NEVER come across that word during my degree and teacher training, and I "uhhhhh"-ed for a minute before being upfront and admitting that I didn't know what the word meant.

The interviewer explained it to me in such an unclear, convoluted manner (while looking very unimpressed that I wasn't familiar with it) that I still had no idea what on earth it referred to.

I "ehhh-"ed for a second longer before stumbling over a sentence so irrelevant and nonsensical that it might as well have come from one of those Miss USA beauty pageant queens who go viral.

At which point the interviewer looked at me half sympathetically, half patronisingly and said "Well... thanks for coming anyway."

Spent the rest of the evening in a mess poring over online papers about triangulation and feeling sorry for myself.

Needless to say, didn't get that job.

Triangulation?

Never heard of it in terms of Education.

Whoever asked you that is just a spoofer. . . Plenty of them in Education circles - Especially management.

Dave0301 · 29-07-2015 11:21am

Alex Meier wrote: »

Triangulation?

Never heard of it in terms of Education.

Whoever asked you that is just a spoofer. . . Plenty of them in Education circles - Especially management.

It is related to assessment, although I think it is more widely practised in the US than Ireland or the UK.

It is about have three different sources of data to make inferences about a pupil's progress.

Alex Meier · 29-07-2015 11:25am

Dave0301 wrote: »

It is related to assessment, although I think it is more widely practised in the US than Ireland or the UK.

It is about have three different sources of data to make inferences about a pupil's progress.

Yea . . . And I bet the muppet who asked the question never used "triangulation" before.

Dave0301 · 29-07-2015 11:29am

Alex Meier wrote: »

Yea . . . And I bet the muppet who asked the question never used "triangulation" before.

Well I think it is fair to say all good teachers should use it in their classroom. It is a pedagogical term used to gauge how a teacher will assess a pupil learning within the classroom.

I think it is more the term triangulation that is unfamiliar on these shores rather than the methods involved.

Alex Meier · 29-07-2015 11:39am

Dave0301 wrote: »

Well I think it is fair to say all good teachers should use it in their classroom. It is a pedagogical term used to gauge how a teacher will assess a pupil learning within the classroom.

I think it is more the term triangulation that is unfamiliar on these shores rather than the methods involved.

"Pedagogical terms" and methodologies do not make "good teachers".

You cannot learn about teaching from a textbook.

Mardy Bum · 29-07-2015 11:54am

Alex Meier wrote: »

You cannot learn about teaching from a textbook.

Ah here that is a foolish statement. You have to learn different teaching strategies and then implement them if you ever want to improve unless of course you are Socrates himself.

aunt aggie · 29-07-2015 11:58am

Dave0301 wrote: »

It is related to assessment, although I think it is more widely practised in the US than Ireland or the UK.

It is about have three different sources of data to make inferences about a pupil's progress.

Never heard of this before. I think a lot of Irish school are much more focused on embedding assessment for learning in classrooms.

What are the 3 different sources of data??

Dave0301 · 29-07-2015 12:03pm

Alex Meier wrote: »

"Pedagogical terms" and methodologies do not make "good teachers".

You cannot learn about teaching from a textbook.

Not necessarily no, but being able to discuss them with a high degree of understanding in an interview scenario certainly won't do you any harm. Particularly as the teacher won't have a chance to demonstrate their practical skills in a classroom setting.

Also, just turning up to your class everyday doesn't make a " good teacher." I have always enjoyed reading up on the pedagogy of teaching, that doesn't make anyone a good teacher, but if it can improve your practice in the classroom that it certainly can.

Alex Meier · 29-07-2015 12:06pm

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Ah here that is a foolish statement. You have to learn different teaching strategies and then implement them if you ever want to improve unless of course you are Socrates himself.

Learning different teaching strategies does not necessarily imply that the quality of teaching has improved.

Correlation does not imply causation.

Alex Meier · 29-07-2015 12:09pm

Dave0301 wrote: »

Not necessarily no, but being able to discuss them with a high degree of understanding in an interview scenario certainly won't do you any harm. Particularly as the teacher won't have a chance to demonstrate their practical skills in a classroom setting.

That's the way they do it in England.

Teachers are sometimes "interviewed" in live classrooms with the actual students they will teach in the classroom should they be offered the job.

I know of a few principals who bring their interviewees into a classroom setting and ask them to pretend that they, the interviewers, are pupils and teach a topic for a few moments.

This is the right way to do it. . . . Not asking ridiculous questions about "triangulation",

Dave0301 · 29-07-2015 12:10pm

aunt aggie wrote: »

Never heard of this before. I think a lot of Irish school are much more focused on embedding assessment for learning in classrooms.

What are the 3 different sources of data??

Teacher - pupil dialect, teacher observations, and some sort of product that the teacher can then assess.

Using the data from these sources,the teacher then gauges any progress made.

To be fair, this happens in most classrooms on a regular basis I would imagine!

Dave0301 · 29-07-2015 12:14pm

Alex Meier wrote: »

That's the way they do it in England.

Teachers are sometimes "interviewed" in live classrooms with the actual students they will teach in the classroom should they be offered the job.

I know of a few principals who bring their interviewees into a classroom setting and ask them to pretend that they, the interviewers, are pupils and teach a topic for a few moments.

This is the right way to do it. . . . Not asking ridiculous questions about "triangulation",

I teach in London, and I do agree that an observed interview lesson is very useful, although it can be contrived at times.

They like to ask a fair few questions about teaching & learning as well, although triangulation is a bit of a curve ball. :pac:

aunt aggie · 29-07-2015 12:14pm

Dave0301 wrote: »

To be fair, this happens in most classrooms on a regular basis I would imagine!

Yea this is what all teachers do already, granted on an informal basis. You know your students well enough that you can speak to parents or write a report that isn't solely based on their end of year result.

Interesting that this method entirely avoids assessment for learning, written feedback to students and students self assessment. I thought that's what we were aiming for...

Dave0301 · 29-07-2015 12:18pm

aunt aggie wrote: »

Interesting that this method entirely avoids assessment for learning, written feedback to students and students self assessment. I thought that's what we were aiming for...

From what I have read on it, triangulation is not so much a method of assessment (in so far as it can be used with assessment for learning), but it is more of a validation of the conclusions that you as a teacher have made on a pupil's learning, as you have varied the sources of your data.

Corkgirl18 · 29-07-2015 12:55pm

Triangulation was mentioned to us in college. It links into AfL because it centres on constantly monitoring students progress and involving them in the monitoring process.
It focuses on using lots of different sources (assessment records, test results, discussions, surveys etc.) to gauge student achievement or the school's achievement in general and document the areas which need improvement.
By using multiple sources, you increase the validity of the evidence.
That's my understanding of it anyway.

seavill · 29-07-2015 2:21pm

Alex Meier wrote: »

The reality is that you cannot teach two levels simultaneously.

You can choose to spend half the class with one level and the other half with the other

I have to disagree with your first statement.

Apart from maybe Irish English and maths teaching two levels simultaneously is exactly what teachers of all other subjects do day in day out

spurious · 30-07-2015 9:29am

seavill wrote: »

I have to disagree with your first statement.

Apart from maybe Irish English and maths teaching two levels simultaneously is exactly what teachers of all other subjects do day in day out

And in some schools, Irish teachers have two levels in a class, plus the kids who don't do Irish at the back. The real world.

Alex Meier · 30-07-2015 10:52am

spurious wrote: »

And in some schools, Irish teachers have two levels in a class, plus the kids who don't do Irish at the back. The real world.

Teaching material which is common to both syllabi is not teaching two levels because it is not possible to teach two levels.

gaiscioch · 30-07-2015 5:12pm

spurious wrote: »

And in some schools, Irish teachers have two levels in a class, plus the kids who don't do Irish at the back. The real world.

Three levels (Bonn, Gnáth & Ard Leibhéal)- and the ones who don't do it. Furthermore, in our school where there is an ideological opposition to streaming, there are c. 30 students in each Irish class.

It's nothing short of brazen that one teacher is expected to teach this range in each class. Learning "differentiation" in this reality is a theory of little relevance other than as a right-on, money-saving trite soundbite. When I taught English as a foreign language - i.e. with conversation at the heart of the class - there were 10 to 15 students in each class. As a policy, there was never more than 15 students so conversation and games were possible to facilitate - even with the foreign learners who did not want to be in English class (they had to attend class as a visa requirement).

For all the rants people have about the way Irish is taught, I have never heard anybody point out how both the size of classes and the range of students within them make it impossible to teach it as a living language of conversation and fun. Comparing the subject with subjects which had half the number of students (there were c. 15 students in our French class, which was optional) has always been specious.

mtoutlemonde · 30-07-2015 6:37pm

gaiscioch wrote: »

Comparing the subject with subjects which had half the number of students (there were c. 15 students in our French class, which was optional) has always been specious.

You have very lucky French teacher(s) with those numbers. I have never had a class with less than 25 and that is both levels.

interview questions

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