The Interview

The day has arrived. After a month of correspondence I am going in today to establish what may be the first step of my teaching career. I applied for a grant a month ago that will allow me to complete my requirements in less then 4 years free!!!!!

The snag.. I'm officially a vendor of the city and not a defacto employee of the school. However I have stated many times over that I am doing the exact same job as a paraprofessional as they call it but without the benefits or union membership that normally is entailed. Believe me this is not by choice!

So with my big boy pants I will do my best to impress.. to practice I'm gonna answer some standard questions below..

1) what is your greatest strength:
   Patience, is my greatest strength. From my years of working with all different people of different abilities both young and old I've learned we proceed at our own pace. That all things happen over time and usually most successfully when prodded along in a positive manner.
2) Your greatest weakness:
  This is a skill I'm working hard on, Organization which to me includes time management will sometimes get the best of me. Not to say I misplace things but rather I would have a pile of papers on the desk that may detract me from teaching because I'm looking for a particular paper. In my work as a paraprofessional I've attempted to circumvent this problem using an organizer.
3) How do you handle classroom discipline?:
  This is always a hot topic. I have worked for years with students with emotional and behavioural issues I find words "lease restrictive technique" often rings true in my head. If a student constantly speaks out (of turn or without asking) I would bring myself to them and acknowledge that they have something to say but remind them the appropriate way to have thier view heard (i.e raise hands). If a more serious offense occurs such as pushing or cheating I would ask to speak privately with the student. I address the student age appropriate if they are say middle school I would address them as young adults. If they are in elementry I would remind myself to try to get to their eye level. I beleive that communiciation is more effective when you connect this way. Good communication with students leads to more effective and thus lesser need for disciplinarly actions.
4) What color is your parachute?:
  What the Hell? what kind of new age dumb-ass prove-nothing question is that?




and its Blue!


have a good one,
Joey