I had a 30 minute phone interview today with a Teach for America representative, and I can't help but feel very doubtful. I tend to stutter and ramble when I'm nervous, which is definitely a bad thing especially if I plan on spending my career in a classroom. I think my goal this year is to teach myself how to act in a more calm manner, so that I don't sound/look like a rambling dork in front of everyone. It has always puzzled me, how coherent and how beautiful my words come out on paper - and how incoherent they are straight out of my mouth. I hope Kelly (the T4A rep) believed in my responses, and paid more attention to that, than to my not-so-impressive public speaking skills. Maybe I should take a public speaking class to prepare myself for the classroom. It would certainly help dispell my doubts and possibly teach me some needed oratory skills.
But on a good note - I actually surprised myself with some of the comments I made. I guess you never realize how much you believe in something until it comes out of your own mouth. I really want to be a good teacher - more than that - I really want to be that inspiring one, the one you remember post graduation, post college, post kids, post grandkids. The one you mention to people when they ask about your success in your career or as a person. And no, I don't think I'm naive in thinking that teachers like that do exist - because they definitely do... I've had the pleasure of being one of their students.
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What kind of questions did they ask?
We needed to read these two articles about the quality of education in America. One article was focused on new research findings, stating that it is the quality of the teachers within a school system that defines a student's academic success, not necessarily his/her economic situation. The other article focused on different US programs that helped students succeed despite their economic situation by enforcing disciplined programs and high standards. Most of the questions referred to the article (my thoughts, interpretations, what struck me, what I agreed with, learned, already knew, how would I apply it as a T4A member).
There were also other questions regarding my personality (describe a situation that was challenging, how did you overcome it? how would you get parents devote time to their children's success? how much should a teacher consider his/her methods when teaching students faced with economic hardship?).
And most importantly, she asked why would I want to be a T4A member!
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