Can someone please help with interview questions?

[AtSea1979]

I had an interview last week and realised I wasn't as polished as I'd thought I was. I stalled on a few simple questions. Could someone please answer some of these then I know what I should be saying even if the examples aren't the same.

• Think of a lesson you planned, delivered, appraised. What made it a good lesson?
  

I stumbled and gave an overall answer rather than specific.

• What would you do if a child complained they were bored?
  

Totally threw me because first thing I thought was I would tell them how rude they are and how lucky they are to come to school!

Oh and a blanket one. Why do you want to work at this school specifically?

its nearest to home and I can meet my son off the bus because I'm precious about him mumbled something about the ethos, which I hadn't read up on.

[noblegiraffe]

Primary or secondary?

[AtSea1979]

Primary sorry should have been more specific! Going for SEN tomorrow

[AtSea1979]

Anyone?

[noblegiraffe]

I'm secondary so it would be different (I tell bored kids that they come to school to be educated not entertained), but a for a good lesson I'd pick one where I'd identified some weakness prior to the lesson, worked on it during the lesson, and the kids were able to demonstrate at the end of the lesson that they could now do what they had previously stumbled on (while stretching the ones who were confident). Shows assessment for learning, kids making progress etc.

Why do you want to work in SEN? That would be a personal thing.

[AtSea1979]

SEN I could explain. It was mainstream primary last week and they asked why their school specifically. I had no idea!

[DitheringDiva]

For your second question, I think your first thought of telling the children how rude they are is actually quite good! Where possible it's always best to try to be yourself.

For the question about a good lesson, you need to go through all the lessons you've ever taught, choose your best/favourite one, then work out a model answer.

And for the last one, you need to do your research on the school before you go, and find something that's different about that school compared to other schools in the area. eg. for me I like working in 11-18 schools because I enjoy the full age range. However, many schools around here are middle schools or 11-16, or 13-19, so for me I might say it's because it's an 11-18, and then gush on about my love of teaching the whole age range. Ethos is not a bad thing to go for either, but you'd need to know what the ethos is, and make sure your values do genuinely align with it! If it's primary, as an outsider the biggest differences seem to be how many classes per year - some teachers prefer a bigger school, some prefer smaller, so you could go with that, but then you would have to really show your enthusiasm for why this is your preference.

I find I'm useless in an interview when it's my first interview for a long time, and after that first (always failed) interview, I go home, write down all the questions I can remember, then model answers to them. As well as being able to answer those questions, it also seems to make me more confident about answering other questions that come up.

[ceebie]

For the bored one, perhaps you could discuss with the child whether they thought they were bored because they were finding the work too difficult or too easy? If neither, discuss that children find some areas of schoolwork more interesting than others, but it all has a purpose? And suggest that something might be more interesting later?

I actually think it's reasonable to say that you want a short commute, but think of something good to say about the school too, obviously!

[AtSea1979]

It went well today, will find out tomorrow. What threw me was they asked what my strengths was, fine usual answer. Then asked what my weaknesses are. I stalled.

[DitheringDiva]

The weakness question is a bog standard one that comes up in many teaching and non-teaching interviews. The key is to think of one of your strengths, then exaggerate it to the point that it becomes a fault eg. "I'm too much of a perfectionist" (This is a cliched one so don't use it!). Then, give an example of how how you've been too much of a perfectionist eg. overplanning lessons, then go on to explain how you've learned to rein in this particular 'weakness' eg. "'Now that I'm more experienced I've learned to share resources blah blah... (or whatever).

So you've answered the question without actually mentioning any real weakness at all! And at the same time, you've managed to get across more of your strengths eg. the importance you put on well planned lessons!

[AtSea1979]

Ah I wish I'd thought of that!