I have been thinking about how the next level of interview may be different from the last.
I found a great list of interview questions from community colleges at Inside Higher Ed.
These are questions I have not yet been asked:
What experiences have you had teaching literature? What would be your preferred literature class?
If I called your references or your current supervisor, what three words would they use to describe your teaching? What three words to describe you as a colleague? What three words to describe your temperament?
Describe the most creative work-related project you have completed?
Give us an example of your most successful work with students.
Tell us about your experience with a diverse student body.
Describe the best and the worst teaching experience you have had. What did you learn from each?
What journals do you read and conferences do you attend regularly? Identify a specific idea, teaching strategy, or research topic that you have taken from a journal or conference within the last couple of years. Why was it notable and what did you do with it?
In 100 years, what literature from 1975–2000 will be anthologized?
Please describe your approach to teaching, using examples from a sample class.
- What did you do on the first day of class?
- What techniques did you use to involve students?
- How did you provide feedback?
- What do you do when students have obviously not mastered the content of a particular unit of instruction?
In the most recent course that you taught, what did you do to actively involve students?
- How frequently did you do this?
- How did students respond?
- Are you likely to continue this. Why or why not?
Describe the evaluation system you used in the most recent course you taught.
- What was your grading scheme?
- What kinds of tests and exercises did you assign?
- How did the tests and exercises reinforce each other?
- What policies did you follow concerning homework, class attendance, lab reports, etc?
I will need to think on these questions.
What literature will be anthologized? Ouch. I hope they don’t ask that one. I’m an old lit person, not so much the new lit.
What is a creative work-related project? Does that mean my psychological history of the 19th century for Gilman? Or having all the students bring in three copies of one of their favorite songs for a poetry unit? Or writing a creative nonfiction piece? What were they looking for on this question?
I don’t think before this year I would have been able to answer that, but I do have an answer now. The question is whether or not they would agree with my description of diverse. I prefer to not discuss race unless it is a factor. (If my student speaks ebonics, for example.)
Teaching strategy from conference: Gilman as ghost story (ALA). Music as poetry (TYCA). Ethos/pathos/logos via film clips (PCAACA SwTx). I have only used one of those so far… but I am working on them.
Actively involve students:
Attendance, quizzes, homework grades. This was 40% of the grade.
Ask them to create questions for the final. (This works well.)
Have them read the parts in the plays.
Only time will tell if these are indeed the kinds of questions for the second and third round of interviews.