Beyond the book
“How would you teach that?”
It’s one of the most difficult questions teachers may hear during a job interview and for many, it may be the deciding factor in whether or not they receive a job offer.
“School administrators are looking to see how you fit in with their curriculum and how you fit in with the teaching strategies that are already in place at the school,” says Martha Pancena, a former recruiter in South Florida who specialized in secondary education. “But that doesn’t mean they all want cookie-cutter teachers. The smart schools look for teachers who will bring new ideas and concepts to the classroom while working within the framework of what’s already in place.”
Lynn Allen, a retired teacher with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, says topic-specific questions can be tough, but confident, competent teachers should be able to answer them. “You’ll think you have to go with your gut but if you stop for a second to think about it, you can come up with a strong answer,” she says.
Pancena says that it is perfectly acceptable to ask for a minute to gather your thoughts. “If you’re asked a very specific question — maybe a concept or event you haven’t taught before — take a breath and then answer as best you can,” she says. “No one is expecting an 18-week lesson plan. Instead, they’re just trying to see if you offer the same standard teaching experiences or if you are able to bring something new.”
Pancerna says there’s a fine line between proven, traditional methods and out-of-thebox thinking. “There are always new ways to teach and always new ways to learn, but good teachers know that,” she says. “You don’t have to throw a complete curveball at them and suggest something you have never done or something that may be a little too alternative for a mainstream school district, but you certainly should be talking about how you incorporate all the tools that are available to you — especially with so much remote learning in our present state of education — including online resources, audio, video, hands-on learning experiences and whatever else you can offer up to enhance a particular lesson.”
Aaron Vick, a former principal in Bloomington, Illinois, gives an example of a woman who was interviewing for an eighth-grade teaching position who was asked how she would approach teaching the Vietnam War. “Her answer was so wonderful. She was talking about historical texts and news summaries, but she also talked about correspondence letters from soldiers and accounts of visits to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.,” Vick says. “She mentioned movies that she would use for clips as well as protest songs that summed up the country’s unhappiness with the war. She talked about teaching the pro- and anti-war discussions as well.”
The numerous teaching platforms offered a complete lesson, according to Vick, and even though he hadn’t given her much time to think it out, he says he could tell she would use whatever means allowable to teach the importance of that significant, historical event. “Teachers have the responsibility to teach context, not just facts — and now more than ever,” he says. “So much of the Vietnam War set a precedent for the wars that followed but also for public perception of conflict, of country and of justice. It was a transformative event. To teach it, you have to go beyond the battles and the politics and reach students in new ways. It’s essential to approach it from a top-to-bottom vantage point.”
Allen agrees that using your complete toolbox when teaching a topic is important, and exactly what some today’s school administrators want to hear. “Good teachers teach, of course, but they teach in ways that reach their students,” she says. “You have to be innovative if you want your students to get the most out of your work in the classroom.”