USING PORTFOLIO ITEMS IN TEACHING INTERVIEWS by Dr. Sue Slick

 

SITUATION 1

I was called by an administrator and asked to address the following 7 topics about a new teaching candidate.

 

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

RAPPORT WITH STUDENTS

MANAGEMENT

RAPPORT WITH STAFF

MATURITY AND DEPENDABILITY

FLEXIBILITY, ADAPTING TO CHANGE

VARIETY OF ASSIGNMENTS

 

If you were to use your portfolio to address these topics what would you have as artifacts to demonstrate your strengths.  

 

 

SITUATION 2

Prior to an interview one of my student teachers was asked to prepare a presentation for her interview. The assignment: 

 

SELECT 2 TEACHING STANDARDS

Talk for 15-20 minutes about your strengths in those standards.

 

My student chose to make a power point and list the two standards and provide examples from her portfolio that demonstrated her strength in the two standards she selected. 

 

If you were asked to do this assignment before an interview, what standards would you select as your strengths and what artifacts would you include in a power point to demonstrate these strengths.

 

 

 

 

IDEAS FOR TAKING A SAMPLING OF PORTFOLIO ARTIFACTS

TO AN INTERVIEW

by Dr. Sue Slick

 

 

1.  Burn a CD and leave it with an administrator to share with interview team.  Be sure the CD opens to the portfolio to operate as linked pages.

 

2.  Create a power point using the 10 standards.  Use if appropriate during interview or print a version to distribute during interview.

Slide 1 Introduction to the Powerpoint  Slide 2: Standard 1, Slide 3-4 etc – artifacts that show your strengths in addressing the standard.  Slide 5 Standard 2, Slide 6-8 etc artifacts.  After creating the slides you might ask if you can use a powerpoint in an interview, or you might print your powerpoint to distribute as a handout at your interview.

 

3.  Create a newsletter or pamphlet highlighting your strengths as a future teacher using artifacts from your portfolio.   Print a colored copy to allude to during your interview and a few black and white copies to distribute after the interview.

 

4.  Prepare a handout, maximum length, 10 pages – 20 sides using artifacts from your portfolio.  Select the best examples of your strengths and work.  Create a color copy to use while talking and answering questions and perhaps black and white copies to distribute.  You might put these in pocketed folders to leave after the interview. 

 

 

Using Your Portfolio During an Interview

 

  1. Have some sense of how you’d like to use your work during the interview – develop a framework.

 

  1. Don’t expect to be asked about your portfolio, even if you think it is apparent you have brought it.  Some administrators think that the candidate should initiate the discussion of the portfolio.  Take the initiative if the administrator doesn’t ask to see it.  After introductions and a few questions find a way to use the document and ask if you can refer to it during the interview process.

 

  1. Know what’s in the document and have it organized so that you can easily refer to it without fumbling.  Carefully arrange material so that it is easy to read and share.  Don’t fill it with lots of extraneous materials that looks messy or that will fall out of the pockets onto the floor.  You may bring two portfolios with you – a comprehensive copy in a tabbed looseleaf binder and a smaller version with selected documents to leave with the interviewer.  At the end of the interview, ask if you might leave a copy of the smaller document.

 

  1. Always practice using the portfolio in response to interview questions.

 

  1. Use the portfolio as a way to showcase the knowledge, skills, and commitments you bring to teaching.

 

  1. Your portfolio should represent:
    1. What you know.
    2. What you can do or have done.
    3. What you stand for as a person and as a professional.

 

  1. Interviews require personal interactions at both interpersonal and intrapersonal levels.  Learn to watch, listen, and hear what the interviewer is saying and asking.  Practice your handshake, maintain eye contact, learn to read between the lines and watch body language.  Learn to showcase yourself so that you appear confident and enthusiastic, but not overly aggressive or cocky.  Learn to politely showcase your accomplishments without appearing like you are bragging.  If you have had life experiences that have helped you understand children or people find an opportunity to talk about these.  Camp counseling, youth groups, scouts, tutoring experiences, Odyssey of the Mind, R.A., Sunday school teacher, choir director, etc., all of these types of experiences are important.  Point these out on your resume and find a way to talk about them in your interview.  Concluding, ask when you might hear back from the interviewer, and ask if you might leave a sample portfolio.