I had my NQT singing off interview today. I passed, the interview was cut short by me having to go and actually teach a lesson.
Have learned many things this year, mostly things not to do, will apply them next year. Next year will be better, I know what I’m supposed to be doing now!
Keep reading…
Last night I set out to write a world class lesson plan for my interview today. Something different, something useful, something that shows I can make kids remember things.
Hmm… well group work goes down well, they can find me information about parts of operating systems, different types of GUIs. They can do a few past exam questions. We’ll discuss it at the end. Yeah.
Or with some modification I can take my laptop running Linux in, show them that and actually demonstrate the difference between a GUI, CLI and a menu based interface. We can then compare and contrast Windows and Linux, GUIs and command lines. Do a few questions and explain what the examiners are looking for. Even better, bonus points for doing something different.
So I set off at 6:15 – never arriving late to an interview ever again, I was due there at eight. I obviously arrived at 7:15, bang on the target time Google said. Oh well, half an hour of web browsing on my N800 helped to pass the time. And then in I went.
Laptop was connected to projector. Laptop didn’t like the projector. X config file was edited and the projector behaved itself. Then my USB drive didn’t like the school’s computer until a real teacher logged in. Right, objectives are on the board, lesson plan is on the desk. I know what I’m doing, I know who I am… go go go!
And the lesson went well, even with two people doing proper formal observations of me. The kids sat there in complete non-comprehension about GUIs. They couldn’t even tell me what kind of user interface Windows was.
Right… I see a problem here, can I fix it? Can I get the kids to at least recognise a GUI when they see one?
Well yeah, I can. It took an hour and a lot of repetition, and examples. Being able to boot my laptop and show them a real, live CLI was useful.
The lesson ended and I was given to the IT techies for a while with the comment of “he’s technical too, tell him about this place’s computers”. They have site-wide wireless networking with roaming capabilities, staff laptops, a new tape loader that isn’t working properly and people who ring up and moan about their pc not working. They aren’t BOFHs, give IT teachers higher privileges than regular teachers, and generally aren’t afraid to show off their system.
Eventually the school remembered I existed and asked me into another interview. This one was full of people very high up the school foodchain. I’m fairly sure there was a governor there too. We had a talk, I had more tea. They offered me the job, I took the job and signed some contracts.
Yeah, I got it 
I start in September.
So it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
University want me to talk to the rest of the ICT trainees about interviews and getting a job since I’m supposedly the first person to do so. That’ll be another odd experience on Monday.
There I was, teaching year 12s about system testing and explaining the fineries of how to install stuff in PCs when my pocket vibrates. Being in the middle of my lesson, with a hand inside a PC I let the thing continue buzzing away in my pocket. “Yeah, that bit is the CPU, it goes in there… no, other way up” *bzzzzt* “and this is a graphics card, stick it in one of those slots there…” *bzzzt*
It was voicemail. Voicemail from a school I had applied to. They wanted to interview me. Heh, join the queue as I have an interview tomorrow and Wednesday. I can probably fit you in sometime on Thursday or Friday, right after planning my lessons, writing an assignment that’s due in on Monday and curing 3rd World Hunger.
How things change with a phonecall. The principal said he was very interested in my application and wanted to see me today, as soon as possible. Err… right… today… there’s short notice, and there’s turning up as quickly as possible. Fortunately I don’t teach Monday afternoons so after a quick chat with my mentor, something to eat and a quick go with Google Maps I knew where I was going and set off.
There was only me there. No other people being interviewed, it was strange. Lots of friendly staff who showed me around the school and lead me around more computer rooms than I’ve seen in one building before – every room I went in had at least five. Then the interview, which was also different there was the principal, assistant principal and the head of ICT. We had an “informal” interview which cunningly asked all the same questions as every other interview, but in a much better way. Being able to have a cup of tea in an interview makes a difference.
And then the day got just about as bizarre as it could without breaking the laws of reality. Really, it was one step away from monkeys flying past the windows. I was asked to come back on Tuesday to teach a lesson, which posed a slight clash with another interview. I was then told in no uncertain words “There’s a stack of applications over there that I’ve not even looked at. You’re in a shortlist of one, now what do you say?”. Well duh… “Yes, I have no problem at all coming back tomorrow. What time?”. Possible job by Tuesday vs a long drive to Rotherham for a standard tedious day of being interviewed? Hard choice.
I was given a year 11 revision class on Operating Systems to teach, and a revision guide to look at. More tea was applied and I was shown back to the reception, head all a blur.
So tomorrow then…
Well I went to my second interview and it went better than the last one. They still didn’t pick me though. The feedback given was more useful than the first though, they said in my lesson I should have given them more varied work, and that in the interview I needed to say more about the role of a form tutor. Apparently they’re a source of monitoring and progress, not just the pastoral stuff. Oh, and my skills in Excel weren’t that strong supposedly.
My god, working out what they find important is like trying to guess the lottery numbers! This school is evidently mad about monitoring the kids, and they use Excel quite a lot. Bit rubbish they placed such emphasis on MS Office since Excel’s not that hard to use and would only take me a few minutes to learn.
Anyway, it’s a handy tip for my future lessons and then some background waffle. Not knowing Excel or not knowing the “proper” role of a form tutor aren’t really the reasons I didn’t get the job, are they? The real thing they must have picked out was the way I did the lesson. Still, when your entire lesson brief is “teach spreadsheet manipulation to year 11s” it’s quite vague and hard to plan for.
It would be a big help if the school actually provided some background knowledge about the students.
I’ll get there. There were two others from my course and someone from Bradford. It really unnerves people when you tell them you’ve had an interview before, and there’s this strange air of “good luck, but not too much… if you get my meaning” as people disappear off to be interviewed.
Such a strange experience.
Hey hey! Who wants a lesson in how to make a really crap first impression?
Step 1 – get lost going to the interview
Step 2 – arrive 15 minutes late
I knew where I was going, the only drawback being it was dark when I tested the route, and daylight when I actually had to do it for real, so that wrong turning I took without noticing really threw me.
… as did the level crossing that I got stuck at for ten minutes waiting for the train.
The interview actually went alright after that. The lesson I taught was the most contrived and artificial thing ever. The kids could have been rubber dummies for all the impact they made. It was like teaching a group of zombies, they were so… silent and compliant. I have never, ever had a group of kids where I can just say “log in and load Word” and immediately see 25 hands grab mice and do exactly what I wanted. I had my usual second line of “sometime today would be nice, get that webmail turned off Right Now!” all queued up and ready.
I didn’t get it though. They didn’t provide a very meaningful reason why either. Supposedly I didn’t stick out enough to leave a lasting impression or something. I don’t know, I think it just boiled down to “you’re fine and all, but just not quite what we’re after”.
Against me were two qualified teachers and another trainee. Fortunately they gave it to the other trainee. The other two teachers didn’t really deserve the post – they have jobs and only wanted this to make their journeys to work easier, it wasn’t promotion and head teachers don’t like people moving sideways.
Another interview on Monday… this one looks a bit more “interesting”. For a start the school has a 40% pass rate for the exams, and I have to teach a 60 minute lesson which is excellent. 20 minutes is just stupid, 60 is much better.
Stay tuned