Tell Us About Yourself

Confidence Is Key

There are many opportunities for growth as a Student Teacher from The Pennsylvania State University. In order to focus this growth, #psuaged22 was each given a list of potential projects to complete and told to "Pick One" to take our learning into our own hands. The assignment that I chose to complete was an interview with a school administrator so, with the help of Ms. Romberger, I got in touch with Mrs. Jamie Croft, one of the Principals at Cumberland Valley High School, to complete this task. We set up a time after school one day to conduct the interview and on that determined day I made my way upstairs to Mrs. Croft's office.

For the interview, both Mrs. Jamie Croft and Mrs. Amy Miller, an Assistant Principal at Cumberland Valley, were present. Unlike for a typical interview, I was not very nervous for this encounter which I believed helped to clear my head to coherent question answering. After telling them a little about myself and why I wanted to be an educator, they took turns asking me questions about why I wanted the position I was interviewing for, how I handled student misbehavior, what I felt was my strength as a teacher, and how I have included parents in my students' education. While I felt like I answered their questions to the best of my ability, I felt less prepared for the questions they asked that probed at my experience as I teacher. Obviously, this Student Teaching Experience has been the extent of my experience as a teacher and advisor thus far, which is why I feel these questions are harder to answer. I felt particularly stumped by the question about including parents in my students' education since I have not had the chance to really do so thus far. For this question I took a futuristic approach and spoke to how I hope to include parents in FFA and community events. 

I Loved Seeing That CV Pride In This Interview

After they had asked me questions, I asked them questions about where they saw the school in five years, how they supported Professional Development for first year teachers, and how they supported experiential learning opportunities for students enrolled in agriculture classes. After learning more about Cumberland Valley through their answers they provided me with some feedback on how the mock interview went. I was pleased that they really enjoyed the interview and said that this was one of the best mock interviews they have been a part of. The biggest piece of advice they gave me was just that I needed to gain more experience, which I agree with. They also gave me some advice on how I can go about gaining this experience, especially incorporating parents into their students' education by calling home on days their student does something spectacular.

Overall, I really enjoyed the learning opportunity that this interview provided. While you do not get much feedback when it comes to interviewing for real, I really appreciated that Mrs. Jamie Croft and Mrs. Amy Miller were friendly and honest throughout the whole process. You could also tell that they are passionate about their jobs and Cumberland Valley which I was able to appreciate more than during a real interview due to my lack of nerves. While I enjoyed being comfortable throughout the interview, I wish that I could have reproduced the stakes of a real interview to get more feedback on whether or not my nervousness came through during questioning. Going into real interviews, I hope to try to cut back on my nerves and relax while answering questions. I would like to thank Mrs. Jamie Croft and Mrs. Amy Miller for taking time out of their busy schedules to help me grow as a professional!

"Taylor"ed with love,