Thursday, April 19, 2012

Questions upon Questions

Yesterday was a crazy day, and not just because of the testing.  I had two interviews after school.  One was an in-person visit to a small Lutheran school fairly close to my college to talk about teaching 5th and 6th grade, and the other was a phone interview with the call committee at a bigger Lutheran school further away to teach middle school science.

My journey started out fine, until I attempted to drive up a gradually inclining hill.  Then my vehicle decided to spaz out.  The check engine light started flashing and my vehicle had some trouble accelerating up the hill.  I immediately called Dad to see if I should pull over or if I should keep going.  He said I should keep going.  So I did.  And I made it safely there. 

The school is kind of patched together, but there's a cozy, at home feeling in the building.  The principal was great; we sat down to chit-chat and just talked about education and my experiences.  I came prepared with a list of questions to ask, should the occasion arise, and it did.  When I pulled out my list, the principal made the joke that now I was interviewing him and maybe he should start making notes.  But he was glad I had questions.  After that we went on a tour of the school.  My would-be classroom is huge!  I would only have about 5 students, plus some other random grades for one or two subject areas, so there would be plenty of room.  Right now there's not a SMARTboard, but one is going to be put in for next year.  That would be fantastic!  So after some encouragement from the principal on my other interview, I headed back to college.

My phone interview didn't go as well.  I don't like phone interviews because it's so hard for me to get my personality across.  I'm a very visual person and frequently use my hands to demonstrate a point, plus I like to think about what I'm saying, so over the phone I don't always sound poised.  But, I was going to give it a shot.  I sat at my desk in my room, waiting for the call.  I did a little homework, but I didn't want to get too involved.  So 8:00 rolled around and no one called.  8:05, nothing.  I was starting to get worried and a little bit angry; if they didn't want to interview me, they could just send me an email or something!  But at 8:10pm, I got a phone call.  Apparently the interviewee prior to me was in a fender bender and arrived late to his interview, pushing my interview back a few minutes. 

We began and ended with prayer.  There were about 7 people interviewing me: the pastor, principal, board member, parent, 1st and 5th grade teachers, and the science teacher who's place I would take.  That last one was intimidating.  I looked at her website and she seems like an awesome teacher.  She was also the one doing most of the question asking.  It seemed like I was just repeating myself over and over for every question, "I am passionate and enthusiastic about science."  We talked a lot about my faith and the Christian aspect of teaching, and we also talked about their desire to make the science program excellent.  Many of the students' parents are high class doctors, so that would be a pretty big task.  I just don't know what to think.  But I guess I'll have to wait and see what the Lord is telling me.  So prayer would be much appreciated!

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