The Hiring Process

The hiring process assignment was our first assignment for EEND680.  It wouldn't be an administrative course without an assignment on the hiring process.   We were paired up with another student and created questions for that student to answer.  We then, had to answer their questions in return. As I stated in my previous blog post, I am not a fan of anything administrative but I reluctantly tried to figure out what questions I was going to ask my partner.  I was paired up with Traci and she is brilliant.  I was a little nervous to send her my questions because I had no idea what to ask.  I started looking through the course resources and used Google...oh Google, how you have become my best friend and yet my worst enemy.  There is SO MUCH STUFF ON GOOGLE.  Just weeding through the first page of hits was enough for me to try to figure it out on my own. For example, my 5th interview question is about the 4Cs of education and if there should be a 5th C added to the mix.  I came across this article where the author thinks the 5th C should be connections and this blog post where the author thinks the 5th C should be culture.  I have never heard of a potential 5th C and was curious about Traci's opinion.  Adding connections or culture as a 5th C could go either way.  Both authors have compelling arguments and it may just be a personal preference when utilizing the 4Cs in your classroom.  Once I figured out what I wanted to ask, I shared them with Traci and patiently awaited her responses. When she answered my questions, I knew this was not amateur hour. If Traci were to ever leave her current district and try for someplace else, they would be a fool not to hire her.  Her responses were very thoughtful and she gave amazing examples of her lessons. Click QUESTIONS to view our dialogue.  

My personal favorite of all of Traci's responses was her snap shot of a lesson. I LOVE (just kidding Kim!)...I was excited to see her use of task cards.  It's something so simple, but valuable to allow students to be as self-directed as possible.  I have actually incooperated a PE variation into my classes during our fitness days.  The task cards eliminate the "What do I do now Ms. Wood" when they finish a task.  I have even used them as part of an activity when I need to conference with other students.

This assignment was the first test to see how I did outside of my comfort zone.  I am very glad that I was able to work with someone like Traci because her work pushed me to do better and I got an idea for my own classroom out of it!