Mock Interview: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly!

Today I had a mock interview with our seasoned principal at Athens Area High School! In his first day as acting principal, our previous vice principal Mr. Mosher was kind enough to give me an hour of his time after school on his first day! What a champ! I so appreciated his time, comments, advice, and interview questions.

So let's get to it, the good, the bad, and the ugly!

1. Here are some examples of the questions that Mr. Mosher asked:

- Tell me a little bit about your background and experiences in education.
- Tell me about the routine or a normal day in your classroom.
- What is your knowledge of LFS and APL?
- Tell me about differentiated instruction and please provide examples from your past teaching experiences.
- Are you familiar with Common Core Standards? Please provide examples of how.
- What questions do you have for me?

2. My Responses:

Whew! First, I was surprised by how long the interview was knowing that Mr. Mosher was very busy, so I was so thankful for the practice and help!

I felt prepared for the more personal or opinion based questions. I was very happy with my introduction and was glad to have been able to practice that at the April 1st seminar in State College. Other questions that allowed me to provide specific examples from student teaching at Athens or from my experiences at college and living on a farm were really nice. I tried to integrate as many specific examples as possible, and Mr. Mosher said that this helped a lot.

The questions about specific items like LFS and APL were a tad harder. I knew what LFS was, but wasn't exactly use about APL. I was very honest and told Mr. Mosher that I didn't know what APL was but if he called me tomorrow around 3:30 I would be more familiar with the topic.

LFS:http://www.athensasd.k12.pa.us/lfs 
APL: http://www.aplassociates.com/

He said when in doubt be honest, but that I should have been able to answer the LFS question! After all Athens is a Learning Focused School, so I could have briefly answered the question, and then provided some sort of example from student teaching to tie me over to the next question!

3. MY TURN! What did I ask the administrator?

I had several questions written down, and I just asked him and we discussed if they were good versus him actually answering them. He also provided me with some ideas of questions that candidates generally ask, so that was helpful.

- What are you looking for in an ideal candidate?
- What are your short and long term goals as a district for the Agriculture Education Program
- May I have a tour of the facilities?
- What is the best part of this School District, and what is one area where there is room for improvement?
- Could you talk more about the community here at Athens.


I was so impressed that Mr. Mosher spend so much time with me, providing advice and answering my questions! It was very helpful to talk to him about tips and best practices! We also discussed portfolios. Mr. Mosher suggested having a smaller packet that I could leave with the interviewers so that it didn't distract from me, and then there was something helpful that they could see to remind them of me after my interview! Smart man!


Overall this was an incredible experiences, and I really enjoyed this assignment. It was relevant, impactful, and definitely great practice. Shout-out to Mr. Mosher for his time and advice!

Best
Sarabeth