Comments on: Advice from someone on the other side

By: Looking for a new teaching job? « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:40:21 +0000

[...] My musings on being on a hiring committee 2. My musings on being on the job [...]

By: When I’m busy, tired, stressed, I turn to math « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:40:11 +0000

[...] has been a massive grading effort on my part to finish up the video projects I assigned. Plus, that hiring committee I was on took a ton of my [...]

By: Advice from someone on the “other” other side « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:58:20 +0000

[...] About ← Advice from someone on the other side [...]

By: samjshah

samjshah — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:06:06 +0000

Thanks Joel! My demo lessons were actual classes that I was teaching to students — so I got an email saying “The class you’re teaching is an honors Algebra II class… They just finished the quadratic formula. You’re going to teach them completing the square.” Then I had to prepare this lesson and teach it.

For the dean & assistant head positions we’re interviewing for, we have a student and parent on the hiring committee too! I think that’s fantastic.

What’s funny is that you’re “how to play one note” thing reminds me of what may be an apocryphal story about some famous old french cooking school, where the final exam was to “cook an egg.” It’s hard to do that one simple act really well.

I can’t talk too much to how an administrator evaluates a demo lesson, but I’ve talked with some of them after we’ve both watched a demo lessons from a teaching candidate, and their sole concern seems to be not on the content (which they tend not to know), but on watching teaching style. They pay attention to the students (how many aren’t taking notes, how many look confused, etc.) and to stylistic things from the teacher (like if the teacher walks around the classroom or stays in front, if the lesson was teacher-centric or student-centric, etc.)

As for your second comment, it’s totally on point. I like to think it’s because my students have enough respect for me that they want me to look good, but it’s probably more that they think the suit is there to watch them (or will call them out of they misbehave).

By: Joel

Joel — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:11:22 +0000

Of course, I never “fake” my evaluation lesson. I remember having teachers in school who would tell us “the principal will be in here tomorrow, so this is how you need to act.” I have found that kids are generally better whenever someone wearing a suit is in the room anyway. :)

By: Joel

Joel — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:10:03 +0000

Awesome stuff! I’ve only had one interview out of somewhere around 25 where I was asked to do any kind of “demo lesson.” He asked me to teach him how to play a note on a saxophone.

I also had one interview where some students and parents were involved in the interviewing. That was interesting.

I think it’d be great to see how you can tweak the first two points to direct them towards being evaluated by an administrator. In a lot of ways, it’s the same kind of thing, really.