grilled

Oooh, I think I bombed my interview today. In some instances I gave vague, meandering answers to questions I should have nailed. I did ok on some stuff, but were I the one interviewing me today, I'd not hire myself.

The other candidates up for the job were long-time high school City English teachers. Gulp.

There are 2 things I bring to the table which might be of value at this particular school: college teaching experience and business management experience. This is an "innovation" school with an emphasis on career and college track students. I think I can help kids develop practical writing and reading skills necessary for their lives as functioning citizens. I think I can do this while sharing my passion for art, music and literature, which is also important, given the arts integration focus at this school.

Whether I communicated any of this well or even adequately today is up in the air. We'll see. They said the chosen candidate would face two more obstacles: teaching a lesson plan in front of students from the school who would evaluate it with the administrators present, and then a third interview. Gulp, gulp.

I do have a couple aces up my sleeve:

• male teachers are in high demand, and I am the only male seeking the position
• my wife works closely with this school and they all know her and respect her, and I have met the administrators before socially
• my mentor teacher knows one of the administrators who interviewed me

If I don't make the cut, I take the other offer and settle for 7th grade. No biggie.