So when we went back to school I only had 3 weeks left of classes. It didn't seem like much. This chunk of time was filled with tons of assignments though, and I found myself doing big projects very often. In my TES class we had a large assignment due before practicum that was the creation of a field trip. I really enjoyed the project and it was worth 30% so it was a great surprise to get 100% on it. The next big assignment though was a much bigger deal. I felt it was almost bigger than all the lesson plans and silly group projects I had done in all my courses that year. Our portfolio was worth 40% of our mark and this could help us get a job. This was the binder you take with you to your interview to hopefully showcase some of your best work. I worked for days on this - most of the time formatting and fixing the way things were laid out or looked. I was thrilled to get 100% on this assignment as it gave me the little confidence boost I needed.
Back before the beginning of second practicum I started to look at job openings. I applied to 7 different boards through the Apply to Teach website. Lots of the boards wanted supplementary information as well, one of those was the Niagara Board. The DSBN (District School Board of Niagara) wanted your entire application in by March 1st. It was a bit of a scramble, but I did get it in on time - barely. I then tried not to think about all the applications I had floating around out there that I had heard nothing about. March Break came and I headed up to visit my parents with my husband for the week. We had a nice relaxing trip and while we were there I got an email from the board saying they had prescreened my application and wanted me to come in for an interview on April 19th. This was to be my last TES class and I was pretty bummed about missing it, but this was obviously more important.
April 18th we drove out to see where the board office was, and practiced all the interview questions I had been able to get my hands on. I felt reasonably ready, but you never really know how it's going to go. Thursday, the 19th I got there and saw a handful of other people waiting. Every time someone went in for an interview it seemed a new candidate walked in the door to check in for theirs. I finally got to go. I was in a small office with two women and my portfolio. They went back and forth and asked me some standard questions. I answered them all and at one point I thought I was dead in the water. I answered the question in such a way that made them kind of laugh, but I wasn't sure whether it was a "oh I've been there" laugh or a "oh I can't believe she just said that laugh". I screwed up one other question as well but overall I felt ok. At the end I offered them my updated resume and reference letter. While one woman went to get a sticky note for it, the other looked at my portfolio. As far as I understood, no one looked at portfolios in board level interviews. This made me feel good.
I walked out of the board office feeling good, but as I drove, I remembered more and more things that I didn't say, or that I said wrong. The closer I got to home the worse I felt. All day I felt sick. They told me it would be 2 weeks before I would hear anything - I didn't think I could handle that.
Friday was my last day of school before our week off and final internship. I talked to my TES prof who made me feel a bit better, but I was still pretty depressed. Oh well, on to internship.
No comments:
Post a Comment