Wednesday, September 30, 2009

One More Step

At the end of the 2008/2009 school year I was nominated and applied for a teaching chair position for the school district I work for. I heard nothing over the summer so I assumed that I was not selected for an interview. I was not bothered by this because it was the first time I was nominated and I thought teachers with more experience were selected. I thought in a few years I will be able to apply again and then today I opened a surprising email.

I have been selected to interview for the postion. This interview is in a few days so I have to prepare for this interview. The first part of the interview is with a panel of "judges" that will ask me about my classroom practices and educational ideals. Then I have to "teach" a 15 minute lesson to the "students" which are the judges.

I am so excited and so nervous, I have to capture what I have 50 minutes to do and condense it to 15 minutes. I'll keep you posted. Any suggestions would be welcome.

20 comments:

HeidiTri's said...

Congratuilations! I can hear how excited you are!
But:
What does a "teaching Chair" position mean? What are the job responsibilities?

And, how is it different than being a content lead teacher? Would you have both titles at the same time?

TC said...

Oh this is soooooooooooooooooooo exciting!!! :-D

Good luck! I hope you get it: these kids are so lucky to have you :)

Felicia said...

Good luck! My only advice is to be yourself! That's awesome that you were nominated!

PennyCandy said...

A teaching chair for the subject area in this case secondary history is an honorary chair; similar to a college chair position. So I get my name on a huge banner, speak at district functions when asked and a $5,000 award.

It is a huge honor and a nice item to add to my resume.

HeidiTri's said...

So, even if you don't get it, you can say "Nominated for..." on your resumes.
You've got nothing to lose, so have fun and you'll do great!

PennyCandy said...

I've decided that my lesson for the panel will be the importance of propoganda posters during WWI. I love WWI and I have great posters and I can give them a "taste" of what I do everyday with my kids.

Bone said...

Pretend you're in your underwear!


Wait, I may have that wrong.


(Congrats on being selected to interview!!!)

PennyCandy said...

Bone you are too funny. BTW I will be in my underwear but I'll have clothes over them as well.

Now I have to decide what to wear.

HeidiTri's said...

How did it go?!!

TC said...

When do we find out????

PennyCandy said...

I think it went awful I was nervous and they didn't smile or interact they were worse than my kids when they don't want to do something.

I'm pretty sure the person that had them play a game to learn the material will be picked.

I don't know when I find out.

TC said...

Aww :(

Sometimes when I feel like I do the worst, the results are the best!

PennyCandy said...

TC sometimes I am the same way but not this time. I know i didn't have my A or B game going. I was probably on my G or H game.

Just not good.

PennyCandy said...

Monday I had the chance to see the three other teachers that interviewed for this position. We all thought it went awful for ourselves and knew we didn't get it. So who knows?!? The committee can actually decide not to award it at all, at least that's what I thought I read in the application information. I'll keep everyone posted.

Bone said...

Oh good. I was just checking back to see if you found out anything :)

PennyCandy said...

I got the letter today. I was told I am a wonderful teacher but not wonderful enough.

They asked me to apply for the chair again next year.

I have time to decide if I will or not.

Thanks for the support. Even though I felt I would not be named it was still a little disappointing to open the letter and see they sorry it isn't you.

TC said...

:(

That's too bad.

I'm sure it's just a case of a rough crowd and a rough day, not that you're not that good.

*hugs*

PennyCandy said...

Thanks TC I felt pretty down when I first got the letter. I'm okay with it now.

TC said...

Is this something you can try for again next year?

PennyCandy said...

TC - I can if I want to I'll have to decide if I want to.