Section Six: Teacher Candidate Interview Video

In this final section of the Elementary Portfolio Project, you will have the opportunity to

witness a screen cast that I used to showcase my mock interview questions that I have answered

in preparation for an interview with a school board in my area. I have answered 5 mock

interview questions, which included my background information, what I have learned in this

teacher training program at Medaille College, an example of a lesson where I intergrated a num

ber of content areas, how my knowledge of current trends will help me in my job search as well

as what I would say to sell myself in an interview.

I have also included a tour of my Weebly website that includes many different

informative tabs and videos. Please watch my video and take the time to navigate my website

when you have some free time.

Capstone interview questions

1. Briefly share a little about my background experiences that have led me to choose a
career in education
My journey to becoming a teacher really started when I was a little girl, but I did not know it

until I became a mother to my two beautiful children. I have always enjoyed learning and when I

wasn’t in a classroom I felt unfilled. It wasn’t until later in life that I realised that, Hey I love to

learn, why don’t I become a teacher, I will never have to leave the classroom!

My educational journey had given me many challenges, but I never let those challenges stand it

my way. The decision to become a teacher started when I brought my oldest to senior

kindergarten. Prior to that, it took a lot of soul searching and life experiences and basically life
in general to bring me to my decision. I would like to share these experiences with you today for

it to truly make sense.

When I was in grade 11, I decided to take a co-op placement with a law office. I have always

loved the law! I started my placement with two lawyers who took the time to teach me about the

law, their practice and the court system. They took the time to answer all my questions, which

let me tell you, were never ending. They never made me feel like I was disturbing them because

like we all know, lawyers, like teacher, are very busy people. I spent the semester learning about

how to become a lawyer, and I was given great responsibility at a very young age. I remember

walking into the office one day and my mentor lawyer had a leather brief case waiting for me. I

knew then that my pink backpack would not be acceptable for the task that he was about to get

me to do. I was so excited when he sent me to the bank with a certified cheque for a house! My

task was to close a real estate deal with another lawyer. As I left the office that day, my mentor

lawyer said, “Don’t forget the keys to the house”! I was amazed with the responsibility and trust

that he had in me. I worked for this firm for 5 years off. I had made up my mind; I was going to

law school! After completing a two year law and security program, I started my degree in

Criminology. I was in my third year when, I experienced the death of my father, and my life

changed, a lot. After my father’s death, I married my high school sweetheart and soon became

pregnant with my son. At this time, I was working full time and completing my Bachelor of Arts

in Criminology. I remember writing my exams 8 months pregnant; it was great! I knew in my

heart that when I put my mind to something, I could do anything! It wasn’t long after I

completed my degree that I started to feel sad and that feeling of personal being unfulfilled began

to kick it. It took me a while to realize that, I need to go back to school soon! The years went by

and I spent my time working and teaching my little boy everything that I could about life. This
was a turning point in my life; when I realized that, I love watching him learn! I knew that I

needed to go back to school but I still didn’t put two and two together that, I would be a great

teacher. Four years after my son was born, I became pregnant, but this time, I had my little girl!

At this same time, my son was to start Junior Kindergarten. I remember this day very clearly, as

this was the day where I realized, I was going to be a teacher! I remember learning about

classroom management that day, but not realizing how important it actually was! When I picked

up my son from his first day of Kindergarten, I remember walking into the classroom and his

teacher had the kids, all 18 of them sitting on a bench. I even commented on this to his teacher.

I was amazed that she had such control of her classroom! From that day forward, I started

picking her brain and I realized how eager she was to help me. I realized that this was teacher in

her. Not only did she help teach my son, she helped me understand what being a teacher all was

about. Unfortunately, at this time, as much as I wanted to start school that semester, my family

and I had just bought our first home, and we were not in the financial position for me to go back

to school. I continued to work full time and teach my children, knowing in my heart that my

time would come. After working shift work for 5 years, I decided that I could not miss anymore

evening’s home with my children. I finally made the decision to go to teachers college that time

finally came in the year of 2017. Once I realized that I had to break out of my comfort zone, I

decided with the support of my family, that I needed to make my move. Although I still work

shifts, I found the inner strength to complete my program, but I couldn’t have done it without my

family. Thank you for allowing me to share my experiences with you today.

2. What have I learned in my teacher training program that will make me an excellent

classroom teacher and colleague?

I have learned so much over this past year! I am really impressed with the skills that I have

acquired both in the classroom and in my student teaching placement. In the classroom, I have

learned in detail how to make a unit plan or learning segment. In the creating of my learning

segment in EDU 500 (The Core of Education), I learned how to create learning objectives that

were aligned with the curriculum and content. I learned to create formative and summative

assessment based on these learning objectives. When planning for this learning segment, I had

to modify instruction for students with an IEP, 504 plan, as well as struggling readers. Overall I

have learned that not all students learn the same, in fact, they all learn very differently. I have

learned that it is important, if not imperative to integrate technology into my lessons, to help

engage the students, who are natives to technology. I have found that introducing a new unit

with a short video about the content that can help engage students. I will provide an example of

this in my next lesson.

In my EDL 550 (Developmental literacy) course, I learned many different strategies to help

students not only learn to read, but love it! In this course, I created a guided reading lesson

where I taught my students how to read by monitoring their comprehension, as they are reading.

In this lesson, I taught the students that when they came to an unfamiliar word, they should stop

and use different strategies, such as: looking at the pictures to determine an unfamiliar word,

asking themselves, what would can I use that would make sense in this sentence and finally, by

re-reading the sentence to see what work will flow with the sentence itself. This course taught

me many different ways to help with literacy instruction in the classroom.

In my class ECI510, I learned that research is very important in the field of education, I have

always love to research new topics. Even when I wasn’t a student, I would find myself doing

research on topics of interest. In this course, I learned the correct way to research using online
databases and peer edited journals. I know that what I learned in this course will help me when I

am working in the field of education.

Finally, I would like to connect my student teaching placement with what I have learned that will

make me an excellent classroom teacher. First, and foremost, I have learned that classroom

management is the key to success! I have learned that classroom management should be the

priority in the first week of class. The students need to learn what is expected of them, as well as

the rules of the classroom. Each year classroom management will be different because not all

students are the same. It also depends on what grade I am teaching. If I am teaching a grade one

class, classroom management includes teaching the students not only the rules of the classroom,

but the rules of school and society. The transition from kinder to grade one is huge and students

will need very detailed instruction and modelling of these rules. My good friend who teaches

grade one explains that the first month of grade one is very difficult, not only for him as a

teacher, but for the students. In the junior grades, classroom management is more of a review of

the rules that’s they already know, intertwined with the teachers own behavior expectations. I

learned through both of my placements, one primary and one junior that the best way to reinforce

these behaviors is by having a poster on the wall for easy reminders. When I started both of my

placements, I completed an ice breaker as well as a classroom rule assignment. I asked the

students to complete a task where I had them list the rules of the classroom, so I could learn what

the rules were from them. They all did a really great job at teaching me the classroom rules.

This allowed me the opportunity to set my expectations, which added to those classroom rules. I

will use this technique in my future classroom.

I have learned that communication is also very important when working with students and

colleagues. I would like to establish an open communication policy with my students. I want
my students to know that I will always be there for them and if they ever have questions, to come

and ask me. I want my classroom to be full of trust, respect and kindness. Communication is

also very important when working with colleagues. In both of my placements, my associate

teachers would co-teach and it is impossible to co-teach without communication. I have learned

through my student teaching placements that most teachers form a sub-culture of their own that

is very tight knit and very helpful. I was very lucky to have the amount of support that I had

with the teachers in both of my placements. At least once a day, I would have a visit from a

teacher other than my associate, who would just ask me how everything was, or to answers all of

my questions.

3. Provide an example of a lesson that I taught. How did I integrate it with other

curriculum areas, addressing the CCLS, technology, student engagement and motivation?

What were the results of my lesson?

Throughout my student teaching placements, I created so many lessons that I am very proud of.

Planned, instructed and assessed learning segments and lessons in all content areas including:

language, math, social studies, religion, health and physical education. The lesson that I would

like to include as an example here is a lesson in social studies that I taught towards the end of my

learning segment. In this example, I created a learning segment in social studies where I taught

my grade 4/5 split First Nations and Europeans in New France and Early Canada. The lesson

that I would like to provide example to is the lesson on Fur Trade. In this lesson, I taught not

only the grade 5 social studies curriculum, but I also integrated it with physical education

(health) with crossed with Daily Physical Education or DPA which is mandatory for teachers to

use in the Halton Catholic board. This lesson also integrated literacy and math curriculum. In

this lesson, the learning goal was for students to describe significant aspects of the interactions
between First Nations and European explorers and settlers during this period. Students were

split into two groups, one group being the First Nations and one group being the European

settlers. Each group had access to a trading post that proved them the opportunity to trade what

they had for furs (pelts), weapons, beads and other items. I gave printed out a number of cards

on paper which included these items and students had to trade these items with one another to

experience the trading of goods between the two groups. I integrated CCLG by asking the

students to only communicate through non-verbal communications to understand that that was

the only way the the First Nations and European explorers could communicate with one another.

Language was a barrier with these two groups. I placed a star on the back of a few cards but I

did not tell the students why. I gave the students 10 minutes to trade their card goods ( pelts

including other, skunk, beaver and deer, spools of thread, clothing, muskets, beads, knives etc) I

watched as the students traded with one another as well as understanding the challenges of these

two groups. When the trading was complete, I asked the students who had a card with a star on

the back? I had 8 students raise their hands. I then explained to these students that they have

caught a disease as a result of trading with one another. We then had a short discussion on health

and how easy it was to transmit diseases at this time because there were no healthcare available.

They were shocked! This lesson also integrated with physical education because the students

were required to move around, math, because they were required to count their cards and literacy

because they had the opportunity to understand how blessed we are to have such great education,

that we do not have to use a non-verbal means to communicate. At the end of the lesson, I had

the students write a reflection that compared what life was like in the time of the First Nations

and European sand what life is like now for us. This also integrated literacy instruction. I

integrated technology in this lessons as I allowed students to use the class iPads to help them
with their reflection task. I believe that this lesson provides example to student engagement and

motivations. The students were more engaged in this lesson because I had them out of their seats

and moving around as opposed to learning around the fur trade in a teacher centered lesson.

4. How will my knowledge of the current trends in education inform myself as an educator

in your district/ board and school?

As the trends in education charge, educators must also strengthen their knowledge in these areas.

There are a number of reasons to why I chose a career in teaching, and one of my main reasons is

to be a lifelong learner. Below, I will discuss the trend in education and how I can use these

trends to further my knowledge to become an excellent candidate for your school board

A. Interest and continued education in trauma informed practices for responding to traumatic

events that affect children of all ages. 25 percent of children under the age of 16 have

experienced trauma in their lives. Children bring their lives to school each day and as a result

teachers are learning to apapt classroom management strategies, instructional supports and

school climate to support children who have experienced trauma and help them to build their

resilience.

B. continued education and support in mental health in children. According to Children’s Mental

Health Ontario, ½ of Ontarian parents report having concerns about their child’s anxiety. 1/3 of

Ontario parents have had children miss school due to anxiety and 1 in 5 children and youth in

Ontario will experience some form of mental health. I believe that schools should be the safe

house for children with mental health issues and with teachers having mandatory education in the

area, they can help students cope with their lives.

C. Teachers will need to adopt more inclusive practices in education; practices that are designed

to enable a child with a disability to be involved in the general education curriculum. Although

inclusive education is not a new concept, teachers can continue to make progress in their

knowledge about effective ways to support students with a wide range of needs in the least

restrictive environment.

D. Leveraging technology in education is very important for both educators and students. For

example: flipping is a relatively new concept that provides a video lesson platform that helps to

engage students in the tools that are available to foster oral, audio, and written skills. Students

can use these skills to express themselves beyond the capacity of their own writing skills.

Critical thinking skills can also be taught through flipping technology.

E. Teachers will see opportunities to become trained mentors and support the early years of new

teaching to help them to develop into experienced teachers.

5. Why should we hire you instead of the other applicants we have interviewed?

I believe that I am an excellent teacher candidate for a position with your board. I have just

recently completed the MSED Elementary program at Medaille College in Buffalo, New York. I

have worked very hard to acquire the necessary skills to teach in the elementary level. My skills

include: Technology, including the SMART notebook software, planning, instructing and

assessing a diversity of students. I have knowledge and experience with working with students

with exceptionalities, as well as ELL. I completed two students teaching placements, one

within your board, where I made some great contacts in the field of education. I have been a

member of a IMH parish since I was a grade two student and attend liturgy regularly with my
children. I have completed the Faith Reference portfolio package and I have a copy of it for you

here today. I have a genuine concern and love for all students and I make a visible effort to live

in Christian love with my family. I look forward to the challenges and rewards that the teaching

career has to offer and I am dedicated to being a lifelong learner as a teacher in your school

board. I have been a student with your school board and I have children who attend your school

board. I have participated in Christian meditation and I admire the way your teachers and staff

put the needs of the students first. I am here to day to ask for the opportunity to now become a

teacher in the school board that has help shaped me to be the person that I am here today before

you.

Thank you