“Succeeding At Your Interview:
A Practical Guide for Teachers”
by Rita S. Brause, Christine P. Donohue and Alice W. Ryan
Reviewed by Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
In 2004, many college graduates are embarking on new teaching careers, seeking personal fulfillment as well as a way to contribute to society. Indeed, a wonderful advertisement recruiting new teachers in New York City asks who will remember your name in years to come; your 4th grade students. Be a teacher.
The object of this new book by three experienced college professors leads entrants to teaching careers through the interview process in order to maximize success.
The book provides interesting as well as informative discussions organized into five parts, each of which contains several chapters, a scenario and an overview identifying major issues. In one chapter, for example, a school principal, Mr. Erickson, interviews a hypothetical candidate named Steve Border. Topics covered are how Steve got the interview, how he prepared for it, the interview itself including actual questions and answers and finally, what Steve did when he left the interview. Sidebars on each page are helpful in shaping and sharpening the reader’s analytical observations about the interview.
Another chapter deals with an interview with a school-based team while another has you think about your classroom management techniques and your philosophy of education. Applicants are helped to address such important interview questions as “Why should our school hire you?” and “What special characteristics do you bring to a school and classroom?”
This book is invaluable in helping newcomers to the teaching profession find a job, prepare for an interview, and learn and reflect on what teaching means and how to be successful in obtaining a position. The advice is practical; the case study format hits home. Indeed, the three authors have hit a home run!#
