Guess What...

You are looking at the newest 6th grade teacher in the blogger world!!!

I got the job! Yay :) I went in front of the board last night and it went extremely well! I got a call around 10:45pm saying that the vote was unanimous and that I was hired! I am so excited to get into my classroom and start decorating!

For those of you who are appling to schools; here are some of the questions that they asked me along with some of my answers:

1. Tell us about yourself outside of teaching.
Talk about where you grew up, tell them about your family. If it is a small country school the board is most likely very family oriented. Let them know about your family and what you enjoy doing. Do you have hobbies? Are passionate about something else besides teaching?

2. Tell us about your experiences since student teaching.
Talk about student teaching and what you learned. If you have worked elsewhere since student teaching talk about that. I personally have worked at 2 other schools since student teaching. So I mainly talked about my role at those schools.

3. Why do you want to work here?
Research the school. Go to the school website. Find the school report card. Talk to teachers that work there or people that have subbed there. Make sure it is a good school and that you have positive things to say about that particular school.

4. What 3 qualities do a great teacher possess?
Possible answers: passion, creativity, flexibility, organized, positive, patience. What I have always said during interviews (which it is your own personal preference, there are no wrong answers) is organized, flexible, and passionate.

5. What is your greatest strength?
Mine is personally my organizational skills. I love to be organized and know where things belong. I also feel like this helps my students to learn to be organized and to know where things belong.

6. Why should we hire you?
Tell them why you are so passionate about teaching. Let them know that you are the best possible candidate. This is the time to really "toot your own horn". Explain your strengths and ideas that you have for your future classroom.

7. What is your biggest fear of teaching?
Honestly, out of the now 12 interviews I have had in the past 2 years, I have never been asked this question. I told the board member that I had a fear of not being a good teacher. I want to do my best for my kids and help them succeed. I am going to strive to be my best and work past that fear.

It is now time for me to change the title of my blog to "Mrs. Crouse's {6th Grade} All-Stars!"

Happy Summer!
Mrs. Crouse

The Waiting Game

Well, I had my 2nd interview yesterday. I think it went pretty good. I guess I will know how well it went on Thursday. I am soooo nervous. Naturally during the interview I felt pretty good about it. But of course when I got home I started to question all of my answers; were they good enough? is that what they were wanting to hear? etc.
Here are some of the questions that they asked:

- What would your day look like on the first day of school, since they kids are only their 2 1/2 hours?
- If I were to walk into your classroom what would I see?- If the kids started to get out of control, how would you bring them back to order?- Tell us your experience with RtI.- Here is our Jr. High management plan. Is there anything that you would add or make different for your classroom?- What type of positive behavior might I see in your classroom?
Those are just a few of the questions that I can thoroughly remember!
I just want this job so bad! Have I told you that this is the 9th...yes 9th school I have interviewed for? Man, is that depressing or what? Teaching is such a hard market to get into right now. I just hope I did enough to actually get my teaching career started!

Below are 2 pictures of what I wore to my interview. What do you think?

Below is a picture of myself and the judges at my pageant on Sunday. The Little Miss Relay Pageant - "The Pageant With A Purpose". It was a huge success! We raised about $3200 for the Relay for Life! I am so happy! :)

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!!

Mrs. Crouse