A Mock Interview with Dr. Shaffer

On April 4th, I had the opportunity to have a mock interview with Penn Manor's assistant superintendent, Dr. Shaffer. First, she briefly described what the hiring process looks like at Penn Manor and then she went down through a list of questions that would most likely be asked during an interview for an agricultural educator. What I really appreciated was that after I answered each question, Dr. Shaffer discussed it with me and gave me feedback. Here are a few of the questions she asked:

1. What have you learned about yourself during your student teaching experience?

2. What did you learn about students during your student teaching experience?

3. Ag is multi-faceted. How would you assist students to integrate their learning into other content areas?

4. Why should we hire you? What personal and academic strengths would you bring to the Ag Program?

At the end I asked her a few example questions I would ask an administrator, including, "What direction do you see the Ag program heading over the next 5 years or so?" Overall I feel like I was prepared for the questions because I was able to give specific examples for my answers. However, I do think I need to work on taking the time to pause and think before I just jump right in to my answer.  Also, I definitely want to think about how I would answer the "Why should we hire you" question a little more. I just feel like that's a question you probably want to have a general idea of how you will answer it before going to the interview. I also need to review some of my education theory so I am able to confidently reference those names and theories during an interview.