Offensive and Unprofessional. Newark has a rigorous recruiting program and they need to because most interviewing at NPS aren't doing it because it's their first choice. It's typically the back up plan which was the case for me. It's known to be a tough district (based on stories I've been told by those who stayed only a year) and the pay is not outstanding. They need to set a good impression in their interviews as much as they are hoping the interviewee will. That said...I arrived ten minutes early and was told I was late. Apparently, whoever set up my interview and the principal did not communicate well. So he sits me in a room and tells me I'll have to wait. He leaves the room for ten to twenty minutes, returns, sits across from me, reads my resume and says NOTHING for a half hour. It was uncomfortable to say the least. He asks me to do a demo lesson and I'm advised under no circumstance will they step in if a child misbehaves. I have issue with this to begin with. I have over ten years of teaching, supervisory, and teacher training experience. An interviewing teacher cannot be expected to know if a child has an IEP or the school policies on behavior. Requiring an interviewing teacher to manage behavior without being familiar with the school policies, while promising zero intervention, is unprofessional. Not only did Newark do this, I've interviewed for schools that intentionally set up children to misbehave in your demo lesson to see how you will handle it. It's an awful thing to do to an interviewing teacher who is already feeling pressure. Anyhow, there is a principal and two other mentor teachers observing my lesson. I specialize in creative arts education so I have the children on their feet moving around the room in an activity relating to language arts. I've done this lesson countless times and it has landed me numerous positions. This lesson admittedly did not go as smoothly because while the student were cute, many did not listen AT ALL. The teacher had a system in place for getting attention but I had a different one that's fairly common. Since no one told me this, there was time wasted trying to reiterate and teach a new system. This was unnecessary in every other district I've interviewed, so it already told me behavior is an issues in NPS.
After the lesson I was sat at a table with all three observers and was provided an observation review. This was unnecessary, in my opinion, for an interview. I was told I provided the students incorrect information because I said a noun is a "person, place, AND thing" instead of a "person, place, OR thing" (naturally I know the difference) which they could have overlooked if I didn't "put their children in danger by letting them move around the room for the activity." The children were not good about staying quiet when trying to teach concepts but in no way were they ever in danger AT ALL. They moved around the room demonstrating, like kids. The way the principal spoke to me was so condescending and offensive I would absolutely not want to work in a district that scrutinizes and treats their teachers this way. If they do this at an interview I can't imagine how they treat their staff on a daily basis. My lesson admittedly did not go as smoothly as it normally does but their interviewing skills were beyond poor. I took an admin position at a prestigious private school instead and a great take away from this interview. It had nothing to do with nouns and everything to do with the importance of treating staff with respect so that loyalty and retention is never an issue.
