Pilot Interview Essay

When I arrived for my interview at Tunica Middle School for the seventh grade math teacher position, I was asked the usual questions about strengths, weakness, and my previous work experience. In turn, asked questions about teacher expectations. The teaching position was open in February. However, I believe it was the perfect opportunity for Mr. Newson, the principal, to divulge and share his vision for the school. He did not. Mr. Newson did not display many of the Envisioner traits in my first year.

Teacher questions and student responses: the types of questions teachers asked during a lesson and the way students responded.

This information was gathered in an interview with Andrea Williams, Principal of Theresa Bunker Elementary. In the past three years that Mrs. Williams has been principal of this school she has brought a strong focus onto using data to make appropriate instructional decisions as well as execute strategic planning to help the school progress. The implementation of the PLC process has helped the teachers to gain an understanding of how valuable data collection and analysis can be for their teaching practice. Looking at data also helps the school attain the yearly goals laid out by the district’s strategic plan. One of the first steps taken in developing a strategic plan for the school is to gather and analyze data in order to find the school’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for growth as well as any threats to the progress of the school. Early in the year the strategic planning team will review quantitative data collected from student achievement scores, attendance rates, discipline trends, financial records, transportation reports, and so forth. Depending upon the specific issue addressed in the planning process, these types of quantitative data serve to inform decision-making processes. The collection of qualitative data is also an integral part of best practices in development of a strategic plan. Qualitative data collection includes use of surveys, focus groups, and interviews with key stakeholder groups. It is important and useful to

For staff, parents and community members, a survey can be a highly effective tool in gathering data. Questions for staff could include the training backgrounds and language fluency of district instructional personnel, the number of trained support staff available, along with relevant experience, personal observations and educated recommendations. It is important to ascertain early whether there are sufficient, qualified

As noted in the table above, principal surveys will be conducted and used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. A sample of the teacher exit slip interview can be found in Appendix A. A sample of the Principal survey can be found in Appendix B. A sample of the Administrator interview questions can be found in Appendix C. In the next section, the method of collecting these data is described in detail.

Questionnaires will be distributed at the tutor/teachers weekly meeting by the Director of the 21st Century Program. Once a review has been made of the completed questionnaires a follow up interview will be conducted of each individual tutor/teacher to discuss their answers in more detail and to explain more thoroughly, when necessary, the way some of the questions were answered ( the interviews will most likely take at least four month given the time constraint of only one and a half hours for the monthly meeting. Open ended questions will be used so the tutor/teachers are free expound more freely on the subject in the interview. The researcher will take note as well as well as record information from the interview.

Through my research, I created fifteen interview questions related to my topic of choice. Each of my research articles directly address my topic for this project, however some are specifically related to a particular aspect of my topic. In short, I compiled research and empirical studies on classroom management--the importance and influence it has on the everyday, overall functioning of the classroom and techniques and characteristics for effective classroom management, classroom management and its relation to students with special needs--the influence routine and structure have on students with disabilities and developmental delays, and finally pull-out services--what they are and the

An interview guide was constructed and then tested through two pilot interviews, during with time frame was evaluated. After these tests were executed, some small adjustments were made in order to better frame the questions. The sample was interviewed during three weeks in March and April 2012, using the semi- structured questions from the interview guide. The authors were aware of the effect that the response to some questions may have on the following responses, if a specific question was posed prior to another. Therefore general rules formulated within qualitative research for the sequence of questions, were followed. (Bryman, 2002). The authors deemed that the first question had

With the end goal of this study, the researcher will oversee semi- structured focus group interviews with the deputy principals of the schools (four), the heads of department (four) and educators (four). The researcher will direct three focus group

). Moreover, they are likewise curious about what individuals think about issues, however, when investigating practices, they are referring to individuals’ behaviors (Creswell, 2012). A major reason researcher employs this design is that it is not as time-consuming as some the other designs, and normally it only requires once to administer the instrument and to collect the data (Creswell, 2012). Closed-ended questions will be posed by the researcher as the researcher interviews the respondents. When conducting one-on -one interviews the researcher must develop or locate an instrument and make sure all interviewers are trained in the best practices of interviewing (Creswell, 2012). The training will involve becoming familiar the instructions

Hiring effective teachers based on an interview continues to be a major challenge for principals in schools across the country (Staiger & Rockoff, 2010; Vanderslice, 2010). Determining who the best teachers are out of a large pool of teaching applicants is difficult, and if principals cannot identify effective teachers during an interview, the risk of having an ineffective teacher in the classroom increases (Staiger & Rockoff, 2010). Determining interview criteria and questions is very important, according to Dale Reigle, CEO, Rocky Mountain Orthopedic Associates, “interview questions should reveal how the candidate acted in past situations similar to the ones that will occur if they are hired (2016. p. 97). A good interview will allow for the candidate to show the interviewer the things they will be teaching and providing to the students and parents (UOA. 2016). Questions should be used to obtain what the candidate knows, what type of skills, experience and education they have (UCD. 2014). Asking ordinary questions will not provide what is needed in order to evaluate candidates effectively. It’s important to know which questions to avoid, such as questions that will only require a yes or no response (Reigle. 2016). The same criteria for each of the selected candidates for a specific job should be used to evaluate the candidates against each other.

An email letter was presented to each principal and teacher (see Appendix F). This letter served as an introduction to the beginning of the survey and included instructions for completion of the survey. The email also contained assurances regarding the confidentiality of participation. The researcher’s contact information was provided with the email in the event clarification would be needed from any participants.

Note that both interviews conducted took place in a private setting that was mutually agreed upon between learner and teachers. To ensure client confidentiality only the learner and teachers were present during the teaching process. Both interview

This case study examined the collective themes that emerged from teacher’s interviews and administrator’s interviews when the groups were aggregated. Through observations and semi-structured interviews with teachers and administrators this study sought to answer the following research questions:

One week after the teachers had completed the process, they were individually interviewed. Questions such as describe your experience with the process and explain what was beneficial were asked in the interview. When necessary, participants were asked follow-up and probing questions to obtain more information (Carter et al. 2009).