When have you worked with teachers to create a higher standard or a better way of teaching?
This question is designed to see how well you collaborate with teachers to achieve desired outcomes. Interviewers want to know that you understand the importance of teachers and the vast knowledge they have of the classroom. Show that you can collaborate well with the teachers on your roster.
"A couple of students from different classes had discipline issues, and I held a meeting with everyone to discuss the cases and how to work on them. We shared our experiences and success stories and came up with a communication workshop for those students instead of sending them to detention or suspending them."
"Recently, a group of teachers and I worked together to bridge some of the lesson plans from various classrooms. We wanted to add value to our classrooms to introduce a more holistic approach to teaching and learning. We implemented technology to help students stay on track and held peer work sessions before/after school where students could share their learnings."
"Once, I organized a professional development day for 14 teachers who taught the same subject. I wanted them to compare experiences and learn from each other. The teachers at my school benefitted from hearing other approaches to teaching."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I have worked with several teachers in my department and the reading and history departments and helped them to align the formatives that we give to the standards. This is extremely important because we need reliable data from the formatives we offer.
Lauren's Feedback
Great response (especially because this school is trying to improve reading and ELA scores). I assisted with sentence structure and minor edits.
I have partnered with several teachers across departments to create solid formatives. Formatives are vital in creating reliable data, so this collaboration was of utmost importance. I lead a cohort of teachers from the Reading and History Departments to create consistent formatives to improve and inform out standards.
Anonymous Answer
I have been on the English Language Arts curriculum writing team for the last five years. I have collaborated on writing, reading, and word study with a team of 3 other people and have written the 4th-grade curriculum. I went through the training to learn how to write district benchmarks. I was also a Lab classroom teacher for two years for ELA. I would have 25 teachers come into my classroom four times per year and they would observe me teaching a lesson. This was my district-wide experience but on my team we data team every week to assess how to use our RTI time most effectively. We look at our CFA's and then divide them into groups so that each grouping is very strategic. We decide which teacher should take specific groups according to that teacher's strengths. The student then changes classes for that time. We set Smart Goals and usually do multiple rounds of instruction and reassessing before we end a cycle.
Alexandra's Feedback
This is a good start to your answer. This clearly displays how you've collaborated with teachers. However, it's a bit unclear where the example of "creating a higher standard" or "better way of teaching" comes in. I recommend revising your answer so that part is very clear.
Anonymous Answer
We have just introduced Math Google Sites. After the Google summit held here at EMS, one of the teachers was excited about the idea and brought it to me. We took it to administrative, and they loved it. Since September we have been teaching Math Units through Google Sites as well as our Poetry Unit. We plan on adding other Units as well. Parents and students love the idea of having access at home to what is being taught in class.
Rachelle's Feedback
This sounds like a very exciting initiative, and your enthusiasm really shines through here!
Anonymous Answer
I coordinated a series of development meetings for music practitioners from 6 local primary schools and a neighboring secondary school with the aim of sharing pedagogy. We were able to pool knowledge and share our approaches, even cascade training that individuals had received. The impact of this was a good transition experience for young people who were able to make links from their secondary school to their primary learning. This was further reinforced by transition events which included primary and secondary students.
Stephanie's Feedback
This is a very well-rounded response You do a great job of highlighting your collaborative skills, as well as clearly showing how this collaboration directly benefitted students.
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