Stiff Competition!

I don't have a hard time remembering what it was like to apply for my first teaching job, although it seems so long ago now.  I remember wondering what principal's were looking for, as well as wondering how I was supposed to be impressive having had pretty much zero teaching experience.  I remember having some strong opinions on teaching and learning - very much based on what had not worked for me as a student.  Today I had the opportunity to sit on the other side of the interview table as a "round two" interviewer at our school districts' job fair. 

Candidates who had been briefly screened by the round one interviewers and whose credentials met the district expectations were sent upstairs for a more detailed interview.  Typically this meant that they were very impressive and we wanted to make sure someone in our district got a chance to talk to them before another district grabbed them.  So - for five hours, twenty minutes each, I asked experienced and inexperienced teachers to talk to me about their philosophy of teaching as well as some specifics about how to best meet the needs of the children in their care. 

I was very impressed.  The competition was extremely tough - I'm sure I would not have made it to the second round twenty-some odd years ago!  Congratulations and best of luck to all 700 candidates that came by today.