On March 19th I had the awesome opportunity to attend Hillsborough County’s Spring Student Intern Information Meeting. As a future Elementary Educator of Hillsborough County I was pleased with what I learned at this meeting. I got to learn about teacher orientation and find out the dates the county would be holding this for elementary educators. I got more insight as to what the county looks for on a resume and learned about their application process. Most importantly I got to hold a mock interview with the Principal of Graham Elementary School.
In this interview I was able to answer almost every question she asked quickly, a few I had to think about to ensure it was what I truly thought, not just saying the first thing that came to my mind. Also upon reflecting on the interview and my answers I feel as though my responses were very closely aligned with how I believe and I was not just saying something to get something out.
Lately I have felt as though I am not equipped or that others seem to have just a strong grasp on things then I do. When I was in the interview situation I surprised my self with how confident I was in my own answers and questions, the whole process made me realize how close to being ready I truly am and what I need to focus on for the rest of my time in the UTRPP. (All 4O some days I have left.)
Another valuable lesson I took from the mock interview was how important it is to know about the school. I was unaware of all of the schools that would be present at this meeting, so when it came time to the interviews and I found out I took my time to look at where the schools were and then learn more about schools that were closest to me. I only had 5-10 minutes to research Gram Elementary before my interview. This made me realize how many questions I still had. I wanted to know what the Demographics of the school, the schools grade and how it varied though the years, was the school Title One? I now know for my next interview, even it were to be at my internship school I really need to be sure and do my research before even going to the interview.