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Eight Interview Questions to Help You Know Who You're Hiring

By Joel Gordon

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Question 6:
How might you use an individual child’s assessment to develop curriculum in your class?

Curriculum design and implementation are the primary aspect of what a teacher does. This question will let you assess what values and priorities they put into their curriculum design. To what degree do they develop individualized curriculum based on the emerging interests of the children in their classroom? What activities would they plan for and what learning tools and toys would they add to the classroom environment? A follow-up question to ask might be to find out how might they balance and incorporate the program needs of individual children with a larger classroom curriculum and themes.

Question 7:
This is a situational question.

In your dramatic play area you have a variety of dress-up costumes that children can try on for their play. You’ve noticed that one of the boys, whose parents are exchange students from another country, enjoys playing in the dress-up corner. One afternoon his mother arrives to pick up her child and finds him in the dress-up corner wearing high-heel shoes, a flowing dress, and a matching hat. She is upset and tells you that her child is NEVER to wear girls’ clothes again. You discuss the situation with her and describe why it’s not harmful and not out of the ordinary for young children. She insists that you not allow him to dress up like that in the dress-up corner. What would you do and why?

This question comes from an actual situation described by June Sale in her Exchange article “Why I’m Involved in Parent Involvement” (December 1984, pp. 25-27). It occurred when she was the director of UCLA’s child development center. This story is rich in it’s implications and it requires a candidate to show you how they think about difficult topics. What will they do when two or more values they have come in conflict? In this case it’s about the sound child development theory of dramatic play as a way for children to expand their understanding of the world, and the need to supporta parent’s perspective and values. You may also interpret the parent’s dictum not to let their son play in girls’ clothing as being homophobic and this could create a conflict for you. So the question requires the candidate to weigh and prioritize these conflicting values. What are the values they hold fast to and which ones can they be more flexible about? This situation also reveals how a potential staff member might talk to the parent about a difficult subject.

Is there a “right” answer to this question? June noted that after staff discussion, “The child development in our souls hurt, but the fact is that we should have been aware that in this family’s culture boys dressing as girls was not acceptable. This child is now redirected when he starts to play with feminine dress-up clothes.” I agree with June. However, when I’m interviewing candidates, while I’m pleased if they come to this conclusion, I recognize that getting to this conclusion is not always easy. But it does give me insight into how the applicant thinks.

Question 8:
Have you ever had a mentor or a hero?
Was there anybody in particular that influenced your work with young children?
What did you learn from them and what were they like?
How did they influence you?

Again, this question will help you know about the person you’re hiring and their professional values and skills. In my experience it’s actually not all that common for a candidate to have had a formal mentor. But the question allows them to talk about individuals who influenced their work. Getting them to open up about this person and what they learned from them will help you know about the candidate as a learner and how they function in one kind of a relationship. Ask about what the connection was and why it was meaningful to them. Sometimes folks will reply with an author they read or a figure in our field or someone who led a workshop they attended. Knowing what the candidate was like as a learner will let you know a lot about them as a teacher.








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