SOE Portfolio: Interview Packetp. 1 of 2

SOE Portfolio: Interview Packet v1.1

Some graduates from the School of Education have successfully used their portfolios during their job search. The following advice is based on their experiences.

Your portfolio is useless... at first...

A potential employer probably won't ask for your portfolio. If you send it, they probably won't look at it. Before they select candidates for interviews, an employer screens all the applications they've received. There may be a lot of applications. They won't have time to look at your portfolio.

Therefore...

Don't spend time making your portfolio look good. Instead, practice talking, writing, and thinking about teaching. This is the primary purpose of your Preservice Journal in your ePortfolio. (If you have a webpage portfolio, then you practice via your artifact cover pages.)

When you get an interview...

Create your Interview Packet. Print these out and make several stapled copies:

  1. Cover page with your name, major(s) and minor(s), and contact information.
  2. A page with the http link to your ePortfolio Performance Tasks presentation (or webpage portfolio cover page).
  3. Teaching Philosophyessay ... be sure it includes at least one paragraph on each of these topics:classroom management, educational technology, and honoring difference.
  4. Pictures of your students working on a neat project (not just sitting in their desks). Be sure you have permission.
  5. A copy of an assessment you created, that you've completed for a specific student (remove student's name), and the matching entry from your Preservice Journal.
  6. A lesson plan you created with an adaptation or accommodation, and the matching entry from your Preservice Journal.
  7. A lesson plan you created with technology integration, and the matching entry from your Preservice Journal.

Items 5-8 could all be from the same lesson.

Review this packet, and take the copies with you. Rehearse saying what you wrote, in a calm, confident, "unrehearsed" way. Be prepared to answer these questions:

  1. Tell us about your approach to classroom management.
  2. How do you know your students are learning?
  3. How do you make accommodations for your students?
  4. How do you use technology?

Consider using your packets as visual aids. This is a simple yet powerful way to demonstrate a basic teaching move: multi-modal communication.

If they're impressedWhen they're impressed by your answers and your materials, offer to leave the packets and point out your http link. Explain that you have a lot more evidence in your portfolio.

Remember...

When there is a lot of competition for jobs, it will take more than a good transcript to impress a potential employer. You need to stand out. Here are some strategies:

  • Get involved in student organizations
  • Volunteer, especially in schools or other settings with children
  • Tutor
  • Get a job related to education now (e.g., Residence Life)
  • Get a job related to your field now (e.g., a biology teacher working for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)
  • Study abroad

There are other possible strategies to stand out.

Your most important goal is getting experience talking, writing, and thinking like a professional educator. When you sound like a professional, and when you have evidence of your success with real students, then it's much easier for an employer to imagine working in their school.

Good luck with your job search!

BuchananUW Stevens Point