This is me getting a little good-luck cuddle from my best girl before my interview. I was definitely all jitters this morning. And overall, I would say the interview went okay. I think I did well on some questions and not so great on others, and so it all balances out to a pretty average OK.The questions I prepared for generally went well. I prepared to talk about my teaching philosophy, about my classroom pedagogy and how it intersects with the community college mission, about my grading style, and about how my research influences my teaching. I also prepared a description of how I would teach a pre-collegiate composition course, a first-year composition course, and an advanced composition course, and how I would teach the literature courses I said I could teach when I sent in my application: a survey of American literature since 1865, a women's literature course, and a course in Holocaust literature.
What I didn't anticipate and what didn't go so well were all the specific scenario questions that began "You have a student who . . ." On some of these questions, I definitely knew how I would handle the situation; on others, I was flustered and I think that came through over the phone and definitely affected my interview score. On a positive note, I think most of my interviews, if not all, will include these kinds of scenario questions, and so I can better prepare for them in the future. Overall, it was a good learning experience. And the committee (three of the school's English professors) were funny and kind, and so I didn't feel like too much of an idiot even when I was flustered.
At the end of the interview, the committee said I would be contacted next week about the results of the interview. I think it's going to be a big "Thanks, but no thanks." And that's okay. While I wish the interview had gone better, Tom and I were not even remotely excited by the prospect of moving to Michigan.
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