Capstone Interview Script

Hello everyone! Welcome to my Capstone Teacher Interview!

Question One: Briefly share a little about your background experiences that have
led you to choose a career in education.

My first job as a teenager was as an aquatics instructor. I worked for the City of
Mississauga, teaching individuals how to swim. I taught all ages, from newborn
babies to grandparents. They all came with a range of backgrounds and
experiences, to simply starting out to learn to swim to deep-rooted fears that had
held them back from a lifetime of swimming. I truly found it a rewarding job,
especially when you were able to see someone conquer a fear and just radiate
pride at their accomplishments. I worked as an instructor for nine years, before
moving on to a career as a Category Coordinator with Sobeys in the Bakery
Division. This was a career that really honed my organizational skills. It involved
meeting a lot of deadlines and coordinating with many departments to ensure that
all of the demands for the week were met.
From this point in my life, I got married and I started my family. Life became
involved with raising our family. While raising my children, I consistently
volunteered with children. Firstly, I volunteered with the Girl Guides of Canada. I
worked as a Guide leader. Next, I volunteered at my children’s school for years. I
helped with the All Star Reading program, which identified struggling readers and
pulled them out of the class two or three times a week for one—on-one reading
instruction. This really helped introduce me to literacy and strategies to help
struggling readers.
As my children got older, I recognized that I have always been drawn to
working with children. I realized that becoming a teacher would be a perfect
career for me. This is how I ended up finding Medaille and beginning my journey to
becoming a teacher.
What have you learned in your teacher training program that will make you an
excellent classroom teacher and colleague?

Medaille College has offered a comprehensive training program that has covered
many facets of becoming a teacher.

Firstly, I have learned many different components that are necessary within the
classroom. For example, classroom management, creating classroom rules, making
lesson plans, differentiating lessons, and collaborating with other grade level
teachers. All of these skills are really the basics of running an efficient and
productive classroom, while also ensuring that all students feel safe and
comfortable in their classroom.
Secondly, we have also learned about students that have needs beyond the regular
classroom and/or curriculum. We have learned about students who have physical
or cognitive needs that we will have to modify or accommodate within our
classroom. We also were training in how to recognize signs of abuse or trauma in
children and if we have a student showing these signs, what actions to take to help
that student. In line with that, we also know how to teach children who have
experiences trauma.
We have spent many hours discussing how to create a diverse and inclusive
classroom, ensuring that all students feel recognized and included. We talked
about how to incorporate diversity into not only our lessons, but also the materials
that populate the classrooms or the signs that are on the walls. This can also
extend to including the community and families that surround the school and our
classrooms. By extending our classroom beyond its four walls, we can ensure that
our students have a broader perspective on the world and feel engaged within
their community. In turn, the community and their families will feel more
connected to our classroom and ideally, more willing to extend their children’s
education into their homes.
Question 3 is to provide us with an example of a lesson you taught. How did you
integrate it with other curriculum areas, address the CCLS, technology, student
engagement and motivation? What were the results of the lesson?

In October, I taught a learning segment on comparing and contrasting two versions

of a fairy tale. This address the Common Core Learning Standard for Reading
Literature, RL.2.9 which says “Compare and contrast two or more versions of the
same story by different authors or from different cultures.” We used Cinderella
and The Rough-Face Girl, representing not only different authors but also different
cultures. I incorporated technology by using the Smart Board to demonstrate how
to use a Venn Diagram, which was ideal as the students could take turns coming up
to experiment with using the graphic organizer. We also were able to integrate it
with other areas of the curriculum. The Rough-Face Girl takes place on the shores
of Lake Ontario, which facilitated a geography discussion as to where Lake Ontario
is and what countries border it. It also incorporated some aspects of history, as we
discussed the Native American tribes that lives in the area.
The students were really engaged in this lesson, as I began it with a mystery
bag with items. These items were clues to have them guess which fairy tale we
were reading. They were very excited to watch for the different clues and
eventually they guessed we were reading Cinderella. I taught them to look for key
details, such as character, setting, problem and solution, in order to give them
some details to compare the next version of Cinderella to. The other version we
read, The Rough-Face Girl, was done in a similar format. Again, we looked for key
details and the students recorded their findings. Our last lesson had the students
comparing and contrasting both of these books and we also used pumpkins to
begin thinking about comparing and contrasting. Again, the students were very
excited to look at the different pumpkins and afterwards, compare the two books
we well. They were very engaged and high motivated as well.
Question four is how will your knowledge of current trends in education inform
you as an educator in our district/board/school?

The field of education is constantly evolving. From year to year, research steers
educators in different directions. I feel it is imperative to be constantly engaged in
professional development ourselves in order to gain new insight, have fresh ideas
and understand the latest in child development and theories. Professional
development is a key part of being an educator.
One theorist that has always greatly interested me is Lev Vygotsky. I feel that his
theories really encourage a supportive and challenging work environment. By
ensuring that students are scaffolded in their learning, we can provide them with
the supports to optimize their opportunities to grow and learn. Also, Vygotsky’s
theory regarding the Zone of Proximal Development is a wonderful framework for
teachers to use to consistently ensure that students are being challenged, and yet
still within their comfort level. I feel that by incorporating these ideas into my
classroom, it will provide an environment in which students feel challenged,
engaged and supported.
Another support that we discussed in class is differentiation. This is a key
component to bring into the classroom. With so many different learners in one
class, it is more important than ever to offer instruction and assessments through
varying methods. This will help us to reach all students and provide instruction and
assessment that is suitable to all of our learners.

The last question is why should we hire you instead of all of the other applicants
we have interviewed?

At times, I feel that changing careers later in life might provide challenging.
However, the more I have considered it, I feel that it actually gives me an
advantage. Approaching becoming an educator at this stage in my life, I have had
the opportunity to gain experience in many areas, such as working with children in
the pool, volunteering to help students learn to read, working with the Girl Guides
of Canada, and most importantly, having my own family. With my own children, I
have lived the role of the parent. I have gone for the parent conferences, helped
with homework, volunteered at the school and participated in supporting my
children as learners at home. I feel that these experiences have prepared me to
not only view being a teacher from our teacher’s education program, but also from
the other aspects, such as working with parents, working with colleagues,
incorporating my students’ families.
I feel that these experiences, compounded with my teachers education and
placements at various schools have given me the experiences to be a well-rounded
educator who will provide an organized classroom, engage with their colleagues
and be committed to constantly learning in order to bring current trends and
methodologies into my classroom.