School Administrator Interview
All Good Things Start With A Spark!
All The Right Stuff
When I sat down with Assistant Principal, Randall Rogers at East High School, I left with a lot of optimism, passion for teaching, fantastic advice and a further understanding of what it really takes to not only be a teacher or administrator, but a teacher/administrator who has a real passion and leaves their mark in the teaching world.
The Interview
- How long have you been a principal? How long did you teach prior to becoming an admisinstraotor? I've been a principal for seven years. I taught for 18 years before becoming an administrator.
- What made you choose the teaching profession originally? You could say that it's a family profession, I have two aunts who are teachers and my Dad was also a teacher and eventually became and administrator.
- What advice can you give me to better prepare me for the teaching profession? Just keep doing what youre doing. See as many teachers as you can, volunteer at schools, tutor, anything that can give you the experience for this field will help prepare you. Experience is the biggest thing that can aide you.
- What are some of the challenges I will face as a new teacher? What are the rewards in teaching? Could you provide me with specific examples from your own teaching experience or from some of the teachers you supervise? My advice would be to pace yourself, those first few years are going to be the toughest, but if you pace yourself and find your own uniques style then you'll be alright. When you first get started at a new school, find a mentor, a good mentor and just be willing to try new things, give it your best. The rewards for me are helping kids find their way. Just seeing the kids later in life and seeing that they are doing well, that they remember me, (their old teacher), seeing the success they've accomplished is the biggest reward.
- What does professionalism mean to you? What qualities do you seek in a new teacher? How can I "stand out" during the application, interview, and hiring process after I earn my teaching license? Professionalism means that you're the adult, you aren't looking to be the students' friend, you have to have that authority. How you dress is very important to me, (you always look very nice and professional :-)), that's important as your appearance is the first thing I see. Are you experienced, are you reliable? You could be the smartest person in the world, but if you aren't someone I can depend on then you won't get very far. When you come to an interview, come prepared, bring me a resume or something to look at, apply to many different places, go to job fairs, follow up, persistence is a good thing, do your research on the school that you're applying to and it always looks good to have an ESOL, a minor of some kind.
- What changes, if any, would you make to the educational system? Consider various aspects of education reform, funding, state assessments, etc.... Don't "build the airplane while flying". We really need to slow down when trying new things. It's always a rush to try something new and we're having to struggle to get these new things, new ideas going, but there's a lot of problems or issues that we run into and it's a struggle to fly the plane.
- If you could choose another career field, would you? Please explain your answer in detail. No, I just can't see myself doing anything else, this is my passion, this is what I love to do.
- Are there any comments you wish to add to close this interview? No.