What I look for...
When I interview instructors, I am looking for individuals that have the same personality and love for teaching that I have. The one question that always determine it for me is, I ask the potential instructor to tell me what three qualities would they put into a normal instructor to make them a great instructor. This normally tells me what kind of instructor they will become.
What are some of the responses you get. During the interview process, I find everyone is wanting to put their best foot forward, sometimes once they have the position, the oppisite behavior is demonstrated. It's very hard at that point when you have them engaged in a class full of students to pull them out.
That's a great question - I might have to steal that one from you. Similarly, I ask about qualities that they would like to emulate from instructors they have had in the past.
I do something similar. I usually ask them to think about all of the great instructors they have had throughout their lifetime and what qualities made those instructors so great.
I look for instructors who support the students inside and outside of the classroom. If they have previous experience teaching, I ask for an example of how they have helped a struggling student. Or I may give them a a hypothetical siuation and see how they respond to it.
Omer,
I have found staying away from hypothetical situations is the way to go. Studies show that people tend to try to answer the question based on what they think the interviewer wants instead of what they may actually do. Sticking with "tell me about a time when ..." is usually the more effective approach.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I have three questions to ask myself while I am interviewing; 1)Do you communicate clearly? 2)Whats your lesson plan? and will my students understand it clearly? 3)What qualities and assets are you bringing to our students and staff?.....This will normally tell me the expectations that I would be getting from the instructor.
Thomas,
These are common questions in one form or another. You way want to consider adding questions that require the interviewee to tell you what they have done in situations common to what they will encounter with you. Past behavior is often a good predictor of future behavior.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I strongly agree. Some questionaries is so limited in getting a detailed response from the candidate.
Brooke,
I suggest basing your interviews on questions specific to the candidate's experiences.
Jeffrey Schillinger
