I think I "maked" a bad impression

I said “maked”. For real. In my interview I used the word “maked”. It came out like this:

Assistant principal: When did you decide that you wanted to become a teacher and why?

Emily: Well, I had a handful of fabulous teachers — I credit them with inspiring me to become a teacher. They maked me who I am. 

Assistant principal: (blank stare)

Teacher #1: (blank stare)

Teacher #2: (blank stare)

Teacher #3: (blank stare)

Teacher #4: (blank stare)

Emily: uhhhhhh….I mean….um….shoot….I know that maked isn’t really a word, I’m just super nervous. I’m sorry.

::: Crickets. Pin drop. Tumbleweed. ::::

Assistant principal: So, Ms. Updegrove, tell us what you feel is your strong point within language arts — what is your passion? Is it creative writing? Reading? Language mechanics…..? (obviously not!)

Talk about a boo-boo. Sheesh. Actually, all in all it wasn’t a terrible experience. I was definitley much more nervous in the days leading up to the interview than I was when I actually got there (until I used the word “maked”, that is….). 

Because my interview was at 9 this morning, and I live about two hours away from the school, I left my house at about 6. I wanted to have plenty of time because on Saturday when I drove from my parents house in NC to my house in KY I sat in traffic for about two hours near VA. I definitely didn’t want that to happen on the day of my first interview!  I felt a bit overdressed (my mom insisted I should wear a black pencil skirt, a black cardigan, and pumps). In July.  And when I pulled out of my driveway at 6AM, it was already 70 degrees. Like, whoa. Summer in Kentucky is always a downer. Even without mourning clothes. I arrived at about 8, went to the school around 8:40, made smalltalk with the very nice secretary, and was called into the conference room around 9:25. I was walking out of the school at about 10, so the whole interview lasted about 35 minutes.

I was fairly confident in most of the questions I answered, although there was one that I had to say I honestly didn’t know enough about to answer. I believe it was “how do you incorporate the common core standards into your curriculum?”, which slightly confused me. WV began using the common core last year and so most of my unit planning for the education department has been based on CC standards rather than state CSO’s. So, I very politely said “I’m not sure I understand the question….”, to which the interviewer responded “what do you know about KY standards, KTIP, and the Common Core integration?”. And then I said “I honestly don’t know enough about KY standards to answer that question”. At that point in time it felt like the kiss of death, but later in the day I realized that perhaps the interviewer thought that I was only using state CSO’s in WV, and was therefore unfamiliar with the Common Core initiative (maybe....?). In reality, I have been using CC/Next Generation standards since day one in WV, so there really is no “incorporating” them into my lesson plans — they’re just what I draw from in order to shape my units. If I had given myself another few seconds to think about it logically I could’ve answered intelligently. But, I didn’t. 

When I left, the assistant principal (the principal was called out for jury duty, so he wasn’t in the interview) told me they had several other candidates to interview and would let us know something “soon” (which I find to be a very arbitrary word...). I do feel a lot better now that the first interview is under my belt. I feel much more confident and prepared for the next one...should there be a next one. We'll see. 

Thanks to all of my readers for helping me with scenario questions -- they SO helped!

And now back to writing my thank you letter in my very favorite Starbucks. Ever.

Pullman Square -- Huntington, WV

Happy Tuesday!

Emily