How to find a 21st Century Teacher?
I read a great blog post today by a colleague at Newell-Fonda High School that discussed what we are looking for in a 21st century teacher. The post discussed how most of the questions we have asked in the past don’t really apply anymore. We used to focus on content knowledge in the era of “teacher as expert” and now we need to find out whether our candidate is a lifelong learner and how they can empower their students to connect to their own learning. The original post is here: http://newell-fondahs.blogspot.com/
Her post got me thinking…what do we ask now? What questions can we ask a candidate to uncover their ability to be successful in the new educational paradigm? What examples can we ask for? How can we seek to uncover the skill set we are looking for?
Time for a little participation. Here’s the question…what questions should we ask to find the next generation of great teachers? I look forward to your ideas and I will post a few of my own as well!
Educationally Dense 
Ok, I’ll go first…one question that I like is: Describe something that you have learned that has improved learning in your classroom that you did not learn from a class or someone you work with? What is it and how/where did you learn it? – I am looking to see if they can tell me about their PLN and how it has benefited their students.
What is differentiated instruction and why is it important? Give several examples demonstrating how you have taught a variety of students and met their individual educational needs?
It all comes down to learning.
I would simply ask, how do you learn in the 21st century? If the candidate talks about PLN, social media, and power of the networked community, they are a keeper.
Why are pothole covers round. Becky got asked that in an interview. 🙂 I’ll have to ask you for current interview questions if I’m ever looking to get back into the classroom.
Opps…man hole covers. That makes more sense.