Performance Task for Garden Educator Job Interview

[Sherman Garden]

Hello Gardeneers,

Has anyone asked garden educator job candidates to deliver a mini-garden lesson as part of the hiring process? If so, do you have suggestions for how to structure the interview? Anything to avoid?

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we do not have access to a live student audience, so we will have adults stand in for the kids.

Thanks so much,

-- 

Christina Abuelo

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Coordinator - (858) 210-2628

Sherman Elementary School Garden & Barrio Botany

www.ShermanGrows.com

www.BarrioBotany.org

*´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´ Cultivating Healthy, Happy, Nature-Connected Kids

[John Fisher]

Hi Christina,

Yes we have ask educators that we interview to share their teaching style by modeling a lesson. We have done this by asking them to come to the interview prepared to share, we state the time allotted to model their lesson before they arrive, and ask if they will need anything. We ask them to engage with us as if we were their class/students so that we can see, as best as we can, how they teach. If they are experienced as a teacher they will be able to put on their teacher voice and share to you how they engage with kids. 

With remote (zoom) interviews we have also asked candidates to share a video(s) of themselves teaching kids or share a video where they are explaining a topic for a student audience. Since Covid many educators have examples they can pull from that demonstrate them teaching via video.

I hope that helps. I do feel that having having your candidates model teach a lesson or part of lesson is very valuable for your selection team.

John Fisher,

Life Lab

[Sherman Garden]

Hi John, 

Thanks for your reply. A follow up question: do you recommend that all your candidates teach the same lesson so you can compare amongst them? Or do you let them choose their topic?

Christina

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 1, 2021, at 10:03 AM, John Fisher <gardend...@lifelab.org> wrote:

Hi Christina,

--
READ BEFORE REPLYING:
You can reply to the whole Google Group, just the sender, or both. When replying to this message make sure to check your recipient address line to confirm you are responding to who you want to be responding to.
ALSO check your subject line to be sure that the subject line is about the topic and NOT "digest for...."
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "School Garden Support Organization Network" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/school-garden-network/DyjRgGKf9Vs/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to school-garden-ne...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/school-garden-network/00038977-86cb-4389-9b42-84b191190abdn%40googlegroups.com.

[John Fisher]

Hi Christina,

I think the decision of what lesson depends on your context. I like to see what a candidate will "bring" and see if it aligns with our work. Once we had an applicant share their version of a lesson that they knew we presented and that went over well. If you have a very fixed curriculum or intentions for how you want your lessons taught I suppose it could be advantageous to see the candidate teach from one of your written lessons. Either way seeing the candidate put on their "teaching mode" will be very insightful for your selection team.

-- JOHN
John Fisher - Director of Programs & Partnerships - 831.471.7831 - lifelab.org/john
Life Lab cultivates children's love of learning, healthy food, and nature through garden-based education.
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with locations in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, CA

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "School Garden Support Organization Network" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to school-garden-ne...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/school-garden-network/1305580A-CB66-4E5E-B374-2C5F67D9F3AA%40gmail.com.

[Celeste Parry]

To keep it simple and see their creativity, we simply asked "If you were to give a lesson about a tomato, what would you say?"

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/school-garden-network/CAAXMYK1M8nYg6YfoF06s1gtz_ywzSCcHX_TDtKVK2L3MhtTdaA%40mail.gmail.com.