Secondary English School Direct Interview

Hi there everyone,

I have an English school direct interview on Thursday. Simply wondering if anyone has any hints or tips for the interview and what the 15 minute English writing task may consist of?

I also have to prepare a short 20 minute "lesson" to a group of 10-15 year 7 set 1's. My idea is to take some receipts into the class, and put the students into groups. Then with each receipt, one group will write a monologue of the person's thoughts as they were buying the items, the second group will create a profile of a person, based on the items that have been bought, and finally a story which connects at least 5 of the items and why they may have bought them. I will do that for 10 mins then get the students to present their findings for the final 5 minutes. A final thing will be that one of the receipts will be one of mine and the winning group will win a little prize?

What does everyone think?

Thanks,

David

Reply 1

yabbadabbadoo

The writing task could be anything I guess, but as an example I was asked to write 1 page discussing one aspect of the reforms to Science curriculum. (applying for a science PGCE)

As for your lesson, it's hard to say what they're looking for, what did it ask exactly?
There's not a lot that can be done in 20 minutes, but I like your idea, I assume you're only presenting the lesson plan? If that's the case then I think they're looking for 2 things. Firstly your presentation skills. Secondly, that you have a basic understanding of how to plan a lesson. I can see you've put some thought into the lesson plan already, it's more creative than my idea, and they'll pick up on that so good job so far!
The prize giving might require some thought, I know one school I went to had a "no sweets" policy for prizes.

Reply 2

damcc20

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. On the brief it said that 'I will deliver a 20 minute practical teaching task on a topic of my choice from my specialist subject area to a group of 10-15 year 7 students (set 1)'. It will look at how I build relationships with students, how I interact with students and how I can engage them in the activity. What was your idea, and how did it go?