This is part of a three part series about the hiring process in independent schools from several perspectives. This post tells my hiring story as a physics teaching candidate. John Burk shares two posts:

Advice for a physics job seeker from someone who just helped to hire three — gives John’s advice to teaching candidates as someone who evaluated applicants to for his physics openings last year.

Some thoughts on running a physics teacher search — how John conducted his search for physics teaching candidates last year.

I’ve taught in both public and independent schools over the past fourteen years. A surprising part of my experience has been how different the hiring processes are. This post will walk you through my own recent independent school job search. I share this in the interest of explaining the process should you ever be a teaching candidate at an independent school.

Let’s start where many stories do, at the beginning.

November: Resume & Outlining My Search

In November, I first considered moving out of state but only if the job opportunity was amazing. I loved the school I was in and didn’t need to go anywhere.

I updated my resume, lined up references, and contacted a search firm. I recommend having three references handy. It’s always tricky if you’re not ready to tell your current employer that you’re looking. If you’re heavily involved in #MTBoS or other online networks, consider a reference from that world.

Pro-tip: Keep your resume current. Better yet, post your resume on your personal website and review it annually.

Bonus pro-tip: Consider putting section at the top of your resume that says, “ask me about my favorite topics.” It’s a chance to list keywords that can start conversations. For instance, Twitter and blogging professionally are important to me and nearly every interviewer has asked me about these.

While I went with a search firm, you don’t need to. You can also search a variety of job postings in a relatively few number of spots. Here are some that I know of and like:

• NAIS Career Center (National Association of Independent Schools)
• AAPT Jobs (American Association of Physics Teachers)
• SAIS Career Center (Southern Association of Independent Schools)
• GISA Schools Job Openings (Georgia Independent Schools Association, where I was living at the time of my search)

If you’re on Twitter, reach out to teachers in the region(s) you’re considering. Find out the names of the schools in the area and their reputations. See if you know anyone at these schools. Use your network!

From the outset though, I had to overcome some serious impostor syndrome. It’s weird, too, because on a day-to-day basis, I feel pretty good about my teaching. When I started looking around, several job postings seemed out of my league. Because I didn’t attend a prep school, it was easy to think working in one wasn’t for me. I’m here to tell you, independent schools want to hire physics teachers from a variety of backgrounds. In fact, “didn’t attend a school like ours” could be exactly what the school is looking for. For example, you stand to bring in fresh ideas, a diversity of viewpoints, and a chance to connect uniquely with students.

Generally, though, they’re looking for you to have a Bachelors in physics, engineering, or a related field. If you’ve been teaching awhile, they’d like you to hold a Masters, too. I haven’t encountered any resistance that my Masters is in teaching, not science. Government teaching credentials are pretty much never required in independent schools.

To recap, November was about getting my resume ready and figuring out what type of school I was looking for.

December: Job Postings & Phone Interviews

In December, I began to see postings that interested me. I narrowed my interests and started talking to schools in phone interviews.

The phone interview (sometimes a Skype interview) is typically about half an hour long and acts as an initial screener for the school. They’re looking to decide which finalists to bring to campus for a full interview.

As a candidate, my goal in the phone interview was to get a feel for the working environment. Sometimes the phone interview will be with an individual and other times with a search committee. Often, you’ll be speaking with someone in the science department.

Definitely prepare questions for the phone interview. My phone interview questions included:

• How do teachers collaborate on planning?
• Does your school have a GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance)?
• What does life look like for a transgender student at your school?
• What is the duty structure? (I was interviewing exclusively at boarding schools where duties are a significant part of the job.)
• What is the teaching load?
• Tell me about the pedagogy of the “average” teacher in your department. What do the extremes look like? (As a left-of-center teacher, I want to know that my approach to teaching will both be welcomed and that I won’t be the most extreme in the department.)

After I got off of my phone interviews, I realized that even the fanciest schools in the country still saw value in me — a public school educated kid from the middle class. This is a great moment to suggest to others from a similar background this: many prep schools are looking to hire a diverse faculty. If you’re wondering why a fancy school unlike anything you ever attended would even be interested in you, consider that could be exactly why they’re interested you.

January: The On-Campus Interview

I was invited to campus to interview in mid-January. If your trip requires travel, the school will pick up the tab.

Fact: Every great interview outfit involves a bowtie.

Chances are, you’ll have at least six different appointments around campus plus be asked to teach a sample lesson. It’s not uncommon to meet with the head of school, dean of students, director of diversity, athletics director, human resources and a group of teachers in the department where you’re interviewing.

Dress code pro-tip: Look up photos from the school on social media. Seek out the faculty in these photos to see how they dress.

When you get your schedule, research the people you’re interviewing with. Find something about them or their office on the school’s website. For instance, I prepped for my conversation with the director of inclusion by learning what affinity groups are offered and come in ready to ask specific questions about their GSA. Some folks will have social media presences and it’s a huge compliment to say “Tell me more about what you said on your blog last week.”

Some interview questions I was asked stand out in my memory:

• What’s the last thing you read?
• What three words would your students/colleagues use to describe you?
• Why are you leaving your current situation?
• Why are you interested in our school? (Do your homework on the school so you can give a detailed answer — what are they known for? what is their mission statement? what extracurricular programs do they have that you’re into? what technology is available?)
• What questions do you have? (y’all, this is probably the most important — be ready with some. I like to ask about how collaborative the department is and how the school as a whole supports LGBT students)

Also, it’s vital to come with your own interview questions. Here are a few to start you off:

• What caused this position to open up?
• Tell me about the teaching philosophy in this department.
• What are the extracurricular expectations here?

The on-campus interview is exhausting and repetitive.

Interview pro-tip: Have elevator pitches ready so that you can tell similar stories all day. When the group comes together to discuss you, hopefully they’ll have some common experiences. For example, I talked about how I was looking to move because I’ve been in Atlanta all my adult life and am ready to see a new region of the country.

The Sample Lesson

Many schools ask prospective teachers to present a sample lesson to a group of students or other teachers. You will likely be given a topic.

Sample lesson pro-tip: Ask if they can give you a recent homework assignment so that you can make sure you hit the right difficulty level.

Choose a lesson that highlights who you are as a teacher. My thing is hands-on, experiential education — students make things in my classes. So when choosing sample lessons, I choose small projects to build. My sample lessons include the battery/bulb/wire challenge and building a timing circuit using a 555 timer chip and capacitors. (What is it with me and getting electricity sample lessons?)

The benefit of my hands-on sample lessons is that they put the spotlight on how I interact with students over how I lecture. Even with kids I’ve just met, I’m better at relating than I am at lecturing on any topic.

What’s your thing?

My interview committees have generally appreciated seeing how I relate to students over my academic chops. Something to keep in mind.

Thank You

Show appreciation. I take cards with me and write thank you’s on the plane ride home. Send an email thank you immediately and send the card when you arrive home.

The Hiring Timeline

The interview process will vary school to school but know that the independent schools generally lock in their new hires earlier than the public schools. Other points of note:

• Hiring season is approximately January through March.
• Boarding schools like to fill their open positions early in the season and all independent schools usually like to go on spring break having made most of their job offers.
• Public schools, on the other hand, generally hire later in the year — usually interviewing February through May.

Use Your Network

My network was a huge help in this process. Big shout outs specifically to three people who were huge helps in my job search. Seriously, guys, thank you.

Reach out to your network, both local, and online. We’re here to help you find the job that’s right for you.

Good luck. You got this.

By the way, my search ultimately led me to small-town New England, where I couldn’t be happier. Where will your search take you?

I was seriously asked last week if I had a coat because “winter is coming.” I don’t think the asker was a Game of Thrones fan, either, just concerned for my ability to survive a New England winter.

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A classic conservation of momentum problem: two kids on roller skates push off each other. Why skates? It's so that we can ignore the effects of friction. Swipe for the 2nd picture. What questions do you have? Got a solution?👇 leave em in the comments

A post shared by Megan Hayes-Golding (@megtheteach) on May 21, 2017 at 5:06am PDT

I offer up exam review and hints on my public Instagram account. A number of students have named this as my best teacher move of the year. I’ll take it — click through to see the student answers that started rolling in within an hour of posting on Sunday morning.

It’s usually the little things our kids notice. Ev, a genderqueer student, wore a suit to prom. And not to get all clickbaity on you, but you won’t believe what a teacher did in response:

A teacher who I had only seen passing in halls came over to the table where I was sitting during the dance and made a kind comment about my suit. That one comment may seem incredibly insignificant to other people, but it was incredibly important to me because it gave me an instant ally in the room.

Check it out: Ev’s story will take you about 5 minutes to read.

Ev Norsworthy, Source: GLSEN

If you’ve ever wondered how you can support the LGBTQ students in your school, this is how. C’mon, even if you teach science like me and aren’t all in tune with feelings talk, you can do this!

—

hat tip to Becca M. for the story

Almost eight years ago, I was teaching a technology class to 6th graders — we dabbled in introductory programming, robotics, and debunking internet myths.

When the kids[1] saw the Household Hacker’s video “How to Build Hover Shoes“, they asked to give it a try. So I ordered the necessary materials and one kid donated a pair of shoes to the cause.

Soon after, we got to work — laying out the magnets, plugging in the soldering iron, locating a battery, a glue gun, and all. It didn’t take long before we were playing the sad trombone *wah, wah, wah*.

“Why Megan[2]? Did the internet lie to us?” they wanted to know. Looks like the Internet had given me the biggest teachable moment of my career!

The result was this charming video the kids wrote and produced themselves.

So, to Ryan, Peter, and Stephanos — I’m proud of y’all and I hope you’ve stayed curious.

—

[1] The school was tiny, and so was this class — just three kids.

[2] And it was also the kind of school where kids call teachers by their first names.

This is the story of how I worked with other faculty to develop a project rich in physics, service learning, and experiential education. My colleague, also named Meghan, asked if I’d like to design a project with her that met these goals:

• build empathy through addressing diversity in physical ability
• learn the physics of forces through examples at the challenge course
• design, analyze, and present building plans for new accessible elements

How would you re-present Islands so that someone in a wheelchair could participate?

On the first day of the project, we took the entire class out to the challenge course where we have four elements up for study. The objectives were twofold: 1) experience the element and 2) consider ways that those various physical limitations might not be able to participate in the element as implemented.

For homework, I had students read about types of forces and draw a force diagram of some interesting part of their Challenge Course experience.

Here’s a student’s first stab at identifying the types of forces at play in her Nitro Swing experience.

And finally, I’ll adapt my lessons and examples about types of forces to include the challenge course examples. So, for instance, I’ll be sure to explain torque so that the students working on the Whale Watch (teeter totter looking thing below) and others on Islands can see how the physics works.

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Finding balance in physics.

A post shared by Megan Hayes-Golding (@megtheteach) on Feb 27, 2017 at 9:08am PST

Student Version of the Project

The big questions: How does the challenge course work, according to physics? How can the elements be universally designed so those with a range of physical abilities may be full participants.

The learning goal: Understand and apply knowledge of forces through the study of the on-campus challenge course. You’ll work on a team to redesign an element that’s accessible by those with physical handicaps.

Tull Hall Challenge Course

I’m sharing videos of the challenge element being facilitated from start to finish. I find it useful to watch for how other groups go about solving the challenge as well as looking for spots where a physical impairment would make participation impossible.

• Islands: move your team to the other side of the element by building bridges from provided boards that are too short at first glance.
• Nitro: move your team to the other side of the element using a rope swing that’s just out of your reach.
• Whale Watch: balance your team on the element in various challenges.
• Challenge Wall: get everyone on your team up and over a wall that’s over 12 feet tall.

Deliverables

• The Video: Your team will submit one video. One team member will be designated team lead on this part of the project and is presumed to have done the bulk of the video work, though everyone is expected to contribute.
• The Proposal: Your team will submit a written proposal. One to two team members will be designated team leads on this part of the project and are presumed to have done most of the proposal work.
• The Presentation: Your team will make a presentation to the Discovery Faculty in which you summarize your video and written proposal. One team member will be designated team lead for this part of the project and is presumed to have done most of the work on it.

Submissions Should Include

Your video and proposal must address all of these questions. Your presentation should address only those you feel are most important.

1. Introduction
   1. Element name (include alternate names if applicable) and several photos of it.
   2. What’s the team-building point of your element? In other words, what is it supposed to teach a team? Be specific.
   3. What’s the trick to solving your element? In other words, what’s a team got to realize to succeed?
   4. Show us the element in action. Definitely show people working toward a solution on it, and people failing at it in all the common ways folks will do.
2. What’s the solution for your element? Is there more than one?
3. Fully describe the applicable physics behind your team’s element. You’ll be working with either Islands, Nitro, the Challenge Wall, or Whale Watch.
   1. Explain via free body (aka, force) diagrams
   2. Good challenge course elements have high perceived risk and low actual risk.
      1. What are the actual risks we must protect against? What sort of injuries could occur if we don’t?
      2. What is the perceived risk in this element? How can we heighten this sense of doing a risky thing so the challenge is more authentic and thrilling?
4. How will you adapt your element so those with physical handicaps can participate?
   1. What mobility issues will you adapt for?
   2. How does the physics change? How does it stay the same?
   3. Is there anything else in the challenge course area that could be a potential challenge/hazard for the client you are designing for? What suggestions would you make to the Discovery team/Westminster do to address these challenges/hazards?

The Challenge Wall

Resources

Some of the best we could find but by no means complete:

• Westminster Discovery Outdoor Leadership — the manual for Discovery leaders, includes descriptions for how they’re facilitated
• Universal and Accessible Design Symposium Review
• About Using the Terms Universal and Accessible
• Universal and Accessible Design Committee Activities
• National Center on Accessibility “A Universal Approach to Including People of All Abilities”
• Montreat Challenge Course
• Universal Design of Challenge Courses from ABEE
• Physics on the Ropes Course
• Adaptive Ropes Course Gear
• Example of how to adapt low elements
• Universal Islands Initiative
• Project Adventure Low Element Brochure– definitely use this!
• Universal Person Sender

Conflict Resolution / Equitable Work Expectation

Group work can be a challenge to participate in. When a team member doesn’t contribute, it can leave the remaining folks resentful at having to do the slacker’s job. Then the slacker gets credit without earning it. It’s not fair so I expect everyone to pull their weight in the project.

In an effort to allow a group to work as a team as well as keep everyone accountable, you’ll submit a project survey at the end where you’ll rate & rank your teammates’ contributions. Please attempt to resolve team conflicts among yourselves but know that you can bring your concerns to me.

Grades for the video, proposal, and presentation are group grades UNLESS significant team conflict is brought to my attention, in which case you’ll be graded on the portion of the project you led.

Rubric

This January, I’ll be co-teaching Making & DIY Culture, a JanTerm course at my school. Today I’m sharing the projects my teaching partner and I have chosen for 2017. The course is 18 days long, students take one course in that time, and we have several field trips planned in addition to these projects. I want to stress that pretty much every project here is something we found online. Links in the titles.

Wooden Crate

The project: Build a small crate using hand and power tools.

Why we chose it: This project serves a utilitarian purpose — students need a crate to hold parts while other builds are in progress and overnight. We also want to teach them to use the mitre saw, a hammer, and a drill.

Toy Take Apart

The project: Cut open and disassemble mechanical toys such as Tickle Me Elmo. Learn how they work. Reassemble working components into something else.

Why we chose it: We first learned of the Toy Take Apart from our lower school Design Thinking teachers but weren’t sure last year how the big kids we teach would respond. Yes, it was that popular. Kids hack apart mechanical toys to find motors, gears, speakers, and voice boxes. We challenge them to then reassemble those components into something totally new.

Plush Monsters

The project: Use Arduino LilyPad platform and felt to stitch a working circuit inside of a small plush toy.

Why we chose it: These little guys are so precious, they speak to a different type of maker than the more famous electronics or woodworking projects, and we get to to teach kids to sew. Side note: the most challenging part of this project last year was teaching 15 year olds to thread a needle. Who knew?

Glass Cutting & Etching

The project: Repurpose and personalize empty glass bottles into drinking glasses or candles.

Why we chose it: I’ve been dying to try this, so we added it. After a schoolwide wine bottle drive, we’re ready with over 100 empties (English teachers drink more than the rest of campus, combined, btw). My teaching partner and I have tested parts, but not all, of this project — which makes her nervous and me excited to finally get a personalized drinking glass.

PVC Trebuchet

The project: Build a working tabletop trebuchet out of PVC.

Why we chose it: We want kids to have some experience working with PVC and everyone loves a trebuchet project.

Arduino 8×8 LED Matrix

The project: Solder up a working LED matrix that’s controlled from an Arduino.

Why we chose it: It’s Arduino, a platform I love. Sure, LED matrices are available pretty cheaply but it’s got just enough soldering and Arduino programming in it to be interesting.

Raspberry Pi Photo Booth

The project: Brighten up parties with a photo booth based on the Raspberry Pi platform.

Why we chose it: Because Raspberry Pi was missing from the course and it’s a popular platform for makers, the end product is usable by our school community, and it scales fairly well to a group of 4 students. We plan to split the group so 2 kids work on the RasPi and 2 work on the housing & props.

Thrift Store Lamp

The project: Design and build a lamp out of nontraditional materials. Given $10 in thrift store materials and a make-a-lamp kit, can our students make a whimsical and usable lamp? Fingers crossed.

Why we chose it: This is our final project and pulls together several skills we taught during the course. It’s also our first time giving the kids so much flexibility with the design process.