IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

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helloiswill
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am

IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

Post by helloiswill »

Hey all,

I was offered a Skype interview at a solid 2nd tier IB school in a desirable SEA location for next week. I don't have any experience teaching IB and I wanted to know if anyone had suggestions on how to approach the interview or resources I could find online to help me prepare. The position is part of the PYP program and I would be teaching EAL. So far this hiring season, I secured had a couple Skype interviews and and both went well. Because of these early interviews, I feel pretty comfortable with many of the standard pedagogy/personal questions, but I feel a little unprepared for questions regarding IB curricula. I have posted on the forum a few times recently but I will add some of my experience below in case it is useful.

BA English
MA MS.ED (Currently completing remotely through a top school in US)
2 Years Elementary EAL experience in domestic school (USA)
--FWIW--
US Soccer Federation Coaching Cert.
Google Educator Level 1 Cert
2 years at ESL Cram School experience

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Thanks for any advice ahead of time!
fine dude
Posts: 651
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:12 pm
Location: SE Asia

Re: IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

Post by fine dude »

You might wanna look at this:
http://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/
helloiswill
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am

Re: IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

Post by helloiswill »

@fine dude

Looks like a great resource. Thanks!
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

If you want to do some "light" reading you can start by reading "Making the PYP Happen", the following is a PDF link:

https://tecnosanfran.wikispaces.com/fil ... Happen.pdf

You might also want to Google "Making the PYP Happen Workshops" and often you can find blogs of entire training workshops. Below is a recent one from October 2016 in Mumbai:

https://mtpyph.blogspot.com/

My approach however would be to use a very soft touch in how much you study about the PYP and IB. Id read the IB Learner Profile, and thats it. They already know you have no IB experience and they want to talk to you anyway. There are some ISs, and this maybe one of them that prefers noobs in IB, because they want to train you how they do PYP, and its harder unlearning another ISs approach. Whatever their reason (or lack of reason) prior IB/PYP experience isnt an issue or problem with them, so theres nothing for you to solve.
Just go to the IBO site and read the public pages.
helloiswill
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am

Re: IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

Post by helloiswill »

@psyguy

"light"

I'll run a few google searches on "making the PYP happen," as you advised. Interesting take on how I should approach the interview, I think you are probably right. I don't want to give the impression I'm an expert, however, I want to sound like I know of IB and a be able to answer questions with a few "buzzwords". After the short amount of reading I have done on IB this weekend, it actually sounds pretty similar to what I am already doing at my current school.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@helloiswill

Yeah at 142 pages its a snooze fest, took me close to a month to read it.

Usually the advice is that if you an study enough IB, and then put some portfolio elements together you can sell a recruiter that you've been doing IBish already and that you would be a more advantageous hire. In your case its not an issue, and Id hate to think you studied yourself out of an offer, because you sounded like you knew too much.

Inquiry based meds/peds isnt anything new or revolutionary. Many modern DTs get training and exposure to it. Its a cult, but a lot of it is presentation and pageantry.
sid
Posts: 1392
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 am

Re: IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

Post by sid »

Do be careful about any statements suggesting you're "already doing the IB". It can set some recruiters off.
Instead, you could try more limited statements about a specific thing you're doing which is similar to a specific element of the PYP. Shows you know something about the program, have done your homework and have the right mindset.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

I would concur with @sid, some leadership consider IB sacrosanct, and the only place you can 'do' IB is at an IB IS/DS no matter what you may implement and structure in your classroom. I wouldnt claim to be doing IB, Id describe your meds/peds and let them conclude the degree of your IBness.
Artrageous
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:49 am

Re: IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

Post by Artrageous »

If you do some reading about the IB and the PYP in particular in preparation for the interview I am sure you will show you're interested. If you get a handle on the philosophy of the framework and be able to give examples of how you would be able to/may already be doing/ implement the philosophy into your teaching approach it would go a long way. Good luck!
helloiswill
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am

Re: IB School Interviews (w/o IB experience)

Post by helloiswill »

Hey guys,

Thank you for all your advice. Just and update. I had the interview a few days ago, surprisingly, IB wasn't even a topic that came up during our conversation. The interview was shorter than other ones that I have had so far this season but I think it went well. They asked very standard "teaching" questions. Nothing too specific about my content area or curriculum. I wonder if those sorts of questions would be covered in a second interview. Hopefully, I am lucky enough to find out.. I'll let you know how it goes.
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