IMPLEMENTATION REFLECTION
on
INTERVIEWING SKILLS
This lesson is intended for Career Explorations for 8th grade (Middle School). Implementation was a huge success and provided students a different approach to learning and participating in the classroom. Students will participate in brief (5 - 10 minute) mock interviews to develop skills in the interviewing process. Students will work with Audacity, a free, audio editor and recorder to record and edit live audio, cut, copy, and mix sounds together. It will give students the opportunity to listen to themselves as others would hear them. Verbal communication in an interview is a critical element with you getting hired or not. A concern in the school environment is the ability for students to communicate orally and being able to express themselves through voice.
Students learned the importance of oral communication, dialect, and having self confidence. Students also learned how to use Audacity for future use in their educational pathway. In the state of Texas, we follow a curriculum guideline called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or commonly known as TEKS. This is the official K-12 curriculum for the state of Texas and details the curriculum requirements for every course. State-mandated standardized tests measure acquisition of specific knowledge and skills outlined in this curriculum. Using this guideline, students were introduced to the following TEKS:
- 2B - make oral presentations that fulfill specific purposes using appropriate technology
- 4E - effectively use information and communication technology tools
- 7B - describe appropriate appearance for an interview
- 7C - students should make oral presentation
Constraints associated with the lesson is the length of class time at 55 minutes. Students felt rushed to get a good recording answering all interview questions. If students were not able to finish their interview, it was a little difficult to resume where they left off from the previous day.
Students were able to teach and learn from each other with supervision and input from the teacher. Once all instructions were given on how to use Audacity, students were excited about using it. The student behavior was what I thought it would be. It was hard for students to listen to their own recording. This was the first time most of the students heard themselves. Most could not believe that was how their voice was being projected. As a result, students wanted to redo and correct mistakes that they believed they had made.
My lesson plan was intended to supplement and enhance the learning of mock interviews. In the past, students interviewed each other, but had no real evidence of how that did or came across to the interviewer. Modifications were provided for students by allowing note cards to be used and assistance from the teacher with editing Audacity.
Teachers should have an understanding of how interviews works and what interviewers are looking for during the process. Teachers and students need to know the basic use of recording and editing using Audacity. I actively monitored the class to make sure participation from both students were ongoing. During this time I would ask students how everything was going and students provided feedback on what they thought about the interview process and how they felt about answering the questions. Each student was responsible for their own recording and must be able to show me their recording document for me to listen to.
The role of technology is a major part in the lesson. Audacity gives you the advantage of being able to playback your interview and assess your thoughts on the process. Using this type of technology students were able to take ownership of their learning process. Students had basic question about the how the should answer certain interview questions. The technology part of the assignment , the students were motivated to learn that on their own.
At the end of the lesson, students understood how important it is to sound professional during the interview process. Students now understand that they have to be able to communicate with all types of people.
