One of the main parts of a school interview is the practice lesson plan.  It is a place where you can really show the interview team what you can do.  For the interview team it is what they will remember most, so it is important to do it well.  Below are 7 ideas for creating a lesson that will show the team that you can manage all parts of the teaching process.

Before the lesson

1. Choose a topic: If you are lucky, they will provide you with a topic or specific skill to teach. But if they don’t choose a topic that can be understood no matter what time of the year it is.  If you are applying for an English teaching position you might choose a unique skill strategy that you know or a topic like grammar that can be taught any time during the year.  Don’t worry if the topic is boring because that is just an opportunity for you to make it interesting.  In fact, if you can make it interesting then the more boring the better.  If I were evaluating a lesson on a boring topic and the teacher made it interesting, that would be a sign that the teacher could make other boring topics interesting and engaging.

2. Simplicity: Don’t require a lot of materials or technology.  You won’t have a lot of time so you don’t want to spend it providing handouts or messing around with activities that detract from the actual lesson delivery.  It is important that you know how to use technology in the classroom but this is your one and only chance to leave an impression.  If the internet doesn’t work or you aren’t familiar with the classroom technology, it could wreck the lesson.  If you do need materials or technology, make sure you have backup plans.  Also, ask ahead of time about the resources that will be available to you but the less you need from the interviewers, the better.

The Lesson

3.  Get to know the students: Plan a way to get to know the students.  It is easy to forget about this because you have been focused on the lesson but these kids don’t know you.  And you don’t know them.  If you want to be able to call on them, it would be nice to know their names.  Plan something that isn’t too time consuming but plan something that introduces you to them and them to you.  Even if you only remember the names of two students, you may be able to use that to call on them at some point showing a connection.

4. The hook: You want those observing to be able to see your ability in every aspect of the lesson.  Make sure you provide a hook in the beginning and state your learning goal.   Simple hooks that don’t require any materials or technology can be fine.  Ask a probing or open ended question related to the learning goal to get kids thinking.  Or provide a shocking statistic that can lead into your lesson.  Telling a short story or providing an analogy can be a way to hook students.  Surveying students by having them give “thumbs up” “thumbs down” responses is quick and can get students thinking about the topic.  Getting students writing is a great way to both hook and show that this is a regular part of your teaching.  Remember that writing does require materials.  If kids have to get materials to participate, it can break up the lesson.  You should bring index cards and writing utensils with you if you plan to have students write.

5. The meat of the lesson: Make sure your lesson flows from one activity to the next easily.  Keep your talking to a minimum and keep the kids actively engaged and doing something at all times.  There shouldn’t be wait time or transitions breaking up the activities.   After you present the lesson material (briefly), provide practice time for students.  They should be talking, working in pairs or small groups and possibly moving.  “Talk to you neighbor” is an easy way to get kids talking.  “Think”, “Pair”, “Share” is another easy strategy that gets kids talking.  A simple strategy for getting kids up and moving might be to have students organize themselves by opinion in different places in the room.  For example, students who agree with a particular statement would organize themselves together and those who disagree would organize themselves together.

6.  The conclusion: This is an important piece of the lesson and could easily be missed especially if you have a very short amount of time.  Do a quick assessment of the learning goal.  An “exit ticket” is an easy but quick way to do this.  Ask a question that would tell you if students achieved the learning goal and have them write down the answer.  Collect these responses as the assessment.  You could also give a short quiz.  Assessing with some kind of oral response is another option.  This gives the observers the opportunity to see how successful you were immediately.  You don’t get this with a written assessment so you should offer the observers the assessment at the end of the lesson.  I know this is risky because what if the students haven’t achieved the objective? It is a necessary risk and why it is so important to carefully plan every aspect of the lesson.

7. Classroom management: One final aspect to consider is classroom management.  Be familiar with the school rules and policies.   The likelihood that a student will act out is probably not that great but if it happens then you should know how the school deals with those situations.  Students will probably follow the rules and expectations of the classroom you are in but you really don’t know how much control the current teacher has or what their expectations are so be prepared to have your own expectations.  For example, if you see that students have cell phones, Ipads or other technology, you may want to set some expectations around this before you begin.  You could request that students put them away or shut them before you start.  Make sure you demonstrate a presence by being confident.  Do not talk over students, stop and wait for their attention.  Don’t be overly strict but it is a good idea to show the observers that you can set boundaries while still maintaining positive relationships with the students.

Spend a lot of energy on this part of the interview because a solid lesson can leave a lasting impression.  Write out a script for the lesson parts and the instructions that go with them and practice your lesson.  Video yourself giving lesson instructions and watch the video.  I assure you this will be well worth the effort.  Take some risks and be creative because the more memorable your lesson is, the more memorable you will be.  If you are interested in more about new teacher topics, check out my course on hacking your 1st year.