A Tale of Two Interviews: Chapter 2

I arrived at the DCPS office building well before my meeting time of 3:00 pm, as the email had threatened I might lose my spot if I were late. After showing my ID and signing in, I rode the elevator up to the 10th floor, two floors below Michelle Rhee's corner office. The receptionist took my name and gave me a bag of propaganda, pens, and a monogrammed sticky pads. I took my seat in the waiting room, next to a man who had driven up from Tallahassee, FL for his interview. I waited, watching an endless stream of interviewees glide in and out of three conference rooms.

Finally, at 3:30 pm a man emerged from one of the rooms and called my name. I shuffled in to find a woman sitting behind a large table and a white board. I put my things down on the table, remarking, "I didn't catch your names"... because no one had introduced themselves. "Oh, we'll get to that later, just get your lesson ready so we can begin."

I wrote 27 X 79 on the board and said, "I'm ready."

Then Rodderick Samuel Jemison Junior introduced himself, as did his female counterpart. Then he hit a time (beep beep beep) and said, "Begin."

I had ten minutes to teach the lattice multiplication method, basically the only thing I could imagine teaching in just ten minutes. I gave them each a Visual Instruction Plan, I SaySeeDoed through each step of the procedure. I worked the problem out on the board as they followed along. It was going perfectly. But when we had each finished the first problem, we all had different answers. Shit. What happened? I checked their work, finding one error in Rodderick Junior's problem. Then the other woman, an elementary school principal, said, "7 X 7 is 49. You put 42." Noooooooo! How did that happen? I know that 7 X 7 is 49 and 7 X 6 is 42. I casually erased my error and moved on, but my mind was focused on figuring out what the hell had happened. Soon I realized that my lesson plan had 26 X 79. I had copied the wrong problem. Shit. And now all they would remember was that I don't know my multiplication facts. (Beep Beep Beeeeeeeep) Times up.

"Now you have one minute to read a case study," Rodderick warned. (Beep Beep Beep) You may begin.

You have a class of 28 students. 18 of them are significantly behind grade level. 5 are on grade level, and 5 are above. 11 have IEPs, though there is little to no support from the special educator, as she is overwhelmed. Most families are completely uninvolved. You have not yet been able to finish a lesson because of disruptive behavior. The principal has declared that she wants all of your students on grade level by June. It is now October. (Beep Beep Beeeeep)

"You now have eight minutes to discuss the case study. You may begin."

I wanted to say, "Are you fucking nuts?" Instead I talked at length about every intervention I might try... And I hoped for the best. (Beep Beep Beeeeep)

I was then given ten minutes to discuss student work, during which the principal was politely engaged, but Mr. Rodderick Junior was slouched in his chair and staring out the small window in the door. Finally, at long last, the timer went off (beep beep beeeeep).

"Thank you for your time. You will be notified in 24 - 48 hours if you have been recommended for hire."

I was done. Thank god. Get me out of here.

26 hours later I received an email notifying me that I had not been recommended for hire. "And 7 X 6 is 42 you idiot" I expected it to say at the bottom.

I can only deduce that God made me mess up my times tables in order to spare me an unfortunate and frustrating future within the DC public school system.