Saturday, October 22, 2016

Most Challenging Discipline Problem

You can almost “bet the farm” that you’ll get asked one or two discipline-related questions in any interview.  The principal or interviewer wants to know how you handle one of the “constants” in the life of any classroom teacher.  Here's one of the most frequently asked questions: 

     Tell me about your most challenging discipline problem.

     A:   That would be Derek!  In a word, Derek was unmotivated.  He could care less about history and he could care less about life in general.  For Derek, everything was boring.  In a conversation I had with him I discovered that he loved stock cars and probably knew more about stock cars than most of the people who raced them.  One day I brought in a photo of my brother’s stock car and showed it to Derek.  His face lit up like a Christmas tree!  I arranged for Derek and my brother to meet after school one day and the two of them couldn’t stop talking for hours – stock cars, stock cars, stock cars!  From then on I had his attention.  He and I worked out a simple behavior plan – he’d do a certain amount of homework or a class assignment and in return he’d earn some points.  The ultimate reward was the opportunity to work the pits at one of my brother’s races at Williams Grove Speedway.  I never saw a student change so much as Derek.  His final project for the course was on the history of stock car racing.  It was phenomenal!  Nobody had taken the time to find out what Derek was all about…but when we did he was a changed person.
In response to the question, you should provide a specific example and show how you addressed the issue with specific details.  Never talk in generalities on matters of discipline; demonstrate with specific details and specific examples how you dealt with an issue. 
 
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