Has anyone ever taken one of these? two of the schools i am applying to require you to take them...one on the phone one on the computer. I have heard only bad things about these. What makes it hard? what types of questions are asked?
I've taken two before and done extremely well both times....don't sweat it! Are the people telling you it's hard because it was hard for them or do they think you will have difficulty? The questions really just test your professionalism in various situations as well as your understanding of "common sense" judgement situations involving the job. As long as you were well
prepared to teach and you feel confident in your
abilities as a teacher, you should be fine. People do well on this insight test all the time....why shouln't you? Trust me...if you don't do well on it, you wouldn't have been a good fit for their school system anyway so it saves you the trouble of accepting a job that wasn't right for you. Remember, you want to work for a school district that you want to be at not just some school that will give you a job! You'll be fine!!!
I took this last year before I could be accepted into my certification program. Mine was computer based and I remember mine being all multiple choice and the answers on a scale like strongly disagree to strongly agree or something like never to always.I remember it being long and I think you only had like a minute to answer each one so you want to make sure you are not interrupted. That was not a problem but I day dreamed on one and missed answering it. ANYWAY......
A lot of my questions were similar- almost like they were trying to see how truthfully or consistently I was answering them. If you've ever taken one of those personality tests, it was like that. A few examples
I think it is very important to have humor in every lesson.
then later it might ask something similar like...
I try to incorporate humor whenever possible.
I think it is important for my student to know me personally,
then later I got things like this
I see no problem with my students knowing whether I am sad or happy.
Sometimes I let my students know what problems I am having outside of school so they know I am human too.
When I compare myself to other teachers I am
much worse to much better spectrum
I never put any extreme unless it was very obvious that I knew what they were looking for...Like "some kids will just never get it so at times you have to just quit trying"
Oh and then there were some that dealt with honesty and bending rules....
I don't remember anything that was specifically related to content. It was really more of a personality type thing. It wasn't hard at all it was just that I wanted to say "yes but" on a lot of them.
Good memory! It WAS exactly like that....needless to say....it wasn't memorable for me so I must not have stressed it much. It did ask the same questions repeatedly and worded differently and the scale was strange to get used to but it WAS just like lemonhead said! Good Job!!
so pretty much you aren't trying to say what you think is right...you are saying what you think "highly effective" teachers say...they sound terrible...the questions you gave examples for make me confused...I think you should try to incorporate humor into your lessons, but not all the time...it is not necessary...so what answer are they looking for and I talk with my kids about my life...but not everything I am sad about...I would hate to not get an interview because of a test
so pretty much you aren't trying to say what you think is right...you are saying what you think "highly effective" teachers say...they sound terrible...the questions you gave examples for make me confused...I think you should try to incorporate humor into your lessons, but not all the time...it is not necessary...so what answer are they looking for and I talk with my kids about my life...but not everything I am sad about...I would hate to not get an interview because of a test
It happened to me. I thought I had a job until I took the stupid test. I felt like many of the questions needed clarification. I have taught many kids over the years, but because of the test I wasn't considered a highly effective teacher. I took another one the other day and answered the way I thought the school district might want me to answer. I haven't heard yet how I did. One teacher said she took it several times and sometimes she passed and sometimes she didn't.
A link that helped me was:http://www.careercenter.ilstu.edu/do...viewThemes.pdf
Someone previously on the forum said to answer with Strongly agree or strongly disagree. And remember it is all about the kids.
One school I was interested in didn't interview me for one social studies position but did offer to interview for an adult ed position, so I suppose I didn't do terribly or they would not have considered interviewing me for anything.
But, I despise the Teacher Insight.
I have an excellent teacher philosophy, but being a person who thought the "well sometimes that would be okay"...humor etc....when doing the test I just don't know how well I did.
I made sure I did not put the middle on anything and had a clear opinion..lots of strongly agrees and disagrees etc.
I have an excellent teacher philosophy, but being a person who thought the "well sometimes that would be okay"...humor etc....when doing the test I just don't know how well I did.
I made sure I did not put the middle on anything and had a clear opinion..lots of strongly agrees and disagrees etc.
And then I did the opposite --never strong one way or the other unless obvious answer. I was afraid I would look opinionated or unfleixble.
I did get accepted into my teaching program but that is not a JOB!
I'm going to see if I can find more info out...stay tuned
ABK327- please dont stress about it. You are exactly right-it IS what high quality teachers do. It's all about the kids, being in it for the long haul and doing what it takes.
Here's a little that might help and use that link above...I think it lists the 10 or 12 areas that are key. (My adobe reader so I can't check it)
The polling organization's open-ended and multiple-choice questions are designed to determine whether teaching applicants have such qualities as a sense of mission, empathy, innovation, focus and the ability to develop good rapport with students.
To test an applicant's sense of mission, for example, one Teacher Insight question is: "Why did you want to become a teacher?"
To explore an applicant's empathy, the program includes situations like this one:
"After school, you come across a student whom you know who is crying. He's 16 years old. You ask him what is the matter, and he says he was caught cheating. What would you do?" (I remember this one- the answers were like 1) tell him stealing is wrong 2) call his parents 3) remind him he is a good kid that made a bad choice and something else)
How TeacherInsight works:
1. Candidates answer multiple-choice and open-ended questions online using a 5-point Likert scale.
Questions focus on three areas:
• Teaching philosophy - To what extent is there a mission to teach, to what extent is teaching not a job,
but a mission, a calling?
• Relationships - How does the candidate create relationships with colleagues, students and parents?
• Instructional approaches - Does the candidate see a class or a group of individuals?
2. Candidates’ answers are compared to Gallup’s pool of 400 high-quality teachers, identified nationally by teachers, principals and parents and a percentile ranking (0-99) is calculated based on his/her predicted potential for teaching success.
3. Candidates’ scores are reported directly to the district’s central office databases where they are available to principals and Employee Services staff, but not to candidates or anyone else in the district.
