Essay Sample on Career Interview: Daniel Fernandez

My interviewee is a high school teacher who recently came to our neighborhood. His name is Daniel Fernandez, and he is an English Major. Before moving here, Mr. Fernandez taught at Shawnee High School, New Jersey. He is currently looking for a job here so that he can be closer to his family. However, the current COVID-19 pandemic has derailed him, and he hopes that the pandemic will be over soon so that the school system can resume. The interview took place on 10th July from 8:30 am at ABC restaurant. I wore a grey suit, a white shirt, a red tie, a brown belt, and brown leather shoes. The interviewee was smartly dressed and was very composed during the interview.

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The setting of the interview was relaxing and calm, with a lovely seating arrangement. The seats and the table were very comfortable, and we chose a quiet spot where we would not be disturbed by background noises. This made me concentrate better on the interview and made the interviewee comfortable and relaxed. I started by introducing myself and talking about the purpose of the interview. The purpose of the interview was to understand the field of teaching, the inspiration behind it, the challenges encountered during the teaching process, and the loopholes that need to be addressed in the school curriculum.

Interview data

My research was based on understanding the career of teaching. I wanted to center on how teachers go about their daily routines since I am interested in teaching. I started by asking, "What are the qualifications of being a teacher?" Mr. Fernandez replied, "you need to have at least a bachelor's degree in teaching. In my case, I have a Master's degree in English and Literature, which I acquired at Harvard University." He asked me the subject that I would like to teach, to which I replied that I want to teach Mathematics. Mr. Fernandez explained to me that I need to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. After pursuing this degree, I will be registered by the U.S. Department of Education. After the certification, I will have qualified to be a teacher.

The second question was about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the school system. Mr. Fernandez replied that Covid-19 had caused severe disruptions to students and teachers. He explained that this disruption had delayed his job hunt. He had moved to this neighborhood hoping to get a teaching job in an institution close to his family, but since schools have closed, he cannot get a job as soon as he had hoped. He also explained that many people have resulted in homeschooling, which is a disruption to children's learning and social life and a massive shock to parents' productivity. He went on to explain that teaching and assessments have moved online amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

He maintained that reducing teacher-student contact time and online learning has presented a lot of uncertainty and trial and error for everyone. These interruptions in the learning process will have short-term issues and have long-term impacts on students and increase inequality. The third question was about how he balances work and family. He replied that he sets priorities and plans for things. However, he does not get as much time with his family as he would want to. That is one of the reasons he decided to switch his workplace from New Jersey to here. I enquired about the parts of his career that he finds most enjoyable. Mr. Fernandez replied that the part he likes most about teaching is watching students grow and succeed.

I asked what kind of audience he liked. Fernandez explained that he likes no particular audience. Fernandez preferred an audience with a mixture of different types of people, which helps him gauge himself and see whether he is suitable for any type of audience. The mixed audience also helps him understand what various people are interested in when it comes to the performance of magic.

With a smile on his face, he said that it is never a dull day in his workplace since he has impressive coworkers and students who make him laugh every day. He appreciates the recognition that he receives from the parents of his students as well as his coworkers. I also enquired about some of the challenges he has faced during the teaching career. "First of all, teachers are held more accountable than they should. We teach all the students in the same way, but they're always those who excel better than others. In case one or twos fail, the parents think that the teachers are responsible for the failure." Teachers feel that accountability should be shared equally between them, students, and parents. Being held accountable more than they should usually create a tense environment in the classroom.

The second challenge, as per Mr. Fernandez, is the lack of enough time to plan. He said that he often decry the lack of time needed to prepare for a lesson, plan a lesson, and execute. There aren't enough teachers to tend to the demands of the significant number of students, which makes the available teachers have work overload. He pointed out that the government should employ more teachers to boost efficiency in the education system. Another challenge comes in applying a prescribed curriculum to all students. Mr. Fernandez thinks that students are different. They have different abilities, learn at different speeds, and have different ways of remembering content. There is thus a challenge with applying the same curriculum to students with different needs. Therefore, teachers have to adapt lessons to students and tailor the content to their needs, which takes a lot of time.

I asked Mr. Fernandez about some general advice for someone who wants to be a teacher. He said that being a teacher is a passion. One needs to be patient when dealing with students since they come from different backgrounds and have different abilities. Students will learn and excel, not through the teachers’ pace, but theirs. He maintains that to be a good teacher, I have to find exciting ways to get young people into the mood of learning-to arouse their curiosity. This requires an insightful appreciation of how young people feel, think, and act. The second piece of advice that Mr. Fernandez gave me is that teachers should be good at what is known as classroom management.

Fernandez is always anxious to do his new projects because he loves what he does. The career I very interesting, and through the interview, I discovered that I could not wait to venture into the same field and perhaps add some new tricks and tips to the liking of my audience. The interview ended, and I was grateful to Fernandez for allowing time for the interview and inspiring e to join him in the career one of these days.

Conclusion

Teachers should be able to control what goes on in the class-how students enter the classroom, the seating arrangements, etc. Also, a good teacher should have a good lesson plan with an exciting array of activities to keep the students motivated. Students quickly lose respect for a teacher who cannot effectively control the classroom. The interview ended at 10:30 a.m. I asked him if there is any question that I should have asked but didn't ask, to which he replied that there are a lot of things that entail the teaching career, and I will learn as I pursue it. I thanked him very much for his time, and he agreed to meet me again in case I had further questions.