1. From the Director’s Chair
Hiring a Kindergarten Teacher

2. The Hiring Process
Having to hire a kindergarten teacher is no easy task. The process is long. The
list of qualified candidates who will work for $14.oo per hour is short. The
interviews are grueling. The interview alone takes one to two hours. The
questions are chosen carefully and encompass items about DAP and, “Reveal
who the candidate is both professionally and personally” while explaining the
school’s philosophy (Gordon 2006 p 6). Plus, the parents of the school feel as if
they get to have the deciding vote. The hiring process is not for the weak of
heart or the faint. It’s rather tedious and has to be squeezed in among the other
duties a director does on a daily basis. Sometimes the worst of days fall on
those scheduled interviews and you must smile, shake it off, and listen for full
understanding of the candidate while your mind is elsewhere.

3. The Role of a Kindergarten Teacher
There are many daily pressures on a kindergarten teacher (Stipek & Byler
1997). From teaching the students the common core standards to making sure
they bloom socially, the kindergarten teacher must learn to perform a
balancing act to keep the room, students, and parents in harmony (Stipek &
Byler 1997). The role that this person will play, in my center alone, is of vital
importance. The kindergarten teacher is the last stop on a student's path at my
school. Due to this, for its financial and long term success, the school must
make sure that this teacher imparts a great foundational imprint on any child
that leaves this program. We want the students to be lifetime lovers of learning
and the parents to be happy with the program.

4. What does a kindergarten teacher look like?
In order for our students to have a successful learning journey at my center, the kindergarten teacher
must embrace many qualities. He or she must be outstanding, warm and fuzzy, sociable,
knowledgeable, have a sense of humor, trust his/her colleagues, and possess a passion for educating
young minds. This teacher must be excellent as defined by Copple & Bredekamp (2009 p 33-50).
The criteria of excellence is as follows:
● Teach Intentionally
● Make a learning community that cares
● Amplify the learning and development of children
● Use many strategies to guide the students
● Scaffold all learning
● Purposefully use learning strategies
● Plan lessons to attain important goals
● Use assessments that are age appropriate
● Build a relationship with the families
● Have passion for the joy of learning

5. What I look for during the working interview
The candidate starts the lesson with a group meeting that involves a greeting, group participation, and
respectful interactions (Bickart, Jablon, and Dodge 1997).
The candidate started the lesson with a handshake
greeting and introduced herself. She then asked the
students what animals hatched. When students called
out she gently reminded them to raise their hand and
once they did she would call on them. The candidate
then passed around a plastic egg. She asked the
students to make guesses as to what could grow in an
egg so small. The last child to examine the egg
brought it back to the candidate and was allowed to
open it to find the answer.

6. What I look for during the working interview
The candidate asks age appropriate questions (open-ended and closed) during a read aloud to attain
comprehension skills and introduces new vocabulary to students to enhance learning (Bickart, Jablon,
and Dodge 1997).
The candidate read a book about chickens. She would
read each page and ask the students questions
pertaining to the information posed. On this
particular page she asked the students why they
thought the baby chickens had different colored
feathers when compare to their mom.

7. What I look for during the working interview
The candidate allows the students to help during the plan activity by giving them assigned jobs
After the read aloud, the candidate
explained the next activity. She
asked for volunteers to help set up
the activity and pass out supplies.

8. What I look for during the working interview
The activity includes more than one academic domain- scientific thinking, art, language, math, etc.
(Hart, Burts & Charlesworth 1997)
The candidate taught the
students a song about the
lifecycle of a chicken, she had the
students organize pictures of the
lifecycle and glue them to their
own egg, as well as use picture
props to discuss the features a
chicken has as a way to review
and expand the new vocabulary
she introduced.

9. What I look for during the working interview
Candidate concludes the lesson with a closing meeting (Bickart, Jablon, and Dodge 1997).
The candidate
closed the
lesson with a
meeting that
was
interactive
and recapped
the main goal
of the lesson.

10. How will I know if they are the right fit?
Theoretically, if a candidate displays all the aforementioned qualities then
he/she must be the right person for the job. As I stated in the beginning, there
is pressure on the kindergarten teacher, but there is also pressure on the
director. Having a bad hire as a new director makes others have the wrong
perception.
In my short career as a new director I already had one bad hire. The candidate
had a master’s degree in special education, had 30 hours of professional
development since the start of the school year, and had many glowing
recommendations from the schools where she had student taught. She also did
fabulously in both the oral and working interview.

11. It was a blessing in disguise when she took another job earlier this year. She was only with us for a
short while, but the damage was done and the parents were upset. Mind you this person was only in
the school from 3:00-6:00pm every day. So, you can only imagine what she had said and done to cause
such turmoil. I do not know if my career reputation can handle another. After all, I do not want this to
happen when the hiring is said and done.

12. How I will ultimately decide
The person I hire will, “Influence the direction of my program for years to
come” (Gordon 2006 p 6). This notion will help to define my answer. Do I want
a person who has years of expertise but set in their ways? Do I want someone
who is relatively new and can be molded into an outstanding teacher over time?
Do I want someone who is very creative yet not organized? Is it worth training a
person new to the field who might leave at the end of the year or worse the
middle of the year to go to a job with higher pay? Is that person worth the effort
it takes?
In order to make my decision I must plan for the future of my center. I must
decide the goals of my center and project how we will achieve those goals. I
must also decide what success for those goals will look like. When I have all of
that figured out then I can decide who I will hire.

13. References
Bickart, T., Jablon, J., and Trister Dodge, D. (1999). Building the primary curriculum: A complete guide to teaching and
learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
BYUTelevision (Studio C) (2013, November 4). Worst teacher ever. (Video file). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K72dRv5ejIc
Copple,C. & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs
serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young
Children.
Gordon, J. (2006). Eight interview questions to help you know who you are hiring. Exchange May/June. 6-8. Retrieved
from http://www.childcareexchange.com/resources/view_article.php?article_id=5016906
Hart, C. H., Burts, D. C., & Charlesworth, R. (1997). Integrated developmentally appropriate curriculum. Integrated
curriculum and developmentally appropriate practice: Birth to age eight.
Stipek, D. J., & Byler, P. (1997). Early childhood education teachers: Do they practice what they preach?. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 12(3), 305-325.