Career Interview Assignment

Student Name: Serena Robinson

Your Major/concentration: Early Childhood Education
Their profession: Early Childhood Education- Michaela Robinson
Interview Date: September 25, 2016
Their place of employment: Sallie Cone Preschool Center
Interview Questions and Answers:
In this area, copy and paste the 10 questions from the preceding page that you chose to ask in
your interview. Include the answers they gave you.
1. Tell me a little about your job.
Michaela has worked in education for seven years with one year experience with
infant/toddler and three years in preschool. Also, she graduated with her Bachelor of
Professional Studies degree in December 2015 and began work at Sallie Cone Preschool
Center for three years.
2. What is the typical entry-level salary in this field?
The typical entry-level salary in the preschool teacher field is between $19,000 to
$20,000 depending on experience and location.
3. What are the educational requirements of the job?
The requirements for preschool teachers are a minimum of a bachelors degree in
education. Paraprofessional or teachers aide is an associates degree or CDA credential.
4. What hours do you normally work (per day/per week)?
The normal work week for Michaela as a preschool teacher is 8 hours such as 8 am to 4
pm.
5. What do you find unique about your career field?
She has 260 preschoolers in 13 classrooms; Their school mission statement is based on
family so once a month, the Sallie Cone Preschool Center meets outside on the school
track or in the school cafeteria to state the pledge, hold hands and wish each other well
and celebrate any special occasions such as a birthday or anything that has happened in
the classroom.
6. What is the best way to obtain a position that will get me started in this occupation?
During the Spring and Summer when people decide to retire or resign for other reasons,
there are jobs available on the Conway Public Schools website.
7. In your opinion, how quickly is this field growing?
Sallie Cone Preschool Center accepts students that meet certain incomes, but preschool
may be a requirement for public schools in the near future.
8. Whats a typical day like for you on the job?
Her day starts off with a morning circle, centers, breakfast and an hour of outdoor play.
The afternoon includes circle time, centers, lunch and nap. After nap, she plays in
centers and ends the day with closing circle time.
9. What kinds of problems or frustrations do you have in your job?

There is not enough time in the day to plan something from the lesson plan without it
overlapping into the next day. For example, Sallie Cone Preschool Center could plan to
go on a field trip to the zoo, but noticed in the lesson plan schedule that they have a
Math test to review over for Thursday.
10. Whats the most rewarding thing about your job/profession?
Michaela offers unconditional love and support to children because you dont know how
their day is going and she feels that she makes a difference in childrens lives.
Interview Reflection:
Answer the following questions pertaining to the information you learned from your interview.
Identify three (3) interesting things you learned about the profession that you did
not already know and tell what your previous assumption was about it (for
instance, if you learned the entry salary for someone in the field is $25,000 but you
thought it was $40,000):
The first thing that I thought was interesting is that the typical entry-level salary for a
preschool teacher is between $19,000 and $20,000 depending on experience and
location. At first, I thought that it was a little higher than that such as between $24,000 to
$26,000. The second thing that I thought was interesting is about the preschool being a
requirement for public schools in the near future. To be honest, I thought that preschool
was already considered part of the public school because in order to be enrolled in
kindergarten, you have to have your shot records up to date and learned about Math,
Science and Literacy. The last thing that I thought was interesting is being able enough
to find jobs as a preschool teacher on the Conway Public Schools website. I thought you
had to go to the preschool such as Sallie Cone to fill out an application for a preschool
teacher, but you can actually search for jobs as a preschool teacher on the Conway
Public Schools website.

Identify two (2) steps you will need to take before or after graduation to be able to enter
into this profession (something other than earn your degree/study hard/make good
gradesIm looking for something you will actually need to physically do): The first step
that I will need to do to become a Preschool Teacher is take all three of my Praxis Teacher Test in
order to obtain a license as a Preschool Teacher. The second step that I need to do is search the
Conway Public Schools website for jobs as a Preschool Teacher which I know that Sallie Cone
Preschool is hiring for teachers aides in the classroom.

Identify one (1) thing you learned from completing the Focus2 Inventory that will help you
decide if this is a good career path for you: I learned from the Preschool Teacher career that it
doesnt matter how big or how small you are, you can still impact and make a difference in a
childs life through providing them with an education and the necessary tools such as a book,
pencil and paper to help them succeed.