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[troegenator]

A job candidate botched a teaching demo. the other day.  One SC member said immediately afterward, "Not a chance in hell that he'll get the job."  Later at lunch a colleague not at the teaching demo. asked the candidate about the class.  The candidate told her that the demo. "went really well."  Unfortunately this candidate will never be told that it was the teaching demo. that killed his chance.

A note to candidates.  If there is anyway to ask the SC for feedback on the teaching demo it may help in the future.  Some schools actually give out evals. for the students to write.  If this is not the case then try to figure out a way you can get some feedback.

[dr_dre]

Were you present at the demonstration? If so, how was it botched? Your impressions might offer some useful insights for folks with upcoming visits.

[crowie]

I strongly agree that it would be helpful for candidates to find a way to get feedback on their performance, but I just want to note that it's possible that the candidate knew that it went badly, but what was he going to say to another member of the department while still on campus? (ie. still being interviewed) "Oh it was awful, I know I botched it, can I go home now?"  The candidate may have been well aware that it went poorly and was just trying to make it through the rest of the day.  Perhaps this suggests, rather, that people who are not at the demo should either a) not ask the candidate how it went or b) (more realistically) ask, for the sake of politeness, but not take the candidate's word for it.

[epistephiliac]

I strongly agree with Crowie that asking a candidate for a self-assessment during an interview verges on cruelty. There is no good answer: if you say it went well, you might come across as arrogant or delusional; if you say it didn't go well, you sound like you lack confidence, and in some cases this answer might come across as criticizing the students or the school; and if you try to give a vague and noncommittal answer, you risk sounding, well, vague. And noncommittal. And possibly unenthusiastic.

[felix_unger]

I have to say that the entire story does not reflect well on the institution. Asking a candidate how it went...well, that might fall under the heading of general lunchtime chitchat. Neither the question nor the reply should be given too much weight. But then criticizing the candidate here for giving a positive, diplomatic answer? And what of the SC member who felt the need to declare (presumably out loud) that there was "not a chance in hell" the candidate would get the job? Seriously? I hope to God this was at least said out of the candidate's earshot, though it had no business being said at all, and certainly not "immediately after" the teaching demo. Sounds like the candidate has no idea what a bullet hu just dodged. 

[msparticularity]

Given the current focus upon reflective teaching, I think asking a candidate to discuss how s/he felt the teaching demo went is not out of line. After all, all of us have good days and not-so-good days; the measure of an individual as a teacher, IMHO, is in what we do with the experiences. I think a SC is quite rightly cautious of an interviewee who is not able to engage in self-assessment. I don't mean that the candidate needed to trash him/herself - just that it is always appropriate to talk frankly about the aspects of the lesson that we thought went well, and those that went less well and what we have learned from that experience.