The first thing I can think of about what makes effective Middle School teachers is that they have to want to be in Middle School. Some teachers use MS positions as jumping-off points to HS positions. MS kids can tell when you'd rather be somewhere else, and they don't appreciate it.

The interviewer likely knows this. Emphasize how you want to work with MS kids. That puts you in the firm minority and might give you a leg up on others who are just so-so on the idea of middle school.

Hope that helps. Good luck!!

So how did it go?

Hi Jennifer. I was wondering if your students would be interested in participating in a nationwide SAT Vocab Video Contest @ MIT university. If not, perhaps you have some other educator contacts you could direct me to. You can view contest details at BrainyFlix.com Please let me know. Thanks!