Teaching Assistantship Interview for MFA Programs?

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Hi everyone,

 

I've sent out fourteen applications for MFA programs (fiction) this cycle and have since heard back from four: two acceptances, two rejections. The schools accepting me want to interview me over the phone for teaching assistantships. These are imperative for my enrollment. I attended a master's program at Vanderbilt and worry about taking on more debt, so being funded well is the number one priority in determining a school. 

 

They want to talk to me about my thoughts on teaching and relevant experience I have. While I've never taught a semester course, I do have experience working in universities and schools (as a writing tutor, as a chaplain and as someone who managed a tutoring center) and I also have experience teaching workshops, serving as a panelist in educational forums and teaching church classes. 

 

I'm mainly worried about the "thoughts on teaching" part. Seems pretty broad. I've never written out my own pedagogy. Any advice for what to say and not to say in these interviews?