Maths Teacher

☛ What qualities do you feel are most important for a teacher to have?

☛ What role do state and national standards play in your classroom teaching?

☛ What grade do you enjoy teaching the most?

☛ What are the state standards for the grade you hope to teach and how will you incorporate them into your teaching?

☛ What are the developmental needs and characteristics of children in this grade?

☛ What subject are you passionate about and how will you share your enthusiasm with your students?

☛ What would we see if we walked into your classroom?

☛ Describe your style of teaching and give examples.

☛ What are your expectations for your students?

☛ What current reading and math instructional practices are you comfortable using?

☛ How often will your students be actively involved in cooperative learning?

☛ Describe your use of auditory, visual, and hands-on teaching techniques.

☛ What do you consider your greatest teaching accomplishment?

☛ Share an example of a successful lesson or learning activity that you created and used.

☛ Discuss a classroom situation or lesson that did not go as well as you would have liked, and what you did about it.

☛ How do you gain and maintain student attention?

☛ What kind of relationship do you want to foster with your students?

☛ What do you do to motivate a student who is failing, just getting by, or who is below grade level?

☛ How do you differentiate instruction?

☛ How do you improve student reading comprehension and test scores?

☛ What are some challenges that you think you would face?

☛ Describe your ability to use technology and how you would integrate it into your teaching.

☛ How do you address the various learning styles of your students?

☛ How do you go about teaching something that is not your strength?

☛ What are your thoughts about team teaching?

☛ What resources in the community have you used or do you plan to use in your teaching?

☛ In what ways do you personally evaluate your teaching?

☛ What are some educational issues or trends that relate to elementary teaching?

☛ What experience have you had working with at-risk and/or low income students?

☛ If an aide was provided, how would you utilize him/her?

☛ How do you minimize conflict in your classroom?

☛ What are your classroom rules and how are they established?

☛ What routines or procedures would you use and how would you introduce them to your students?

☛ How do you acknowledge students who are following the rules?

☛ How do you help students develop problem solving skills?

☛ What approach to classroom management has worked for you?

☛ What would you do if your management plan did not work?

☛ Explain how your past experiences will help you manage classroom behavior.

☛ Do you use tangible rewards?

☛ What is your approach to discipline and how do you maintain it?

☛ Give an example of how you would handle a peer conflict.

☛ What do you see as the greatest problem you may have regarding classroom discipline?

☛ What role should the principal play in classroom discipline?

☛ What role should parents play in classroom discipline?

☛ Describe the toughest discipline situation that you have encountered and how you handled it.

☛ What steps would you take if a student continually disrupted your class?

☛ What would you do if the student exhibited serious misbehavior such as throwing things or threatening to hurt a child or you?

☛ When did you decide to become a teacher and why?

☛ Tell us about yourself, your background, and your experience working with children.

☛ Describe yourself using five adjectives.

☛ Describe how your academic training and work related experiences qualify you for this position.

☛ What do you think sets you apart from other applicants?

☛ What strengths do you have that would assist you in being a successful teacher?

☛ Name two areas of weakness that you are working to improve.

☛ What special skills, talents, or knowledge will you bring to our school?

☛ What concerns do you have about your student teaching experience or your last teaching position?

☛ In what ways did a professor or supervising teacher influence your teaching?

☛ How do you handle stress?

☛ What have you learned about yourself in the past few months?

☛ If you had not chosen teaching as a career, what career would you have chosen?

☛ What do you think your students would say about you?

☛ Discuss your favorite book or author.

☛ What have you read that contributes to your teaching success?

☛ Describe a hobby or interest.

☛ On what teams and/or in what clubs have you participated?

☛ How do you see yourself involved in community and/or in school activities?

☛ Describe your fluency in a language other than English.

☛ Relate a situation when you used “people skills.”

☛ What professional conferences have you attended?

☛ How does this position fit with your career goals?

☛ What other credentials are you interested in pursuing?

☛ Is there anything else that you want us to know about you?

What is critical to communicate in your response to this question is your understanding of the importance of parental involvement and how you always encourage participation to strengthen student-teacher-parent relationships. (Grandparents can also be encouraged to
participate.) Talk about some of the things that parents can volunteer to do in the classroom, such as: reading with students, preparing project materials, creating bulletin
boards, sorting materials, setting up learning centers, hanging up students’ work, etc. 



Parental involvement means much more than just attending parent-teacher interviews. You must set goals to keep the parents abreast of what is going on in the classroom. You
can communicate that information and ask for volunteers through weekly or bi-weekly newsletters. You might inform parents when you are starting a new unit or specific
projects and make sure they clearly understand the homework assignments each week. Make sure that parents are invited to any momentous or appropriate events. 



You should contact or speak to parents not just when a child is having difficulty, but also when they are doing well. Tell the hiring panel that you will call parents and send notes home complimenting students on good behavior. Also mention that you try to recruit bilingual parents to help with communication as necessary. 



Let the hiring committee know that you coach parents on how they can help their child succeed academically. You may have read some resource book(s) to gain ideas that you
could implement. If so, let the panel know. Holding a parent appreciation lunch or tea to acknowledge those who have helped in the classroom is a great idea. Consider
attending some of the PTA meetings. If your portfolio contains any past newsletters or parental communication letters, make sure you show these to the panel.





☛ Regular parent’s conference: One-to-one contact is the best way to communicate with parents. In a conference, teacher need to discuss the student progress and any concern parents has about the student

☛ Use technology: Teacher should post about assignment, project due dates and event information on their school website so parents can be aware of the latest updates and events going on the school. Providing an e-mail is another effective way to communicate with parents

☛ Open House: Encourage parents to participate as classroom volunteers, and become a member of parent teacher organization. Open house is another medium to keep parents updated with essential information they will need throughout the year

☛ Monthly Newsletter: It is an easy way to keep parents informed about their child progress. Newsletter includes information like school events, assignment due dates, monthly goals, volunteer opportunities, etc.

☛ Teacher should not humiliate student, especially in front of others

☛ They should not judge a student on the basis of their academic records and marking

☛ Teacher should not give low grade to the student due to their personal strife

☛ Teacher should not ask the student to cover everything on their own, when they miss a class; their assistance is required

☛ Teacher should not look students grasping power as an equal to his/her, and expect them to learn everything real quick

☛ Teacher should not teach a lesson as if he/she teaching to himself. He must involve students by taking small breaks in between lessons and ask them if they needed any help

☛ Teacher should not try to dominant student, in fact; they should remain calm and be at receiving end

☛ Teacher should not be over-demanding and understand the potential of the fellow student before allotting any task

Here is a possible answer for this question.

I love education. I think that it is imperative to be a lifelong learner when one is a teacher. I plan to continue my education by (fill in this blank with your own plans). 

Technology continues to evolve into a strategic part of education. Tablet PCs and hand held devices are the newest gadgets on the market for students to use; the internet is
an incredible resource. Technology provides interactive, individualized learning experiences, increasing student engagement and efficiency – in safer and more secure
schools.

Multiculturalism and securing equal opportunities for all are important themes in education.

And, of course, teaching to state standards to upgrade student academic progress is very important.





This question tests how well you will manage the classroom. The philosophy is that the more organized you are, the more well-run your classroom will be. Don’t give the panel just a few words… they may be using a checklist to see how many items you mention. Plus, as a teacher, you should be very excited about this question and be able to speak for a while, but limit the response to two minutes.



Your response must provide them with an idea of how nurturing and inviting your classroom will be to students. Come up with some creative decorating ideas, making sure
they are student-centered. You could also mention a huge welcome sign, the daily schedule, age-appropriate posters, name tags for students, labeled desks (how will they be
arranged?) and lockers, a list of class rules/consequences/rewards, and other labeled areas (e.g., the classroom library, manipulative storage, computer area), etc. Or, mention that you might invite parents and students to visit the classroom the day before school
starts, with the administrator’s permission. If you have a portfolio with have pictures of other first days of school, this is a great chance to share them with the panel.



Next, make it clear that you will have organized the textbooks, your lesson plan book, your grade book and other materials well before school begins. Mention several
activities you might include during the first day of school, including an ice-breaker, a trip to the restrooms, and a fun art project.



The real key to this question is to show your enthusiasm, passion, excellent organizational skills, and how you will create a warm and captivating environment in which students will feel safe, where learning will be maximized, so that children will look forward to coming to school each day.