Preschool Teacher

► Learn about the school history, the mission statement, organization structure and teaching philosophy. You can review its website.

► Search information about needed proofs for this job interview.

► Find out if the school is known by parents or students on other sites. You can read on-line and newspaper sources.

► Know the most common questions before going to the interview.

► Practice a mock interview with a friend until you feel comfortable.

► Ask questions about the school and your future job responsibilities. Keep in mind that an interview is a two-way process. They want to know about you and you want to learn about them.

► Dress comfortably and appropriately. Business Casual is recommended for job interviews. For women, long fingernails and high heels are not a good idea for a preschool teaching job.

► Be early at the interview and have a copy of your resume.

► Demonstrate a friendly attitude and extend your hand in greeting to the interviewer.

► Allow genuine enthusiasm to emerge when meeting the director and staff.

► Ask for a tour around the school.

► Listen carefully the questions and respond appropriately.

► Ask permission to take notes in the interview.

► Make questions and positive observations of the school and talk about how you will contribute at the school.

► Let the interviewer know your interest in the job. After the interview, consider sending a brief thank you note as a follow-up.

► Consider attending a club of speaker to improve for interviews and parent interaction.

It’s typical for interviewers to make this request at the start of the meeting. They want to know what you consider important enough to mention. It is difficult to know just how much to say, because you want to highlight all your abilities and experiences but avoid rambling on. Definitely prepare this answer beforehand, so that you are not randomly recalling résumé bullet points on the spot and debating which ones to bring up. Restate your name, your certification, and the school you attended. Talk about the teaching experiences you consider important and relevant (student teaching counts!), and end with a short sentence about the reasons you want to teach in this particular school.

This is a tough one since the way of disciplining classrooms or students vary according to each teacher. It’s important that you stay apprised of on-going discourses regarding effective classroom disciplining in order to keep your teaching methods up to date. But the most important reason for having an answer in a case like this is to answer the question without offending anyone but also showing your effective teaching ability. The interviewer is asking this question to get a sense of who you are as a teacher, and whether or not you are prepared when it comes to disciplining students. Knowing the school district’s mission statement or discipline philosophy in advance will help you to answer this question best, so that you do not say anything out of line, but you must also remain honest to your own goals as a teacher. A good balance of these two elements will be the best answer. Try to provide a real scenario where you had to exercise discipline and it had an effective result. Explain why you felt that this course of action was best, and how it worked out for the student(s).

As a preschool teacher, you must be prepared for children that will misbehave. Explain to the interviewer how you would handle such a situation.

"Preschoolers are on the learning curve of distinguishing between right and wrong so I feel as though light reprimandation is adequate. As their teacher, it is my job to inform and help guide them. If a behavioral problem does arise, I typically put the child in time out. It's extremely crucial that parents are on board with my route of disciplinary action . Also, time out gives the child the opportunity to calm down and reflect on his or her misbehavior. After about five or so minutes, I would have a one-on-one discussion with the child about why they were removed from the group and how to make a better choice next time around."

The interviewer is probably not looking for the play-by-play of how you would organize your preschooler's day, but rather a brief overview of the types of activities you would provide the students. For example, I believe that the preschool day should have a balance of indoor and outdoor, quiet and noisy, and small group, individual and large group activities. I would like to open the day with a large group activity to discuss the plan for the day and then move on to small group centers. I would plan for at least two outdoor playtimes each day, weather permitting, and close with another quiet large group activity before dismissal. I think it's most important to be flexible about schedules as a preschool teacher, though. If the children are engaged in an activity, I would have no problem continuing it and reworking the daily schedule to allow for these things.

You may be surprised to hear this question in an interview, but it is something a director or principal will be concerned about. Often, the director is unable to be involved in the day to day happenings of every classroom in the school and may be unaware of an irate parent situation. Answer honestly, and take this opportunity to show off your professionalism. For example, "I would ask the parent to speak privately, either by leaving the room or asking them to call me at the end of the day, as I wouldn't want the children to see me having a heated discussion with a parent. I would do my best to answer the parent's questions and explain any situation they may have an issue with. As a last resort, I would speak to the director or assistant director if I were having trouble communicating with the parent."

Discuss how you speak to the children involved, explore the reason for the bad behavior, show them the difference between right and wrong, guide and help the children towards appropriate behavior. Detail the types of discipline you use. Support why you use these methods.

"I prefer to use time out with preschool children. It gives the child time to cool off and reflect on what he or she has done. After a couple of minutes of being removed from the group I discuss the misbehavior with the child and provide guidance for selecting the right response or behavior the next time"

This is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of child development :

"Children who behave aggressively at this age are often unable to verbalize their feelings because they lack the language skills."