Teacher

☛ 1. First, tell us a little bit about yourself. (Almost every teacher interview begins this way.)

☛ 2. Describe your college experiences.

☛ 3. Tell us about your experiences working with students at this age level.

☛ 4. Describe your philosophy of teaching?

☛ 5. Why do you want to become a teacher?

☛ 6. List three of your strengths your strengths and explain each one.

☛ 7. Describe three of your weaknesses as a teacher.

☛ 8. In what ways do you encourage creativity in your classroom?

☛ 9. Tell us about a lesson in which you've used differentiated instruction.

☛ 10. How do you teach kids to utilize higher-order thinking skills in your classroom?

☛ 11. What do you do to prepare your students for state or standardized tests?

☛ 12. Do you make learning fun for students? How?

☛ 13. If I walked into your classroom on a typical afternoon, what would I see going on?

☛ 14. How do you measure student performance in your classroom?

☛ 15. Describe a successful lesson. Tell why it was successful.

☛ 16. What would you do if a student wasn't handing her homework on a regular basis?

☛ 17. How much homework do you give?

☛ 18. Besides lecture, what methods of teaching do you use?

☛ 19. Tell us about your discipline philosophy.

☛ 20. What are your classroom rules? How do you make students familiar with the rules?

☛ 21. What daily or weekly routines would be incorporated in your teaching?

☛ 22. One student hits another student. What do you do?

☛ 23. A student throws a pencil across the room. What do you do?

☛ 24. Explain what you would do if a student was swearing in your class?

☛ 25. What would you do if a student was complaining about an assignment you've given?

☛ 26. What would you do if a parent complained about an assignment?

☛ 27. Describe some methods of "positive reinforcement" that you might use in your classroom.

☛ 28. Would you describe yourself as a "tough" teacher or an "understanding" teacher? Explain.

☛ 29. How would you create a behavior modification for a student with ongoing behavior problems?

☛ 30. What are some ways you can avoid behavior problems?

☛ 31. Without giving any names, describe the most challenging student you've ever taught.

☛ 32. What would you do to calm an angry parent?

☛ 33. Do you have an example of a parent newsletter that you can show us?

☛ 34. In what ways do you communicate with parents on a regular basis?

☛ 35. A parent calls you because they are worried about their child's low grades. What would you say to the parent?

☛ 36. A parent writes a note and tells you that their daughter could not complete their homework assignment because she had a dance recital the night before. What do you do?

☛ 37. How do you keep parents informed of their childs' progress?

☛ 38. How do you use technology to enrich your lessons?

☛ 39. How computer literate are you?

☛ 40. Do you think it is appropriate for children in school to be using the Internet?

☛ 41. Give an example of a time when you've worked on a team.

☛ 42. Describe one time when you've acted as a leader.

☛ 43. How do you feel about team-teaching?

☛ 44. What can you do for a student that is extremely gifted?

☛ 45. Describe a gifted student.

☛ 46. How would you recommend a child for special education services?

☛ 47. Most classes have students with a wide-range of reading abilities. What can you do to meet the needs of students with high reading abilities and low reading abilities at the same time?

☛ 48. Tell us a little about your student teaching experiences.

☛ 49. What is your least favorite age/grade/subject to teach? Explain.

☛ 50. What is your favorite age/grade/subject to teach? Explain.

☛ 51. What are some of the most important things you learned when student teaching?

☛ 52. What was the most satisfying moment throughout your student teaching?

☛ 53. What was the most frustrating thing about student teaching?

☛ 54. Describe one college course that taught you the most about being a good teacher.

☛ 55. Who influenced you to become a teacher?

☛ 56. Describe the biggest challenge you've ever had to face.

☛ 57. What books are you currently reading?

☛ 58. A student confides in you and tells you that his parent abuses him. He asks you not to tell anyone. What do you do?

☛ 59. What is your definition of a life-long learner? How can you promote life-long learning in your classroom?

☛ 60. Would you be willing to help out with extra-curricular activities? Which ones?

☛ 61. Have you ever been a substitute teacher in this school district?

☛ 62. What do you look for in a principal?

☛ 63. How do you communicate with administrators?

☛ 64. Would you like to be part of our new teacher mentor program?

☛ 65. What kinds of inservices would you be eager to attend?

☛ 66. List five adjectives that accurately describe yourself.

☛ 67. What professional teaching organizations do you belong to?

☛ 68. Have you ever received an award for anything in your lifetime? Describe.

☛ 69. Describe the differences between a good teacher and a great teacher?

☛ 70. What were you like as a student?

☛ 71. If you teach a lesson and your students don't seem to be "getting it," what do you do?

☛ 72. How do you provide support for students who are not performing as well as they should?

☛ 73. What can you do to meet the needs of students who do not speak English?

☛ 74. In what ways can you teach students to be accepting of one-another?

☛ 75. How would you teach conflict resolution to your students?

To answer this question, you can say something like - Yes, I contributed to many initiatives that helped in making our institution a renowned one in the primary school education in the town city.

Illustrate with how you have taken initiative and implemented with the concurrence of the Principal & colleagues. For e.g. ,

1. Introducing practical sessions for all the classes irrespective whether it is a School Board mandate or not. This was a welcomed by all the colleagues and principal as this would help the students in understanding the concepts better.

2. Conducting quarterly extra- curricular assessments of the students in the activities that they have opted during the start of the academic year. This has actually helped in making the students focus on extra- curricular activities and not just the subjects.

The role of teachers is becoming very challenging these days. Especially with both parents working and the time they spend with the children for their studies is drastically coming down. Also the expectations of the parents on their children both in studies and extra-curricular activities are very high. All this becomes a great challenge for the teachers in giving individual attention to each child rather than just delivering the lesson.

Also the improving technology and communications are giving children a great exposure to the happening around the world and tinge of innocence is completely missing. Children are able to get any sort of information in a click of mouse on the internet. Hence the teachers are facing a great challenge in handling students in the current day. Teachers need to really pull up their socks and improve their knowledge and not just rely on the text books.

For obvious reasons everyone will have a different answer; it will depend on your teaching style, grade interviewing for, and past experiences. The interviewer will be looking to see if you have a plan, you know how to implement it, and if you think that discipline is an important part of the position. What I have found from coaching clients is they fail to provide a clear action plan that can be backed up with examples. Also it is important to find out what is the philosophy of the school or district, this will give you some additional information. A few things to bring up when answering this question is the following:

It is important to develop ground rules the first week of class, this allows the students to understand what is and isn't acceptable behavior.

These rules are discussed and agreed upon with the students, this makes the students accountability and responsible. You may want to touch on your philosophy of classroom discipline. This of course would depend on your style; you will have to be honest with yourself. But you may believe that you reduce negative behavior by offering the students a intellectually stimulating, organized, and respectful environment.

With teacher interview questions and answers like this it is a good idea to have a well organized statement about your approach to discipline.

Your interview answer will depend on your teaching style, the position (including age group) you are interviewing for and your past experience.

Do some research about this school or district's approach to discipline so that you are on the same page with your answer. Provide a clear and concise statement and back it up with examples.

"The purpose of discipline is to facilitate learning and foster better relationships and respect between the students. It is also intended to help students become more self-directed, self-disciplined and accountable for their behavior.

I have found that students respond poorly to forceful discipline but well to discipline that is helpful. My philosophy is to provide clear limits and rules that are communicated to the students so that they have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. The rules are discussed and agreed upon to encourage accountability from the students........."

Reflect on a teacher you liked at school, university, or have worked with in the classroom. Analyse what qualities made them successful - these might include:

☛ enthusiasm

☛ pace

☛ resilience

☛ subject knowledge

☛ a range of teaching methods

☛ an ability to hold the attention of the class

☛ empathy

☛ encouraging children to think rather than being told.

Tell your interviewers about the qualities you have which they are looking for - this is not a time to be modest. Talk positively about yourself, think carefully about the words you would use here, for example -assertive rather than bossy, or calm rather than laid back. Talk about what you would bring to their school.