How to Prepare for an Interview as a Teacher

You are interviewing for a position as a public school teacher. You are entering a profession where you will be dealing with--and, subsequently, exerting much influence on--potentially hundreds of kids over your first few years through the tenure process. You can communicate a lot about yourself during that first face-to-face (or telephone) interview.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Determine where in the country or in the world you would like to work. Be sure to only apply to places where you seriously have an interest in working. During the interview to come, a sharp administrator will known fairly quickly if you are just looking for "any" job, or if you're committed to work in that district, with those children.
2. Study information about the district in question. Find out when it was established, how many students are enrolled, what is the size of the graduating class, what techniques they use for discipline when necessary, what the normal class size is, what the area employment opportunities are like and what the general socio-economic level of your potential students is. This information will arm you with background knowledge so that you can intelligently see where an interviewer might be going with certain questions and will help you impress your future boss by showing her that you take the initiative and that you have a genuine interest in their district.
3. Choose your clothing for the interview. Keep in mind that conservative styles and colors work best. This isn't the time to wear frayed jeans and ripped sneakers, or to show cleavage or wear your party dress. Dress down, in earth tones, for example.
4. Be fully competent in your subject matter. Chances are that you'll have teachers in your field asking you questions about certain aspects of your field. Answer those questions fully and completely, and be proactive enough to add in information that elaborates on what they've asked. If you are a history teacher, for example, and they ask you about the Civil War, be sure you show that you are well-grounded in the history and development of that conflict.
5. Think of times when you worked as part of a team. Every teaching job demands that you know how to effectively contribute to the workings of a team, whether it be with the professors of your own discipline, or with your colleagues throughout the school as a whole. Be ready to articulate examples of such activities from your own experiences, and to make clear the role you play in such groups.
6. Be ready to talk about professional challenges that you've overcome. If you have just graduated college, and are applying for your first position, think of academic challenges that you've faced and overcome. Be ready to articulate how you overcame them and with what results. Administrators want to know that you will not shrink from a challenge, and that you will have the initiative and internal resources to meet problems and resolve them.
7. Get as much teaching experience as you can before going for that interview. Apply as a substitute teacher in area schools and get in the classroom as much as possible so that you know what the "real world" of teaching is like.

Tips & Warnings

• Solid preparation will give you confidence and poise during the interview.
• Practice speaking clearly in the hours leading up to the interview. Do what actors and actresses do to practice articulation: hold a pencil, lengthwise, in your mouth by your very front teeth. With that in place, read, out loud, a selected favorite text. Do this for an hour straight, and you'll notice that you will begin to speak with much more clarity and precision, something that can help you tremendously during an interview as a professional educator.

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