Teaching Jobs & Interview Questions
Whether you're a veteran educator or a rookie, there are both standard interview questions and more probing interrogatives with which you should be familiar. Questions will vary depending on your experience. A teacher with 30 years under her belt will be asked questions about her teaching experience, while candidates fresh from student-teacher posts will have to deal more with theoretical questions and goal-oriented issues. But the possibilities for either potential teacher are almost endless.
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Education and Experience
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Your interviewer will have reviewed your résumé and will refer to it often, so have your own copy available. You may be asked questions in a fairly chronological order, but be ready for a less structured approach. Some of the questions you can expect concerning your education are:
Why did you attend Smith University? Did you consider another career? Why did you choose teaching? Did you have a teacher who influenced your decision to go into teaching? In what extracurricular activities did you participate while in college? Did you play sports? What was your grade point average? What subjects were your most and least favorite? What did you like most about college?
Experience-wise, look for such questions as:
How long have you been a teacher? What grades have you taught? Any favorite grade or student age you most enjoy? Least enjoy? Why? What kinds of relationships did you have with former administrators, other teachers and your principals? What has been your biggest challenge and disappointment so far in your career? Do you have experience teaching minority students, special education students or foreign-language pupils? Are you familiar with our state's standards and the school's curriculum? What would your references say about you? What would they say about your strengths and weaknesses? What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses? Have you addressed your weaknesses? How has teaching changed since you've been an educator? What's better and what's worse now than 30 years ago?
Teaching Philosophy
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How do you keep order in your classroom? Are you a disciplinarian? Did you ever employ corporal punishment on a student (if you're old enough to have taught during that era)? What would you do if a student swore at you, refused to do as told or was disruptive? Do you earn or demand respect, and how? How do use technology, like computers and calculators, in your class? Tell me about your homework policies and your off-hour availability to tutor students. Do you use reward/punishment methods for behavior and learning? Describe your teaching style. Did you learn your teaching style from a mentor or is it reflective of your general personality? What are your testing and quiz policies? How do you establish and enforce classroom rules and discipline? What's the difference between a good teacher and a great one? What about bad teachers? Tell me a bit about learning theories and teaching techniques (experiential, problem-based and social learning; direct, constructivist and thematic instruction). What do think about the Montessori Method? How do you view current grading methods? Would you do things differently?
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Communication with Parents
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How often do you meet with or talk to parents? Is it face-to-face, by phone or electronically? How do you talk to parents about their unruly children? Have you ever had problems with parents? Do you promote parent involvement? How do help kids who "don't get it"?
Personal Strengths and Weaknesses
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What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses? How do they relate to your teaching? Are you better at lecturing or working one on one? Are you easily frustrated? Do older students intimidate you? What makes you a good teacher? What weaknesses have you addressed or overcome?
Short- and Long-Term Goals
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Where do want to be in five years? In 20 years? Do you have administrative aspirations? Would you like to be a principal? What's the most important thing you need to do immediately if you get this job?
Hobbies and Extracurricular Plans
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Have you coached athletics in the past? Do you want to? Were you involved in extracurricular activities as a student or teacher? What do like to do when you're not working? Are you currently reading a book? Who are your favorite authors or what types of reading do you like to do? Are you a current events connoisseur?
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit apple for teacher image by max blain from Fotolia.com
