When you get a call from a school administrator inviting you to interview for a teaching job, how do you feel? Happy? Elated? Excited? Nervous? Scared stiff?
You don’t need to worry about the interview if you’re a well-prepared, qualified candidate. Preparing for a teaching interview is a lot like studying for a test. You can review commonly asked questions, think about what you’ll say beforehand, and go in to do your best. If you prepare beforehand, the interview questions will seem routine and familiar. You’ll have answers on the tip of your tongue, ready-to-go.
Below is a list of six commonly asked teacher interview questions from my eBook, Guide to Getting the Teaching Job of Your Dreams. How would you answer each question?
1. Tell us about yourself.
This will be the first question at almost every interview. Just give a brief background in about three sentences. Tell them what colleges you graduated from, what you’re certified to teach, what your teaching & working experiences are, and why you’d love the job.
2. How do you teach to the state standards?
If you interview in the United States, school administrators love to talk about state, local, or national standards! Reassure your interviewer that everything you do ties into standards. Be sure the lesson plans in your portfolio have the state standards typed right on them. When they ask about them, pull out your lesson and show them the close ties between your teaching and the standards.
3. How will you prepare students for standardized assessments?
There are standardized assessments at almost every grade level. Be sure you know the names of the tests. Talk about your experiences preparing students. You’ll get bonus points if you know and describe the format of the test because that will prove your familiarity.
4. Describe your discipline philosophy.
You use lots of positive reinforcement. You are firm, but you don’t yell. You have appropriate consequences for inappropriate behavior. You have your classroom rules posted clearly on the walls. You set common routines that students follow. You adhere to the school’s discipline guidelines. Also, emphasize that you suspect discipline problems will be minimal because your lessons are very interesting and engaging to students. Don’t tell the interviewer that you â??send kids to the principal’s officeâ? whenever there is a problem. You should be able to handle most discipline problems on your own. Only students who have committed very serious behavior problems should be sent to the office.
5. How do you make sure you meet the needs of a student with an IEP?
An IEP is an “individualized education plan.” Students with special needs will be given an IEP, or a list of things that you must do when teaching the child. An IEP might include anything from “additional time for testing” to “needs all test questions read aloud” to “needs to use braille textbook.” How do you ensure you’re meeting the needs of a student with an IEP? First, read the IEP carefully. If you have questions, consult a special education teacher, counselor, or other staff member who can help you. Then, you just make sure you follow the requirements on the IEP word for word. When necessary, you may be asked to attend a meeting in which you can make suggestions for updating the IEP. Your goal, and the goal of the IEP, is to make sure the student has whatever he or she needs to be successful in your class.
6. How do you communicate with parents?
This question will come up at almost every elementary school interview. Itâ??s fairly common in the middle school and high school as well. You might have a weekly parent newsletter that you send home each week. For grades 3 and up, you may require students to have an assignment book that has to be signed each night. This way, parents know what assignments are given and when projects are due. When there are discipline problems you call home and talk to parents. It’s important to have an open-door policy and invite parents to share their concerns at any time.
For more teacher interview questions, I invite you to download my eBook Guide to Getting the Teaching Job of Your Dreams ( http://www.iwantateachingjob.com ). In it you will find 48 common interview questions and answers as well as practical advice for getting the teaching job you want.
Tim Winterview
http://www.articlesbase.com/k-12-education-articles/6-common-teacher-interview-questions-and-how-to-answer-them-124911.html
#1 by rany t on July 6th, 2009
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Please could you help me I have interview for teacher to ask Q a bout rules in school? And if your answer is n
Did you explain to your student what is mean respect and how to be polite with all people? Yes no sometime
2. Did you explain to your student how important rules in school are in the beginning of the first day of school? Yes no sometimes
3. Did you explain to your student how its important to listen quietly when others speaking? Yes no sometimes
4. Did your student participation in rule setting?
5. did you agree for your student to remove any think from your desk or storage materials with out permission? Yes no sometimes
6. Did you collect common materials in storage such as (scissors, marleers, paper, rulers) in one storage, and other such as (dictionary, texts) in other storage? Yes no sometimes
7. Did you get your student to computer stations? Yes no sometimes
8. Did you agree for your student to pencil sharper in one time? Yes no sometime
9. Did you agree for your student to go to the restrooms with out permission? Yes no sometimes
10. Did you agree when you during presentation to have only the books or other materials need for the lesson on their desks? Yes no sometimes
11. Did you allow to your student to ask question?
12. Did you allow to your student to a discussion or receive help with other students? Yes no sometimes
13. Did you use classroom helpers? Yes no sometimes
14. Did you tell your students about playgrounds? Yes no sometimes
15. Did you make sure your students understand these procedures for (library, resource room, and school office? Yes no sometimes
16. At the beginning of the year books and supplies must be distributed to your students? Yes no sometimes
17. Did you expect behavior of students in the group? Yes no sometimes
18. Did you agree for talk among students? Yes no sometimes
19. Did you can control your student’s behavior in school rules? yes no sometimes
#2 by REM on July 7th, 2009
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1) Yes
Students do not sharpen pencils in my room — I sharpen all pencils at the beginning of the day and if they need a pencil, they raise their hand, ask permission, and get another pencil
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) Not this year — I did that last year and it worked really well
5) No
6) Yes
7) No — only because I am a prep teacher so they use computers with their regular room teacher
9) No never
10) Yes
11) Absolutely
12) Sometimes
13) Sometimes
14) No — goes back to me being a prep teacher — my kids go to playground with regular classroom teacher
15) No — see #14
16) Yes
17) Yes
18) sometimes
19) Usually
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