Student Teaching Seminar — On-line

Potential job interview questions

Here are the course units:

As with many things, you never want it to be the first time you interview for a job. Answering interview questions is always a challenge, even for experienced teachers. Below is a list of potential interview questions that I've heard hiring administrators ask over the last several years - and gleaned from other sources as well. My suggestion is to print off this list of questions and put it in your car. Every time you're driving down the road with nothing to do, ask yourself, and answer one of these questions. Answer it out loud too - there's a big difference between answering out loud and answering in your head! The whole idea is to practice talking about the things you believe about education. Trust me, this will help! Good luck!

Potential questions for a job interview:

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Tell us specifically about the kind of teacher you are.

2. Tell a story about a time you made a mistake and what you learned from it. How will this experience help you be a better teacher?

3. Give us an image of what your classroom looks like in terms of what you’re doing and what kids are doing. Can we expect this ideal image all the time?

4. What are your "pet peeves" as a teacher? How do you deal with kids who violate your pet peeves? How do you make this experience educative for kids?

5. Discuss 2-3 central elements in your classroom management plan. Talk about the consequences or punishments you like to use when misbehavior does occur.

6. Discuss how you support second language learners in your classroom. Give an example from your practice to support your methods and ideas.

7. Discuss how you support talented and gifted kids in your classroom. Give an example from your practice to support your methods and ideas.

8. Discuss how you support students with learning disabilities in your classroom. Give an example from your practice to support your methods and ideas.

9. What will your students say about you after they have been in your classroom for about 6 months? What will I say about you as the building administrator?

10. Give 3-4 adjectives that describe who you are as a person. How do these qualities support you as a teacher?

11. What are you really good at as a teacher and what do you need a little more work on?

12. What do you see as a couple of the biggest issues in education today? How will this issue affect what you do in the classroom?

13. Why did you want to be a teacher?

14. What do you think is the hardest part about learning in your subject matter area? How will you help your kids get around this issue?

15. Part of teaching is about doing a good job in the classroom but a good teacher also supports kids outside of the classroom. How will you do this?

16. What kinds of things do you read, or do, to continue to grow as a professional teacher? Talk about something you just recently learned that has helped you be a good teacher.

17. Talk about a time that, as a teacher, you really helped a kid. What did you learn from this experience?

18. What makes you unique or special that would make us want to hire you over somebody else?

19. Talk about a lesson or series of lessons you designed and taught that went really well. What was it about those lessons, or your delivery, that made it go so well.

20. How do you assess kids understanding of subject matter material? Give us a little preview of the kinds of assessments you use in your subject matter area.

21. What will you do for those kids you will have in class who are absolutely apathetic toward your efforts — who insist on doing nothing in your class. What will you do with these kids?

22. Many of the kids in our school are poor readers. How will you support literacy in your classroom? Give an example of something you’ve done that has been successful in this regard.

23. How will you keep parents informed of what’s happening in your classroom and with their child’s learning? Talk about your experiences in this area so far.