Commonly Asked Interview Questions For Teachers

 Preparing for an interview can be a task among itself and sometimes more stressful than the actual interview. Here are some commonly asked interview questions.

Getting to know you:

Why did you choose this profession as a career?

What makes you the best candidate for this position?

What research have you done about our school?

Describe a personal experience which had an impact on your teaching?

What are your interests outside teaching?

What would you like us to know about you?

Interpersonal Skills:

If I spoke with your students, cooperating teacher, university supervisor, principal, colleagues, or friends, what three words would they use to describe you?

How would you facilitate collaboration between home and school?

If confronted by an angry parent (colleague) on an issue, how would you respond?

How would your students know that you genuinely care about them?

How important is it for you to be well liked by your students?

How would you respond to a student who asked you for your advice on a difficult personal situation?

Instruction:

Describe a typical class period.

What instructional strategies have you found most effective?

What are the components of an effective lesson plan?

Describe a lesson which was particularly successful by walking me through each stage from planning through delivery.

Explain what a strong balanced literary program would look like in your classroom.

What research-based teaching strategies have you used?

What specific strategies would you use to assist students who are struggling in reading and math?

Describe how you have differentiated a lesson to accommodate varying student needs?

What would you do to actively engage your students?

What do you do when you see some students are not learning?

How would you motivate the reluctant learner?

What would you do with students who fail continually to complete homework?

Assessment

How do you measure student success?

What would you do to improve student achievement?

How do you know whether your curriculum is appropriately matched to your students’ needs?

Classroom Management

What type of classroom management plan would you implement?

How would you set up a student management system?

How do you handle children who are difficult to manage?

Describe the toughest discipline situation you encountered and how you handled it.

If you were having classroom management difficulties, when and who would you ask for help?

Self-Analysis

During your student teaching experience what did you find most challenging?

Describe a time that you were in a difficult situation and explain how you resolved it?

If you were doing something for students that you knew was right and your principal told you to stop, what would you do?

Tell me a story from your experience that keeps you up at night.

Describe in detail your best and worst days in a classroom.

Describe the best lesson you ever taught and explain why it was great.

Describe a challenge you encountered during student teaching. What did you learn from it?

Other

What are your long term goals?

What new ideas would you bring to our school?

Give an example of a time you went above and beyond to accomplish a task.

What does loyalty mean to you?

Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you were hoping I would?

Questions to ask:

Do you provide a mentoring program?

How does the school district support professional development?

How are parents involved in the school?