The Interview
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The Interview

Being nervous is normal! Prepare! Practice!

These questions are not organized into like topics. This is because
the questions in your interview will not be organized into like topics.
This will give you practice in shifting gears.
Some questions are asking the same thing but are phrased differently.
Listen carefully to the question being asked!

Go over EVERY question. Write down the answer. Then go over the
questions and answer OUT LOUD while looking in a mirror.
Have a friend role play with you, asking the questions.

These are some actual questions asked in hiring interviews.

Tell me about yourself.
Why are you interested in this School District?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
Why do you want to be a teacher?
What or who influenced you to become a teacher?
Describe your student teaching experience.
How would you use or set-up, or organize your class to use:
*Thematic learning
*Cooperative learning
*Sheltered English techniques
*Balanced Literacy
*Student centered classroom
*A teacher facilitated lesson
*Manipulative Math
*A Language block
*Or whatever is the current curriculum in your area
What discipline program would you use in your classroom?
How would you provide for one L.E.P. student in your classroom?
Describe a lesson/ unit you have done that you feel was exceptional.
Why?
Tell me about the courses you took in your major and minor.
Tell me about your Internship.
Tell me what you think the role of a principal is.
The school district has adopted a new instructional program in
mathematics. It is based on a constructivist model with students
constructing their own
knowledge from mathematical experiences. Are you familiar with this
model of instruction? How might this approach affect your instruction?
We know that children learn by making connections.
What implications
does this have for curriculum at the elementary level?
What are some characteristics of middle-school-aged
students that need to be considered when planning middle
school programs?
What are some new techniques that you plan to implement in
your class?
Describe a lesson that failed. Why did it fail? How would you
improve it?
What characteristics does a good teacher have?
How would you teach Mathematics?
Are you ready to teach a Sheltered English /1st/ 6th,etc.) class?
How do you know?
What grade would you like to teach? Why?
How would you get parents involved in school activities?
What inservices have you attended?
What professional books have you read this year?
What would you teach-the first day of school?
What are the goals for a first grade (or any other ) class?
What is your philosophy of education?
When taking over a class-(replacing a teacher) what is the first thing you
would say to your class? How would you plan for the transition?
What would you do?
If you could choose one subject to teach, which would it be?
What is meant by portfolio assessment?
If the principal would walk into your room and you were not involved in
directed teaching, what would you be doing?
How would you teach to accommodate LEP students in your class?
What goals do you have for your students?
How would you handle a student who is doing nothing in your class?
What are the essentials of a room environment?
How do you describe the job of a of a principal?
What do you need (support personnel, materials, etc.) to be a good
teacher?
How would you handle:
*an irate parent?
*a student who doesn't come to school?
*an habitually disruptive student?
*a potentially violent student?
Who would you ask for professional advice?
How do you feel about inclusion students? How would you handle
one / the parents of one in your class?
How would you set up a Balance Literacy reading program?
Describe a manipulative based math lesson you have taught ?
What do you have to contribute to our students / faculty /school?
What experience have you had incorporating computers
(or other technology) in a classroom?
What extracurricular activities do you participate in?
What grade level do you prefer? Why?
What grade level would you be most comfortable teaching?
What is "due process"?
What is "higher-order questioning"?
What is "on-task"?
What do you think is essential for students to learn?
Why do teachers "burn-out"? What needs to be done to avoid burn-out?
What is a good memory you have from your elementary education?
What is a memory of failure / humiliation / problem you remember?
How will …this affect your teaching?
What is your Philosophy of Teaching?
What would you do if a parent came in extremely upset and said
that his/her child had been treated unfairly during an incident at lunch
that day?
How will you include parents in the educational process?
What do you plan to be doing in five years?
What are your career goals?
What do you see as the relative strengths and weaknesses of
norm-referenced tests?
What do you expect from a principal?
If someone came into your class room what would they see happening?
How will your room be arranged?
What do you think are the top three qualities needed to be a
successful elementary school teacher?
What do you think are the top three qualities needed to be a successful
middle school teacher?
Why did you chose teaching?
How do you feel about inclusion?
What techniques do you use for behavior management in your classroom?
What do you think is an appropriate amount of homework for this
age student?
How much weight would homework hold in your consideration for grading
on report cards?
What does being "at-risk" for school failure mean?
What are some of the factors or conditions that might put a child at-risk?
What is an unpopular decision that you have made recently, and how
did others respond to it?
What is meant by "teaming" at the middle school level? How does
it support
instruction?
What is your theory on motivating reluctant learners and how do you
put that
theory into practice?
What made you decide to go to college? Were you pushed or was it
expected of you?
What makes an effective school?
What should be the relationship between a teacher and a student?
What three words would your students use to describe you as a teacher?
What is something that you started during your Internship that your Collaborating
Teacher kept using after you left?
What is the greatest attribute you can bring to a class of students?
What new and/or innovative concepts, projects, or activities would
you like
to try in your classroom this year?
What particular grade or age level (or range thereof) would you ideally
like to teach? Why?
What place does the teaching of values have in the classroom?
What is your philosophy of education?
.What is your philosophy of reading?
.What is your philosophy of teaching?
What is your philosophy on student discipline?
What classroom management strategies have worked best for you and
how are these strategies related to your philosophy on student discipline?
Describe one difficult incident with a student, and how you handled it.
What methods have you used or would you use to assess student learning?
What role does technology have in your classroom?
Describe how you plan to utilize technology in your classroom.
What was your biggest problem in student teaching?
How did you resolve it?
What type of reading program (e.g., basal, novel, whole language, etc.)
did you use in student teaching?
What was the last educational article you read? Name the title, author,
details of the article, and what prompted you to read the article in the
first place.
What would we see in your classroom at the beginning of the year?
How would it be different at mid-year?
What would you do if you have a student who read five grades below
her/his
grade placement?
What would you do, or how would you treat a student who refused to do
the work you assigned?
Which subject area do you believe is your strength?
Which is your weakest?
What steps will you take to improve in this area?
Why did you choose teaching as a career?
Why do you want to teach?
Why do you want to work in our district?
Why should our school district hire you?
With all the qualified teachers, why should I hire you?
With what kind of student do you most (least) like to work?
Would you be happy in this kind of community?
Would you like to be involved in school (community) activities?
You have just asked a student in your class to start working on an
assignment that you have given. The student refuses and states loudly
that she/he does not want to do the assignment. How would you respond
to the student?
You know that a staff member has been talking behind your back
about what he or she sees as your ineffective teaching methods.
What would you do?
Do you feel your grades should be considered a statement of your abilities?
Why or why not?
What do you enjoy doing with your leisure time?
What kind of relationship would you like to have with students, your fellow
teachers, and administrators?
What techniques do you use in developing rapport with students?
What did you find to be the hardest thing about or during your
directed teaching?
What would you do if a student started swearing at you?
And if that did not work, then what would you do?
How would you work with aides and parent volunteers?
What procedures work best for you in maintaining discipline?
What do you believe your role and obligations to be toward
other faculty members?
When would you send a student to the office? Why? Have you ever
had to send a student to the office?
What do you think of individualized teaching?
Are you interested in team teaching?
You are assigned to five classes (two different subjects).
What do you do the first day?
Why will you make a good teacher?
Which of your accomplishments are you most proud of?
Tell me about your hobbies and outside interests?
How would you define your long-range goals?
What do you think is the job of the building principal?
What is the most effective teaching technique you have used in
your directed teaching?
A student is consistently late to your class.
How do you handle the situation?
A student who has been mainstreamed into your class has learning disabilities.
He comes to you crying because students in your class are making
fun of him.
He says he hates school and does not want to return. How would
you deal with this situation?
Are parent-teacher conferences important? Why or why not?
Are you a good disciplinarian?
What was your most important learning experience during your student teaching?
What was your most important learning experience outside of school?
How do you motivate students to learn?
How do you deal with parents?
What makes a good school?
What are some elements of a good lesson?
What part does the parent/responsible adult play in the education
of a child?
What needs to be done to improve education?
Give some examples of how you would teach children with different
learning styles?
How would you plan for a child in your class that is identified as Special Ed?
How would you design your reading and writing curricula?
What are some of your favorite children's books? Why/ How would you
use them with your students?
What is the role of literature in the curriculum?
Describe the language acquisition of a child.
How are you going to serve the needs of your second
language students?
Will there be learning centers in your classroom? If so,
what kind of learning
centers do you have?
How do the learning centers work in your classroom (do they rely on computers,
independent study, group study, etc.) ?
Why do you use learning centers?
Do you use thematic units? Why? How?
What is an example of a recent thematic unit used in your classroom?
How do you organize math, science, health, grammar, etc.?
Both daily and yearly schedules?
How will you determine what your students' attitudes and feelings are
about your class?
How do you determine each individual student's potential?
If there were absolutely no restrictions placed upon you, what would you most
want to do in life?
If your students score low in reading, what strategies will you use to
raise their scores?
How could you use team teaching to provide your students with
a better education?
What are the pros and cons of team teaching?
How do you keep up with innovations in education?
What steps will you take to increase parent involvement?
In what ways can you use technology in your teaching?
What role should technology play in the classroom and in the curriculum?
What is your philosophy on discipline/teaching/learning etc.?
What steps do you take to maintain communications with parents?
Tell us about the most difficult student that you've taught.
What did you learn
from that experience?
. How do you integrate the curriculum?
Following the issuance of report cards, a parent comes to your
classroom angry about the grades you gave their child.
How will you handle the parent?
What do you do to maintain communications with other teachers?
Tell us about the most difficult parent that you've dealt with.
How will you keep the principal informed?
What skills will you bring to our school and community?
A lot has been discussed regarding motivation of students at this age.
What do you think contributes to the lack of motivation students feel?
A parent in your classroom has complained about the behavior of a special
education student in your class. This student has been disruptive and is interfering
with the learning of others. How would you respond to this parent's concerns?
Are you a team player? If so, please give me an example.
Are you involved in any other interviews at this time?
Are you willing to do extra curricular activities?
.As you enter a new job in the fall (or spring) you will most likely be meeting
a new staff for the first time. What kinds of things will you do to acclimate
yourself and what would you want from others to help you settle in?
Can a teacher be too well liked by her/his students?
Compose a newsletter that will introduce you to your students' parents and
describe your classroom expectations.
Convince me that you are a top notch person.
Could you relate a recent article or piece of educational research you
found interesting?
Describe a good lesson; explain why it was good.
Describe the areas you feel you need to enhance.
hat steps will you take?
Describe the type of reading program you would establish
in your classroom.
Describe your ideal classroom.
Describe your most significant contribution in your last job or student teaching.
Describe your reading program.
Give me a summary of your academic background
(i.e., how many hours and what classes in each area).
Give me adjectives to describe an effective teacher.
Give me an example of a rule or procedure in your classroom.
How and when do you communicate with parents about your students?
How and when do you discipline a student?
How are success and motivation related?
How do you feel that the "rapid learner" should be provided for in our area
of teaching?
How do you foresee technology and computers being utilized in your classroom?
How do you individualize your teaching?
How might an observer in your classroom characterize your teaching style?
How much knowledge and experience have you had with inclusion or
collaborative teaching? How would you evaluate this practice?
How organized are you? How do you stay organized?
How should a student's educational achievement and progress
be measured?
How would you deal with a gifted student?
What are some activities that you would plan?
.How would you go about planning a lesson?
.How would you handle a hostile child in your classroom?
How would you handle a student who continually "acted up" in your class?
How would you handle the very high and very low students in your classroom?
. How would you identify special needs of students?
How would you individualize a curriculum for students at various levels?
How would you use teacher aides and parent volunteers?
How would you work with students who perform below grade level,
especially those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds?
If it were within your power, what is one thing you would change regarding
education today? How would you change it?
If you could design the ideal classroom for the elementary grades what
would it look like?
If you were offered a teaching position, what strengths would you bring
to the classroom and the building?
What goals would you set for yourself forfurther professional development?
.Integrated curriculum and instruction are much talked about currently.
What do these notions mean to you? Can you give an example of how
you have integrated or might integrate curriculum in the classroom?
Is a teacher an instructor or a facilitator?
List four or five qualities about yourself. [Have more than five ready.]
List the areas of strength you will bring to your classroom.
Many parents are reluctant to get involved with their children's schools.
Why do you think this is and what can be done about it?
.Parent involvement has a positive correlation to student achievement.
What strategies have you used or would you use to involve parents in
their child's education?
Please describe your educational preparation and professional
experience as a teacher.
.Some of your students always finish their assignments early.
How would you deal with the free time that they have?
Tell me about a day in your classroom. What would your content be?
When would that occur during the day? How many hours for each subject?
What are the most important or worthwhile qualifications of a good teacher?
What do you know about our school district?

Questions You Should Ask in an Interview

*What adjunct duties are teachers expected to do?
*What are the teacher hours?
*What are the student hours?
*What is the number of hours expected in school activities outside
of classtime?
*What curriculum is used in Reading / Language / Math?
*Are inservices available? Are teachers required to attend a set number of hours?
*What special services are available for students? (counselors, psychologists,
health services)
*Does your school have a school wide discipline plan? What is it?
*What consequences are there for infractions?
*What are your expectations for after-hours work and additional
duties at this school?
*What are some of your major challenges in this school?
*What kind of support can be expected from the principal? the District?
*What is available...library, TV/VCR, Classroom library books, textbooks
for each student,science equipment, music, aides, computers/computer lab,
AV materials, other resources for teachers
*How are supplies received? Is there a new teacher budget?
*What is your teacher turn-over rate?
*How are parents included in this school?
*What are some ways that parents support teachers here?
*Do your teachers work well together?
*What kind of mentors, help, support is available for new teachers?
*What is the ethnic/ socio-economic make-up of the students?
*Do you have Title I at this school? What % of the students qualify?
*Are there before and/or afterschool programs?
*What are the parent expectations/involvement in the school?
*What duties do the teachers have? (before, after school,bus,recess)
*What is your vision for the school?
*Please describe the climate of your school for staff, students, and parents.
*What are the demographics of this school?
*How do your grade levels/ departments support each other?
*Do you all do any lateral planning as well as team planning?
*What are your expectations of teachers at this school?
*What are some of the strengths of this school?
*How are teachers supported and appreciated by the
administration in this school?