A teacher is prepared for anything from students who finish their work early to having to be flexible and adapt a lesson plan when it doesn’t work out as originally planned. This quality is essential for instructors to have even before they step foot in a classroom. To be hired, teachers have to be prepared to answer questions related to education, their teaching methods, and about their teaching philosophy, among other general interview question topics.
1.) Prepare to Answer Common Questions.
It is a job interview after all, right? You should be able to provide clean, direct answers to questions about your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, and to provide solid anecdotes to back up your answer to any behavioral questions, such as “How would you handle a particularly difficult situation with a parent?” Review questions and answers for interviews that any job candidate would face before you walk into your teaching interview.
2.) Know Your Beliefs about Teaching.
You may be asked about your philosophy of teaching. What is it that makes you teach the way you do? Do you have certain beliefs about students that drive you to teach a certain way? For example, do you believe that every student can succeed and needs the opportunity to learn and be assessed in ways that make sense for their individual learning styles and preferences? No matter how you articulate your beliefs, be able to back them up with details and evidence, perhaps a research study that supports you.
3.) Have a portfolio ready.
In your portfolio, you can show past work from your students from an innovative project you have done as part of a lesson, have extra copies of your resume, your teaching certificate, sample lesson plans, and anything else that demonstrates you’re a qualified teaching candidate. The portfolio should be bound in a professional-looking binder that you can present to an interviewer for perusal during the interview.
4.) Have questions of your own.
To demonstrate that you are interested in the specific job you’re interviewing for, have a short list of questions to ask your interviewers. For example, you might ask why they are proud of their school, or what the most successful teachers at the school do, what their qualities are, that help them to serve students. In your response to their questions, you may have the opportunity to add in any information about your background or to clear up any misunderstandings that you think may have occurred during the previous part of the interview.
Walk into your interview with confidence. You wouldn’t have been called to interview if you weren’t qualified for the job. Impress the interviewers with your love of students and your passion for the subject(s) you teach. You’re more likely to get a job teaching walking into the interview with smiles and a friendly teacher attitude than with an unsure, nervous approach.
Reference: http://teaching.monster.com/careers/articles/3372-teacher-interview-tips-and-advice
