how to answer what are you looking for in a teaching position
Education is a meaningful career and like many people, you might discover yourself drawn to condign a teacher. The steps post-obit this decision include getting instructor certified, updating your resume, and offset the interview process.
The interview process tin can be daunting. Job interviews may seem intimidating at starting time, but after reading through these tips you lot'll exist able to go into your teacher interview with complete confidence.
Before you become into an interview, yous should contemplate and research the following instructor job interview questions.
Keep in heed that this list is not all-inclusive. It only includes the essential steps you should take when preparing to secure the didactics position you want. Carefully thinking through these questions volition non merely assist you during the teaching interview but volition also help yous be a better teacher.
ane. What Do You Love Near Pedagogy?
Other questions to consider include:
- Why exercise you desire to be a instructor?
- What is it about teaching that is motivating you to leave your electric current job?
- Who was ane of your favorite teachers in the past and why?
Hiring managers desire to know that the person applying for the job is both qualified and cares almost being there. A job such equally instruction magnifies the importance of caring because a teacher is there to serve young people. So make sure you emphasize how passionate y'all are about teaching.
Before the interview, think through what you lot honey about teaching and why yous want to pursue a career in that profession. Writing out your thoughts can be a helpful manner of processing them. Yous want to answer your interview questions with solid reasons, concrete examples, and personal stories, where appropriate.
A few mutual reasons people want to teach are:
- they honey learning and being in a learning environs
- instruction is a job with a lot of variety
- educational activity is a way of serving their communities
- they like the inventiveness and independence teaching offers
- they desire summers off
- they want to brand a difference in people's lives
Questions about your dear of teaching are an excellent opportunity for you to show that you are genuine and personable. If you can, share a story nearly 1 of your childhood teachers or someone else who inspired you to pursue didactics. Stories have a special way of resonating with people. Whatever you say, allow your enthusiasm and passion for educational activity be clear in your answer.
2. What Is Your Didactics Philosophy?
Questions near your teaching philosophy will focus on what you believe is the purpose of your discipline and the all-time means to fulfill that purpose. It can exist helpful to write out your teaching philosophy alee of time and then that you lot can base of operations your answers effectually it and clearly share your ideas during interviews. Every bit you explore your educational activity philosophy, consider:
- Why is your area of field of study important to society?
- Why does it matter whether anyone learns information technology or non?
- What is your role within your bailiwick?
- And what are your specific teaching methods that support and fulfill your philosophy?
In addition to your beliefs, you also need to explain how y'all are going to apply your philosophy in the classroom. How practise you implement both formative assessment and summative assessment? This will naturally depend on the ages of your students.
Make certain you conspicuously empathize the "how" besides as the "why" of your philosophy. Knowing the "how" will assist you lot prepare for questions about your teaching style and classroom management.
3. What Are Your Educational activity Style and Methods?
Being able to explicate your teaching methods demonstrates that you are competent and prepared to be a instructor.
- How do you help students to learn your subject?
- How practise you lot help children with various learning styles?
- How would you assistance a educatee struggling to keep upward with the material?
You volition learn a lot once y'all start teaching in a classroom, merely at that place are some basics about your discipline that yous should be familiar with earlier you get-go.
Your teaching methods are the applied side of your pedagogy philosophy. What assignments will be most effective in helping y'all to attain the purpose of your discipline? How can yous capture your students' imaginations and bring your subject to life?
People learn in different means. Some unlike methods include learning visually, aurally, or kinesthetically. How can you engage all five senses with your assignments? Perhaps you could do a formative assessment by having students visualize a concept through drawing or painting. Incorporating crafts into lessons is a helpful strategy, specially for elementary teachers.
Musical students volition appreciate y'all incorporating music into the lesson. Some students savour being exterior or existence active more than discussing ideas in class. What can y'all incorporate into the lesson plan in club to become these students interested? Some Middle school students struggle with the transition to a new school with no more recess. What activities or projects can you assign that volition engage those students?
The team of teachers you lot work with will exist extremely valuable and help y'all come upwardly with new ideas to implement in the classroom. In the meantime, there are many online resources you lot can scan to get advice almost pedagogy your subject.
4. How You Will Manage Your Classroom?
Knowing how you will manage your classroom demonstrates that, in addition to being competent in your area of discipline, you tin can also pb and relate to students well.
Annotation that classroom direction overlaps with teaching style. The more than organized yous are, the more you volition be able to avoid misunderstandings betwixt you lot and your students.
The interviewer might ask you:
- Are you a tough instructor or an easy one?
- Has there ever been a time when you lot had to deal with a particularly hard student?
- If so, how did you handle that state of affairs?
Teachers work with students that take varying levels of involvement in the subject existence taught. Not every educatee will exist excited virtually beingness at school. That's why information technology is essential for you to be familiar with classroom management.
Classroom direction is specially important for Special Education teaching positions. Special ed teachers need to exist familiar with a variety of strategies for keeping students' attention and dealing with disruptive students. They too demand to be able to explain how they'll help students persevere with a difficult chore.
Utilize your by experience or online inquiry to come up with tactics appropriate for the age level and blazon of student yous'll be teaching. Do some inquiry ahead of time to learn about the disciplinary procedures at the school where you lot're applying. Then you can tailor your answer accordingly. Know what you lot would practise, and show how your methods fit the schoolhouse's philosophy.
For example, if y'all're an unproblematic teacher, you could apply the post-obit strategy: Every time someone breaks a rule write ane letter of the discussion "distressing" on the board. Explain to your students that if you spell the entire word the class volition lose a fun activity for the twenty-four hour period. This classroom direction strategy could be useful for encouraging good behavior.
In your interview, It's also a skillful idea to mention how you would prevent conflict from arising ahead of time. You can brand information technology a habit to make eye contact with each pupil throughout the mean solar day or greet each ane at the starting time of the day, showing you're happy to see all of them. The more your students know that y'all care about them, the less likely they are to deed out.
5. What Is Your Greatest Forcefulness?
It's common for hiring managers to ask you questions regarding your greatest strengths. Your answer to this question can demonstrate how you qualified for the teaching position.
Don't think of it as bragging almost yourself. You are objectively explaining how you are a proficient fit for the school. If yous don't have any relevant strengths, why would anyone hire you?
Earlier your interview, brainstorm what your best selling points are. Consider them in a professional and personal context.
- Has your boss praised you for any achievements in your current task?
- What have been your recent successes at work, and what skills contributed to those successes?
- Have your coworkers ever pointed out any of your strengths to you? If y'all can, ask them what they are.
Yous can ask the same question of your friends and family unit. Even though these are people you know on a personal basis, they can aid you identify your chief character qualities.
For case, if people know y'all every bit an infrequent communicator, requite recent examples of that force. And then explain how you'll employ that skill in a didactics context. That skill could be public speaking, setting articulate expectations for your class, or contacting parents in a timely manner. Any y'all mention, brand certain you lot requite specific examples from the past and utilise them to the teaching position you're seeking.
vi. Why Exercise You Want to Work in This Chore/School/District?
Never go into an interview not knowing annihilation most the organisation interviewing you. Answering this question well shows that you care near getting the chore and also helps you lot determine if the job is a good fit for you.
Some mutual mistakes made in interviews include:
- Not existence prepared
- Giving platitude answers
- Seeming bored
Doing your inquiry and thoughtfully preparing for the interview volition help yous avoid the get-go 2 mistakes. Communicating your enthusiasm for teaching, as mentioned earlier, will ensure that you don't make the last fault.
Find out what yous can about the job itself, too as the school and the school district.
- What are the school's characteristics?
- Do the students in that school district have whatsoever specific needs y'all experience you are suited to meet?
- Is in that location anything about the administration'southward philosophy that yous appreciate?
- What is the school doing well that makes you excited about working at that place?
Researching the position will assistance you with all of your interview questions. You lot can apply whatever you lot detect in your answers where applicable.
7. What Is Your Biggest Weakness?
Exist prepared to reply a question about your shortcomings.
- What is your master weakness as a teacher?
- What do yous dislike most about pedagogy?
- What practise you discover to be the well-nigh challenging part of teaching?
Anybody has weaknesses. This question is an opportunity to demonstrate your honesty and how you learn from your mistakes.
Information technology's understandable if you fright that answering this question truthfully will make you seem unqualified for the position. But yous tin can give an accurate response while still presenting yourself as a strong candidate. All people face difficulties in their jobs, and all jobs accept aspects to them that are not enjoyable. These are only facts of working life.
I way to employ this question to your advantage is by describing how you bargain with challenges. Or maybe you had a major weakness in the by that you have since overcome. Describe how y'all did so and what you exercise differently now.
8. Do Yous Have Any Questions for Me?
You do not want to get to the end of the interview and have zilch to say when the interviewer asks this question. This is another opportunity for yous to demonstrate you intendance about getting the task and to determine whether yous actually want it.
Having questions for the school shows you are sincerely interested in the teaching position. Just it's too a chance to discover the information you cannot get through your own research.
If there is anything you're peculiarly concerned nigh, this is your chance to ask about information technology! Your questions might include:
- How would y'all describe the civilisation of the school?
- What are the students similar?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of each course?
- Are the teachers supportive of each other?
- What are the administration and parents similar?
- What are some challenges the staff has faced this yr, inside the school itself as well as inside the schoolhouse district?
- How does the schoolhouse relate to the customs?
Don't ask about fourth dimension off or salary at this indicate. Questions like that are inappropriate until the school offers you the education position.
Takeaway
Beyond the state, the instructor shortage is growing. Schools are in need of qualified and dedicated teachers similar y'all. The process of finding a education chore and going through the interviews can seem like a lot merely we can help you lot get prepared.
Follow these instructor job interview tips, and confront the application process with conviction.
PS – if you are struggling with the Instructor Test – make sure to take a look at our teacher testing tips!
Source: https://www.teachersoftomorrow.org/blog/insights/teacher-interview-questions