Are you getting ready for a teacher interview, but don’t know where to start? The teacher interview process can feel completely overwhelming. A little preparation can go a long way! Feeling prepared gives you a sense of confidence that you will need when walking into a teacher interview.
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Search Teacher Interview Questions
To be prepared for an interview, you need to find a set of teacher interview questions.
The good news is that you can find teacher interview questions on the internet. A simple Google search will give you an enormous bank of questions to choose from. This may feel overwhelming, but you can filter out the questions that do not apply to your grade band or content specialty.
Think about this: if you are an elementary teacher, you probably don’t need to find questions related to secondary education. Most likely, an interview team is not going to ask you questions about teenagers, but rather those early learners that you find in an elementary school. As you search for your questions for a teacher interview, get specific in your search. Niche down your questions to reflect the job that you will be applying for.
After you have found your questions, write them down. Put them into an online document, write them in a notebook, or even write them on a napkin, but you MUST write them down!
Questions and Answers for a Teacher Interview
Now, it is great that you have the questions but more important than having the questions, is having the answers to those questions. You have written down the questions. It’s now time to write down the answers to those questions.
Some questions may be easier for you to answer than others. My advice: give yourself time to think each question through. Thoughtfully write down the answer to each of your questions. Be explicit and elaborate with your answers. Expand on your thinking and write down every single word that you would like to say in a teacher interview.
Read and Reread Your Teacher Interview Questions
You have your questions and answers for a teacher interview. Now, it’s time to read through them. Do this again and again. You need to know these questions inside and out. The best way to prepare is to practice. Reading through your questions and answers helps cement these into your brain. When these are concrete, you will be better able to answer seamlessly when asked these questions in an interview.
Practice Makes Permanent
We hear this a lot when we talk about our students. But, it applies to you, too! The way that you practice your interview questions will be how you answer them during your interview. Practicing matters, but practicing with real intention is key! Don’t just practice answering with vague answers. Practice the details. Practice elaborating and emphasizing your strengths. This matters. It matters to the interview team. It matters to administrators. Most importantly, it should matter to you!
Give Yourself Time With Your Teacher Interview Questions
Have you ever written an essay and then gone back and read it later and think, “That doesn’t even make sense”? This has happened to me so many times! I’ve gone back to the papers that I wrote in my Master’s program, and there are times that I cringe. What made sense to me at that moment, no longer makes sense. I’m not sure if it ever made sense to my professors.
What I’m getting at here is that you need to create your answers and write them down. You need to practice them. But, then you need to put them away for a bit. This may be a day or two, or longer if you have it. Come back to them after some rest and see if the answers are still portraying what you want them to.
Revamp Your Answers for a Teacher Interview
After you give your teacher interview questions and answers some rest, it may be time to revamp. Do you still feel that you have the best answer possible? Do you need to add some more detail or elaborate more? Is there an answer that you need to revamp completely? That’s okay! It’s actually to be expected.
Don’t be scared to change what you originally wrote down. Change it. And change it again if you need to. The most important thing is answering questions to the best of your ability. You need to show a teacher interview team that you are knowledgeable. To do this, you need clear, explicit answers.
It’s Okay to Ask for Help With a Teacher Interview
Without a lot of experience with teacher interviews, it may be hard to know what interview teams are looking for. My biggest piece of advice here, ask for help! Find someone in the education community to review your questions and answers for a teacher interview. They may have some valuable insight into how you need to answer the questions. Reach out to a previous teacher, a teacher you worked with during student teaching or even an administrator. A couple of extra eyes on what you have prepared is a good thing!
Be Yourself!
Even after everything I have stated, the most important thing when going into a teacher interview is to be yourself! Let the interview team know who you are. Get advice on your questions and answers, but let your answers reflect who you are. Interviewers are looking for people to add to their teams. They want to make sure that whoever they hire is a good fit. Show them who you are and what you have to offer.
Tell the team about the games that you like to play in your classroom to increase student engagement. Talk about how you build positive relationships with students. Discuss how you will use data to conference with your students and plan instruction. Emphasize all of the fantastic attributes that you hold!
Are you still in need of more support to best prepare for your interview? Check out my free guide: 5 Ways to Rock your Teacher Interview. Simply drop your name and email below, and I’ll send this guide straight to your inbox.