Be Prepared for Your Interview

In preparing yourself for the employment interview, consider kinds of questions that the interviewer may ask you. Most interviewers ask questions that fall into four major categories:

1. Personal qualifications and background
2. Interpersonal relationships
3. The teaching-learning process
4. Professional qualifications and experience.

The following questions are representative of those that might be posed in each of the four categories:

Personal Qualifications and Background

1. Why do you want to teach?
2. What gives you the most satisfaction as a teacher?
3. What can you contribute to our school?
4. Tell me about your personal background.
5. What are your hobbies and interests?
6. What would you like to be doing professionally five years from now?
7. Why do you think you will be a successful teacher?
8. Why should I hire you instead of other applicants?
9. What extra-duty activities would you be willing to assist with?
10. What are your strongest traits? Your weakest trait(s)?

Interpersonal Relationships

1. What quality in other people is most important to you?
2. Would you enjoy team teaching?
3. What do you believe your role and obligations to be toward other faculty members?
4. What techniques do you use in developing rapport with students?
5. How do your students react to your teaching?
6. What are the qualities of some of the best teachers with whom you have studied or worked?
7. How do you feel you relate with black or other minorities in the classroom?
8. What do you see your relationship to be with the parents of the students in your classroom?
9. How would you work with students in your classroom who are handicapped or disadvantaged in some way?
10. What procedures work best for you in maintaining discipline?

The Teaching-Learning Process

1. How do you handle curricular content in classes with many levels of ability?
2. How would you individualize instruction in your classroom?
3. What do you consider to be the most worthwhile innovations in your particular field(s)?
4. Describe the role of the teacher in the learning process.
5. What do you consider to be an ideal learning environment?
6. How would you organize and what would you include in a unit lesson plan?
7. What "pet" ideas or innovations do you plan to use in your teaching?
8. How do you expect to motivate students?
9. What do you think of the letter grade system?
10. What would you do or how would you treat a student who refused to do the work assigned?

Professional Qualifications and Experience

1. Why did you choose your particular area of preparation?
   1. What have you learned from your student teaching experience?
   2. What grade level do you feel most competent teaching? Why?
   3. What out-of-school experiences have you had working with children?
   4. What kinds of work experience have you had other than teaching?
   5. What courses do you feel competent to teach?
   6. How effective has your university been in preparing you for teaching?
   7. What is the purpose or place of your subject on the school curriculum?
   8. How do you define education?
   9. What would you do if....? (hypothetical situations regarding curriculum, methods, texts, student relationships, professionalism and discipline)

Things Teacher Candidates Should Want To Ask About In The Interview

1. Description of school district as per staff size, enrollment, etc.
2. Salary and fringe benefits.
3. Professional growth requirements in the district, i.e., continued schooling.
4. Elementary candidates will want to know if the system is IGE/Multi Unit or traditional -- team -- open classrooms.
5. Elementary -- types of programs in reading, social studies, science.
6. Elementary level -- a teacher's responsibility insofar as art, physical education and music is concerned.
7. Secondary -- opportunities for coaching or other co-curricular assignments.
8. Tenure within the system?
9. Community attitude toward educational system?
10. Relationship between teacher association and board of education.
11. Would you please describe the community?
12. What is the school structure? K-3, 4-6, 7-9, etc.
13. Ask specifically about the building and staff where the vacancy exists.
14. Ask specific questions about the curriculum. What is the reading series? Do you use Wisconsin Design? Etc.
15. Find out about IMC and resource materials.
16. What kind of learning atmosphere (discipline) do you want in your classrooms?
17. What specialists are available to me as a teacher?
18. How will I be evaluated?
19. How are parental contacts handled?
20. Do you have a field trip policy?
21. Do you require additional credits?
22. What are housing opportunities and costs?
23. When will a decision be reached and will I be notified?