Sample Teacher Interview Questions

 

What is your philosophy of education?

What teaching methods/strategies work for you?

What do you do if a child needs special help in your class?

What innovative things have you done in class?

Why did you want to become a teacher?

What are the rewards of being a teacher?

How do you feel about meeting deadlines when doing your work?

How do you feel about your students getting work done on time?

Do you want your students to like you?  Why?

What kinds of things do you do to get your students to like you?

What have you done to improve your school?

What are your career goals?

What experiences have you had with teaching children?

Do you have multicultural teaching experience?

Do you have experience with special education students?

What do you remember most about your education?

What grade levels and subjects do you prefer to teach?

How do you diagnose your studentÕs needs?

How do you meet the range of skills and needs commonly present in a classroom?

When do you use individual work, and when do you use group work and when do you use whole classroom work?

What do you think are qualities of an excellent teacher?

How do you make sure your lessons are taught at the correct level?

How do you stimulate active participation in the classroom?

How would you use parents in the classroom?

What kind of planning do you do?

How do you plan for a year?  A week?  A day?

How do you select what you will teach?

What are some characteristics of a well-managed classroom?

What discipline methods work for you?

What is your primary goal with student discipline?

How do you make sure your rules are carried out?

How much responsibility for their learning do you feel students should take?

What kinds of rewards and consequences would you use?

Describe your most difficult student discipline situation and how you handled it.

How are you going to improve your teaching abilities over the next few years?

What professional development topics interest you most?

What grading system works for you?

What additional talents and skills do you have?

What extracurricular activities can you supervise?

Do you have questions or additional comments?

Pick out your favorite teacher and describe what impressed you the most about this person.

What do you perceive as the three most important strengths you possess as a teacher?

Name one or two areas that you would like to improve.

Why do you think you will make a good teacher at this school?

How are you able to show both an interest in and an enthusiasm for teaching?

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

What classes and trainings have you had that prepared you for teaching?

Talk about your ability to introduce or begin a lesson.

How would you accommodate the different learning styles in your class?

How are you able to stimulate creative expression in your students?

What are some ways that teachers can be helpful to slow learners?

How do you assess a students learning?

How would you handle a parent-teacher conference where the parent blamed you for his or her sonÕs lack of progress?

How would you handle a student who refused to do work in class?

In what type of situation would you turn to the principal or dean of students for assistance?

In what ways would you be able to convey to the students that you are in charge of the class?

Tell us about your background.

How do you use technology in your classroom?

There is a very large gap between English speaking students and minority students in todayÕs classrooms.  How would you lower the gap between the groups of students?

What type of discipline do you use in the classroom?

How do you connect standards and assessments?

How do you integrate across the curriculum?

How do you assess reading and writing?

What do you consider to be best practice in literacy instruction?

What character building programs are you familiar with?

Give us an example of an integrated unit you created.

What training have you been through during teaching and in-services?

How do you align objectives with standards?

Why do you want to work here?

You have one hour for a small group reading program.  How would you design it?