Interview Questions

Below are example questions you may experience during your interview process.

What would you do if a parent came in extremely upset and said that his/her child had been treated unfairly during an incident at lunch that day?

How will you include parents in the educational process? What do you expect from a principal? "If someone came into your class room what would they see happening/how would it be arranged?" (two questions, really) Why did you chose teaching?

How do you feel about inclusion?

What techniques do you use for behavior management in your classroom?

How would you develop a reading curriculum for our school?

What if you had a child in your class who was on medication and his behavior was regressing ...would you reconsider teaching?

What would you do if a Special Education Teacher came to you and asked if she could have a prep period with you to plan for a child in your class that is special ed?

What reading series have you used?

Why should we hire you?

How would you design your reading and writing curricula?

How much of the kindergarten day should be academic and how much social?

What are some of your favorite children's books?

What is the role of literature in kindergarten?

Describe the language acquisition of a child. How are you going to serve the needs of your second language students? Describe the discipline/classroom management program you would establish.

What are your discipline techniques?

Are there learning centers in your classroom?

If so, what kind of learning centers do you have?

How do the learning centers work in your classroom (do they rely on computers, independent study, group study, etc.) ?

Why do you use learning centers?

What's your best recommendation to a new teacher as to how one should go about creating their own learning centers?

If you don't use learning centers, please explain why not.

Do you use thematic units?

If so, why do you use thematic units? Please describe how you use thematic units in your classroom?

What is an example of a recent thematic unit used in your classroom?

If you don't use thematic units, please explain why not.

How do you organize math and science yearly and daily schedules?

Do you follow district curriculum guides and state frameworks?

Why or why not?

What do you want to accomplish as a teacher? How will you determine what your students' attitudes and feelings are about your class?

An experienced teacher offers you the following advice: "When you are teaching, be sure to command the respect of your students immediately and all will go well." How do you feel about this?

How do you decide what it is that should be taught in your class?

A parent comes to you and complains that what you are teaching his or her child is irrelevant to the child's needs. How would you respond?

What do you think provides you the greatest pleasure in teaching?

When you have some free time, what do you enjoy doing the most?

How do you determine each individual student's potential?

Would you rather try a lot of way-out teaching strategies for would you rather try to perfect the approaches which work best for you?

Explain your position. Do you like to teach with an overall plan in mind for the year, or would you rather just teach some interesting things and let the process determine the results?

Explain your position. A student is doing poorly in your class. You talk to him or her, and he or she tells you that he or she considers you to be the poorest teacher he or she has ever met. What would you do?

If there were absolutely no restrictions placed upon you, what would you most want to do in life