How to Get the Teaching Job You Want (2nd edition)
by Robert Feirsen and Seth Weitzman
Since it was printed in 2004, it's a few years behind. So many things have changed in education since then, especially in California.
What I did like were the sample interview questions the book offered. I believe they are very helpful. They are listed below.
Top 100 Interview Questions
General
1. Tell us about yourself.
2. What is your educational preparation?
3. Describe your experiences working with children.
4. Why did you decide to become a teacher?
5. Why do you want to leave your present position?
6. Why should we hire you?
7. What special skills or talents can you bring to this school?
8. What is your philosophy of education?
9. Name a book, concept, experience, teacher, or person who has influenced your professional development. How?
10. If you were the successful candidate, how would you prepare for your new job?
11. What do you like best about teaching? What do you like least?
12. What three adjectives would your (students/cooperating teacher/colleagues/supervisors) use to describe you?
13. What three adjectives would you use to describe yourself?
14. What have you learned from (student) teaching?
15. What are your career goals five years from now? Ten years from now?
16. What professional development goals do you have for your own improvement?
17. How have you improved your professional skills recently?
18. What professional journals do you subscribe to?
19. What professional associations do you belong to?
20. What are your strengths as a teacher?
21. What extracurricular activities would you like to be involved in?
22. Teaching requires time management and organization skills. How do you address these challenges?
23. How do you cope with stress?
24. What hobbies, recreational activities, and/or interests do you enjoy?
25. What book greatly influenced your personal development?
26. What is the last book you read about teaching? Discuss the book.
27. How will you develop a productive relationship with your supervisor?
28. What questions have I not asked you that you wish I had raised?
29. What questions do you have for us? (This is the most common final question).
Student-Centered
30.What academic, affective, and social goals would you have for students at this age level?
31. How is a fourth-grade student different from a fifth-grade student? (Pick any two adjacent grades). Alternately: How is a middle school student different from a high school or elementary school student?
32. Describe your goals for the first few days of school and how you would achieve them.
33. How would you maintain student discipline?
34. How would you involve students in the development of classroom rules?
35. How would you address
affective education goals in your classroom?
36. What measures would you take if a child failed a test?
37. How would you accommodate the learning and emotional needs of students with disabilities?
LEP (Limited English Proficiency) learners?
Gifted and talented students?
38. A student tells you confidentially that she is using drugs. What would you do with the information? (You can substitute any other situation in which you are told something in confidence--e.g. divorce, pregnancy, child abuse, or neglect).
39. How do you develop rapport with students?
40. How would you handle a student who is a consistent behavior problem in your class?
41. What have you found to be the toughest aspect of discipline?
42. A child has been talking incessantly in your class. What would you do? How would you follow up if your first measure proved ineffective?
43. You tell a student to do something and she refuses. She seems determined not to follow your instructions. What would you do?
44. A child repeatedly fails to complete homework assignments. How would you respond?
45. Describe your background working with computers and other forms of
instructional technology.
46. What opportunities would you take to provide students with extra help?
47. What is the role of a teacher in the classroom? Outside the classroom?
48. What characteristics make a master teacher?
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
49. Describe the physical appearance of your classroom.
50. If I walked into your classroom on a typical day, what would I see taking place?
51. How would you describe your teaching style?
52. Describe your approach to teaching this subject (or grade level).
53. Why is your field important for a student to study?
54. What are the most important concepts and/or skills that students should master in this subject?
55. What are some of the best practices for teaching (in this field, at this grade level)?
56. What are
standards? How do you align your curriculum and units of study with our state standards?
57. What are the key standards for this subject area?
58. How do you communicate to students your expectations for an assignment?
59. How do you teach study and organizational skills to your students?
60. Describe how you would modify a lesson to meet the needs of a student with disabilities, an
LEP student, or
gifted and talented student.
61. What techniques do you use to check for understanding during a lesson? What techniques to you use with students who don't "get it" the first time?
62. Describe the format you would use to develop a lesson.
63. Describe a successful lesson you have taught. What were the objectives and the format of the lesson, and how did you assess whether the objectives were achieved?
64. How would you use
differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all students?
65. What principles do you use to motivate students to learn?
66. Describe curriculum trends in your field of study. Which is most interesting or exciting to you?
67. How would you plan differently for a
homogenous or
heterogeneous classroom?
68. Think of a lesson that was less than successful. Describe what you learned from it.
69. How would address the needs of students in your classroom who come from diverse cultural backgrounds?
70. How would you take into account the local economy (i.e. a fishing village or a large local employer) in the lessons you plan?
71. What is your grading philosophy? How do you decide what grade to assign to a student?
72. How would you assess student work?
73. How do you design a unit of instruction?
74. How would you use
alternative assessments (or
portfolios or
rubrics)?
75. How do you use
standardized test results?
76. Describe independent projects that you might assign.
77. Choose a topic and tell us how you would teach it and assess student learning.
78. What is your philosophy regarding homework? Describe some types of homework assignments that you would require from your students.
79. What is
constructivism? How would you use this approach in your classroom?
80. How would you use
cooperative learning techniques in your classroom?
81. In a
cooperative learning lesson, how would you ensure that every group member actively participates?
82. Describe how you would develop
interdisciplinary connections in the lessons you present to students.
83. How would you use computers as a tool for teaching and learning?
84. How would you use the Internet in your classroom?
85. How would you incorporate
(career education, character education, problem-based learning, service learning) into the curriculum?
86. How would you teach reading or writing across the curriculum (an elementary school question)? How would you teach reading or writing in your content area (a secondary school question)?
87. What units would you include in teaching ______________ (name of course)?
88. How would you deal with controversial subjects in the classroom?
89. What curriculum materials have you developed?
90. When you try something new in the classroom, how do you know if it works?
91. Would you group students in the classroom? If so, on what basis?
92. Explain how you would stimulate higher-level thinking among your students.
93. How would you incorporate Gardner's theory of
multiple intelligences?
94. What criteria would you use to evaluate textbooks for possible adoption?
95. How would you use the resources of the school library?
Parents and Community
96. How would you involve parents in the learning process?
97. How do you communicate pupil progress to parents?
98. A parent calls to question a student's grade, performance in class, or homework assignment. How would you address the parent's concerns?
99. Role-play a call to a parent to seek a solution to a classroom problem.
100. Describe how you would prepare for a parent-teacher conference.
101. How would you involve parents in homework assignments? How would you try to ensure that they are not overly involved in their child's homework assignments?
102. How will you learn about our community?
103. How would you use community resources to facilitate learning?
[Important Note: There are 103 interview questions when there were supposed to 100 questions due to an editing error where the numbering went wrong.]
Definitions:
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Affective education: learning tasks and strategies that address the emotional component of human growth and development.
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LEP (Limited English Proficiency): description of students who come from non-English language background and are not yet fluent or literate in English.
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Gifted and talented: students who demonstrate abilities or show the potential to perform far above the average.
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Instructional technology: term that encompasses all the technological aids utilized in teaching and learning (used in distance learning).
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Standards: statement of what students "should know and be able to do."
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Differentiated instruction: design of assignments that reflect an understanding of the varied learning styles and achievement levels of students in a given classroom.
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Homogenous classroom: form of ability grouping in which students are placed in classes for extended periods of time according to their achievement levels (i.e. tracking).
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Heterogeneous classroom: approach to organizing classes in which students of varying achievement levels and talents are deliberately mixed together.
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Alternative assessments: a movement in education to evaluate student performance using nontraditional methods.
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Portfolios: a collection of student work that documents progress over time.
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Rubrics: a scoring guide.
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Standardized tests: published test, constructed by experts, that is administered in a highly regulated fashion.
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Constructivism: pedagogical approach that is founded on the belief that students learn by constructing knowledge gained through learning experiences rather than by simply receiving information from others (exploration, reasoning, and reflection are emphasized more than listening to lectures and memorizing material).
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Cooperative learning: approach to teaching that requires that students work in groups to achieve common learning goals (socialization skills are emphasized).
- Interdisciplinary:
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Career education: teaching students about the nature of different jobs and the skills that are required to reach career goals.
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Character education: instruction that is specifically targeted to teach students about values that are believed to be shared by members in the community (focus on beliefs in the importance of honesty, responsibility, respect for others, respect for property, helping others, and citizenship).
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Problem-based learning: curriculum approach provides students with real-life problems for studying and organizing class work around developing solutions for these problems.
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Service learning: practice in which service activities help others so students can develop better understandings of citizenship, etc.
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Multiple intelligences: based on the theories of Howard Gardner, who argued there are spheres of multiple intelligences (linguistic, mathematical-logical, musical, spatial, body-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist).
Citation:
Feirsen, Robert, and Seth Weitzman.
How to Get the Teaching Job You
Want: The Complete Guide for College Graduates, Teachers Changing
Schools, Returning Teachers, and Career Changers. Sterling, VA: Stylus Pub., 2004. Print.
