The Biggest Challenge for Teachers

Be sure you are up to date on the latest educational theories, initiatives, “hot topics,” and issues.  You will, sometime during the interview, be asked about your opinion or your experience in dealing with one of these concerns.  Here's a typical question: 

     What do you think is the biggest challenge teachers face today?

     A:   Teachers are challenged from all sides – the media, parents, government officials, elected leaders, and communities.  We are in the proverbial spotlight – constantly.  That’s why I think that one of the greatest challenges we face is that of assessment.  That is, are students learning to the best of their potential and are teachers providing their students with the best quality education possible.  Educational initiatives such as “Race to the Top” have put educational assessment on the front burner, so to speak, of educational reform.  Are we teaching what we should be teaching and are students achieving as they should be achieving?  During my student teaching experience I was able to fully integrate assessment throughout all my lesson plans – from beginning to end.  For that, I can thank Dr. Cranshaw, who showed me how to effectively integrate assessment throughout any lesson, any unit.  I certainly don’t have all the answers regarding assessment, but I’ve received some excellent training and excellent experiences I can use throughout my career.

 Be sure to demonstrate how you have addressed an element of an issue sometime in your pre-service training.  If you don’t you will be sending a very powerful message to the interviewer that you don’t stay up to date and that you are unaware of what is happening outside the classroom.  This is a mistake you can’t afford to make.

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What Do You Like Best About Teaching?

Interviewers want to know about your philosophy.  They want to know if you have a solid philosophy or whether you've just developed your philosophy in the last 24 hours or so.  Your philosophy reveals a lot about who you are as a teacher; it also gives an interviewer solid information about where you stand on critical issues.  Here's a typical query:

 

     What do you like best about teaching?  What do you like least?

     A:   For me, teaching is an incredibly rewarding career!  It offers unlimited possibilities to influence generations of students, imparting to them the excitement of learning, the passion of discovery, and the magic of an inquisitive mind.  I believe that teaching is both a science and an art.  It is also a way of making a difference in the lives of others.  It is the shaping of minds and the shaping of futures.                       

            What I like least would probably be the fact that I have a limited amount of time to work with my students.  I have only 180 school days and seven-and-a-half hours in each of those days to share with them all the wonderful things they can learn.  While I can’t change the time I have available, I can change students’ lives.  I can’t think of anything more exciting.

 Don’t select controversial topics for your response.  You won’t know where the interviewer stands on those topics and you don’t want to upset her or him.  Select topics that are non-controversial or non-confrontational.

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Your Special Skills

A teacher interview offers you a wonderful opportunity to highlight skills and talents that may not be evident on your resume.  Here's a question often asked near the end of an interview - a chance for you to highlight your unique talents.

      What special skills or talents will you bring to your classroom?

     A:   I’ve always been interested in theatre.  I was in a number of plays in college and served as a youth director for a production at a local repertory company in town.  I’ve read some books about readers theatre and how valuable it can be as a language arts activity.  I’ve learned how it can help kids become more fluent readers and would like to make it part of my language arts curriculum.  From what I’ve read I think it can be a positive addition to the classroom curriculum and a way to get kids more actively engaged in their own learning.

With this question the interviewer is providing you with an opportunity to demonstrate how well-rounded you are.  Don’t blow this wonderful chance to let your personality and talents show through.  As in all your responses, select examples that can have a connection to what goes on in a classroom or to specific elements of the overall curriculum.  Let your talents and skills shine, but don’t go overboard.

Classroom Management II

If you're looking for a question (or series of question) sure to dominate any interview - you can certainly count on hearing queries about classroom management.  They will come in all sizes and all shapes - but it is as certain as death and taxes that you will be faced with one or more questions.  Be prepared!  Here is another typical one frequently shared in an interview:

What are some things teachers do that create classroom management problems?

     A:   Teachers sometimes, inadvertently, create discipline problems through certain kinds of behaviors.  Professor Lewiston, in his course on “Management, Discipline, and Behavior” shared some of the most common behaviors. These included 1) extreme negativity, 2) an excessive authoritative climate, 3) overreacting, 4) mass punishment, 5) blaming, lack of instructional goals, and not recognizing students’ ability levels.  I learned that avoiding these, and other similar behaviors, can go a long way toward creating a climate of trust and caring that will significantly reduce misbehavior.

Describe your knowledge of the inappropriate behaviors in addition to your own personal reaction to those behaviors.  Let the interviewer know that you are aware of factors that may have a negative influence on students learning and that you are conscious of what you need to do to avoid those behaviors.

If You Could Change Anything...?

Every once in a while, you'll get a question designed to see how well you can think on your feet.  These questions are often asked to determine your overall attitude - positive or negative - and how that attitude might be revealed in an "off the wall" query.  Be ready for these.

If you could change anything about your teacher preparation program, what would it be?

A:   I wish we would have more field experience hours required in preparation for students teaching. At High Tuition College we were required to complete 150 hours of field experience prior to student teaching.  I’ve always felt that that simply wasn’t enough to prepare us for the demands and challenges of the student teaching experience.  So, on top of that requirement I spent a lot of time over breaks and vacations volunteering at my local elementary school.  I was a guest reader in the school library for the “Readers are Leaders” club, I helped out with the after-school tutoring program, and I coached the junior soccer team.  I wanted to obtain as many experiences with youngsters as possible – even beyond what the college required.  I knew that those experiences would help me be a better teacher in the long run.

Obviously, you don't want to bad-mouth your college or university teacher training program (the interviewer may have graduated from there, too).  Briefly mention one small aspect of the program that may not have met your expectations.  Show how you dealt with that aspect in a positive way, going above and beyond the usual requirements to learn more than was required.  This is a great chance to demonstrate how one of your strengths was used to address a problem or recurring situation.