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This page contains common questions that alternate route teachers will be asked during interviews. Suggested approaches to more challenging questions are offered in more depth. However, we do not intend for you to attempt to develop and memorize responses to each of these questions. Ultimately, you will need to develop your own strategies and find a way to communicate them in a genuine and honest manner.
10 MOST COMMONLY ASKED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
10 MOST COMMONLY ASKED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Briefly tell me about your experiences working/ volunteering in low-income communities
If I walked into your classroom, what would I see?
What sort of classroom routines and procedures do you or will you implement in your classroom and why?
How would you motivate your students to learn? What would you do with reluctant learners?
Give an example of a time when you set an ambitious goal. How did you measure your success? What was the outcome?
How would you handle a student who is consistently off-task / late to class / a behavioral concern?
Tell me about a professional experience (project, meeting, event) that did not go the way you planned. How did you handle it? OR What would you do if a lesson didn’t work well?
How will you determine or know if students are learning?
What kind of relationship do you want with your students, with parents?
Tell me about a time you faced a critical challenge with a peer or someone who served in a supervisory role. What steps did you take did you take to overcome this challenge?
Additional Interview Questions
Additional Interview Questions
Why do you want to teach at this point in your life?
How long do you plan on teaching?
What is your philosophy of education?
What is your classroom management system going to be?
How will you effectively plan lessons?
What are your accomplishments?
What are your goals for the future (related to education)?
What are the special qualities you will bring to the classroom?
Define your working style.
What are you looking for in a principal?
How will you handle a disruptive student?
What kinds of extracurricular activities do you see yourself leading?
How will you involve parents/guardians in your classroom?
Describe how you will set up your classroom.
Describe your approach to how you would work with other faculty.
Do you have any questions about our school?
What do you think is the most important contribution you can make?
How do you provide for individual differences within your classroom?
What kind of relationship do you want with your students?
What do you know about our school? About our city?
What do you think should and can be done to improve communication between teachers and students? Teachers and parents? Teachers and administrators?
Topical Interview Questions
Topical Interview Questions
Mission Alignment
Why do you think this position and this school is a great fit for you?
Where do you see yourself in 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?
Many urban students perform at a basic or below basic academic level, in your opinion and from your experience, why do you think students fail?
Organizational Alignment
You were sent the article “Sample Title Here”. This document outlines our philosophy on XYZ. What are your thoughts about XYZ?
Do you think that the results of standardized assessments are a valid indicator of how much students have learned?
How do you plan to measure your success as a teacher?
Passion
What is one specific lesson or concept that you are excited about teaching in your chosen content area next year?
What can you contribute to the greater school community?
Personal Administration and Communication
Tell me when you have had to handle a variety of assignments. Describe the results. How did you prioritize?
Tell me about a time when you have had to utilize a system to inform your supervisor and teammates.
Resilience
What types of resources would you seek out to inform your practice?
It is the first day of school and you assign homework to your 25 students. You are confident that the homework matches the students’ abilities and what you taught. The following day, upon collecting the assignment, you realize that only 4 students completed it. How do you address the situation? What will you do if that fails? What will you do if that also fails?
Given what you know about teaching and the goals of our program, if you were to work at our school, what do you anticipate being the most challenging thing about working here?
A student in your class curses at you in front of other students. Describe your response. How do you get to the root of the problem? How will you respond if it happens a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time?
Questions to Ask Principals
At some point during your interview, it is likely that the person you are interviewing with will ask you what questions you have. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the school and to show that you've done your research.
You SHOULD ask questions that:
Build rapport
"What do you personally love most about working here?"
Give you an opportunity to learn something about the school or position that isn't readily available elsewhere
"What qualities do your strongest teachers possess?"
Show that you know what unique programs, opportunities, etc. exist at the school
"I read about the community wrap-around services your school offers. Can you tell me more about what this looks like on a daily level and what it would mean for me as a teacher?"
Highlight why you might be a good fit for the school
"My undergraduate degree was in art and I know that your school uses an arts infused curriculum. How do you incorporate the arts into all content areas?"
You SHOULD NOT ask questions that:
Are easily answered elsewhere
"When does the school year begin?"
We recommend that you arrive at interviews prepared to ask a few questions in order to demonstrate your interest in being a part of a particular school community. Below is a sample list of questions you can consider asking in an interview. You should always feel free to bring your own questions as well.
What are the school’s strengths?
What qualities do successful teachers in your school possess?
What curricula are used in your school in my subject area?
Does the school have a math and/or literacy coach?
What’s the ratio of new to experienced teachers?
What type of professional development opportunities are offered at your school?
Are there support structures are in place for working with parents?
What are the extracurricular activities at the school that I can get involved in?
What are your expectations of teachers in your school?
What is your vision for this school/district and how do I fit into that vision?
Is there a school-wide behavior policy?
Do teachers plan collaboratively or independently (i.e. by grade level and/or department)?
Addressing Scenario Questions
Addressing Scenario Questions
Scenario and behavioral based questions are used to discover how you acted (or would act) in specific employment-related situations. Hiring teams have already decided what skills are needed in the person they hire and will ask questions to find out if you have those skills. Principals are particularly interested in our ability to logically evaluate a problem and develop multiple, creative solutions.
As you prepare for interviews, we recommend you use the steps below to structure your answers for scenario questions.
The best interview answers are specific, concrete and provide supporting evidence.
Make sure you understand what the question is asking.
Make a general statement that you will support with evidence.
Provide three pieces of supporting evidence to back up your answer.
Interviewers are very interested in hearing your responses to challenging, “real-life” classroom management scenarios. Beyond explaining how you would thoughtfully address the challenges presented in a scenario, principals want to know that you will take responsibility for what happens in your classroom and attempt to address most issues of classroom management with creative, teacher-driven strategies (e.g. developing a system to reward positive behavior, making frequent contact with parents) instead of sending uncooperative students to her/his office. You may also want to highlight your ability and willingness to collaborate with colleagues – and seek the advice of a professional advisor or experienced teacher - to solve difficult classroom management issues. Of course, there are situations – particularly those that concern the physical safety of students and teachers – where it is perfectly appropriate to indicate that you will seek the support of the administration.
In-Depth Teaching Questions
In-Depth Teaching Questions
Some schools may not know as much about our program, or they'll know the program and will still want to hear how much you know about educational theory and processes. In that case, you may be asked more nuanced or deeper questions about teaching practices and theories. Here's an example list of these kinds of questions, with some resources for you to look over to prepare to answer any of these questions. You can also be prepared for these types of questions by sharing "I don't know a lot about that yet, but here's how I tackled a similar problem in my last job/in school..." Don't be afraid to lean on and make connections to the wealth of information you're already bringing! We will also be releasing a required Pre-PST Course for you to take prior to PST, that will help you develop a foundational understanding of many of the topics below.
What are some ways you will know your students are achieving?
Here's a great resource from the National School Reform Faculty that walks teachers through several protocols for looking at student work closely to ensure students are meeting expectations, and ultimately achieving.
https://www.nsrfharmony.org/system/files/protocols/atlas_lfsw_0.pdf
How will you use data to drive instruction in your core subjects and during interventions?
Here's a quick, easily digestible article from Edutopia about some simple ways you can use data to drive instruction.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-student-data-inform-teaching-rebecca-alber
How will you plan a 90 minute reading block? What would it look like? How about a 60 minute math block?
What method, strategy, or program do you use to teach writing?
Here's an overview of how to think about teaching writing.
This is not a specific method -there are a lot of them! We would encourage you to look up some strategies for teaching writing.
What does your math block and math intervention period look like?
Here's a great article about how to structure a math block.
How would you structure a 2-hour science lab?
What will you do to set high expectations for student behavior? How would you maintain these expectations?
Here's a great article from Edutopia about how to approach student behavior in class.
What is your definition of a high needs school? What do you think will be your greatest challenge teaching in a high needs school? How will you overcome this challenge?
I haven't provided a specific resource here, as this is a deeply personal question. We encourage you to consider that "high-needs" is a label that often gets applied to students in very negative ways. Consider that students that attend a high-needs school are children just like any other group of children. And, children that attend high-needs schools deserve access to the same high quality education that any other child should get. When you think about what kinds of challenges you'll face, consider challenges that have to do with you, using the guiding principle of "Starting with Self" rather than making assumptions about our students.
Sample Questions and Answers
Sample Questions and Answers
QUESTION: Tell me what you will be doing with your students on the first day of school.
Emphasize to your interviewer that you know how important it is to establish clear rules and procedures for your students at the very beginning of the year. As you are aware, typically, before the first day of school, you want to be ready with:
A clear set of classroom rules. For example, students will respect themselves and others; students will come to class on-time and prepared to learn; students will treat school property with respect; students will use appropriate language in class; etc.
A plan for communicating the rules and procedures. Many teachers communicate their rules and procedures by drafting a contract that is signed by the students, parents and teacher. The contract may list the goals and expectations for the class, including the grading policy and course syllabus. Some teachers spend the first several class periods working collaboratively with their students to develop consensus around the rules.
A clear grading policy. It is important to emphasize to interviewers that you will establish a clear grading policy in collaboration with other teachers in your team or in your department.
High expectations. As you know, our program is designed to ensure that all students have an effective teacher. This starts on day one with the expectations you lay out for your students. It is critical that you develop a “no excuses” culture from the start.
QUESTION: How do you structure your lessons to maintain control over the classroom?
It is important to show interviewers that you recognize that your ability to plan engaging lessons with clear learning expectations will have the most positive impact on classroom management. A typical issue that teachers struggle with is how to establish routines to maximize their students’ “time-on-task” (e.g., the amount of class time students spend on the learning objective). Many teachers develop “do-now’s” to introduce the day’s activities. These learning activators, like problems sets or journal assignments, are easily incorporated into daily classroom routines. Students understand that there is something for them to do as soon as they come through the door, thus minimizing the amount of time for “off-task” behavior.
QUESTION: Scenario questions regarding classroom situations.
Interviewers are very interested in your responses to challenging, “real-life” classroom management scenarios. Along with the rules you set, you should also give some thought to the consequences that students will face if they do not follow the rules. Most importantly, emphasize that you will take responsibility for what happens in your classroom. Principals want to know that you will attempt to address most issues of classroom management with creative, teacher-driven strategies (i.e., developing a system to reward positive behavior, making frequent contact with parents) instead of sending every uncooperative student to her/his office. You may also want to highlight your ability and willingness to collaborate with colleagues to solve difficult classroom management issues. Of course, there are situations – particularly those that concern the physical safety of students and teachers – where it is perfectly appropriate to indicate that you will seek the support of the administration.
QUESTION: Do you know how to pace a class? How will you make sure you will get through the curriculum?
Most teachers, even veterans, struggle to establish long-range plans that strike a balance between depth and breadth. In other words, should teachers approach the curriculum with the goal of covering as much material as possible, or should they take the approach of spending more time on less material? This debate will not get resolved any time soon; therefore if you are faced with questions regarding pacing, you may want to acknowledge that this is a difficult issue. Many school districts have developed guides to help teachers pace their instruction in alignment with the learning standards in the frameworks.
As you are aware, in order to pace appropriately, teachers must assess student understanding. Questions about assessing student knowledge frequently come up in interviews. You may want to emphasize how you have been trained to use a variety of forms of assessment (questioning techniques, developing tests, portfolios, interdisciplinary projects, etc.). It is important that the interviewer realizes that you are going to employ a variety of techniques to gauge student understanding. Additionally, it is important to have a big goal for your classroom and a clear sense of how you will monitor progress towards this big goal.
QUESTION: What tactics would you use to get a totally disengaged student on-board?
Good lessons use “activators” or “hooks” to pique student interest by connecting the objective of the lesson to previously learned skills, ideas or relevant experiences in students’ lives. For example, the foreign language teacher might hook the students into the lesson on likes and dislikes by reading examples of personal ads, with a goal that at the end of the lesson students would be able to write their own ad in a foreign language. It is important to emphasize that you will draw on a variety of resources to plan your lessons and units.
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