Sample Questions for Education Interviews

These questions are particular to those applying for teaching positions. For general interview questions, see the Job Search Manual.

1. About the Candidate
2. Teaching Style
3. Students & Classroom Management
4. Elementary Education Candidates
5. Other Questions

About the Candidate

• Why do you want to teach?
• What are your professional goals?
• Tell me about yourself, and why I should hire you?
• What educational experiences was your most memorable and why?
• What 3 words best describe you?
• Describe an outside interest or hobby and how it relates to your educational goals.
• When you have an important decision to make, how do you make it?
• Describe a rigorous course you have taken, and what you learned about yourself.
• Identify a recent experience that you thought needed to be improved. How did you go about it? Were you successful? Why or why not?

Teaching Style

• What model do you use in developing a lesson?
• What happens during the first five minutes and the last five minutes of a good lesson?
• Describe what I would see during one of your best lessons?
• How would you use technology to assist you in teaching students?  How would your students use technology in your classroom?
• What is your strength as a teacher and give a specific example of how you have demonstrated it in the classroom.
• Give me an example of how you have used differentiated instruction in the classroom.
• What is your definition of character education and how would you incorporate it into your teaching?
• What are three strategies, other than traditional testing, that you would use to assess students' learning?
• What strategies would you use to meet the needs of the many different learners you have in your class?
• What do you think teachers require to be more effective?

Students & Classroom Management

• What is your classroom management philosophy?
• Describe some classroom management strategies you use to run a smooth classroom.
• How would you handle a student who frequently disrupts class?
• How do you get a feel for what students are thinking?
• Describe some ways you gain an understanding of what your students have learned, i.e. assessment strategies?
• What would you do for the (insert your discipline) student who has already mastered a particular unit of study in your class?

Elementary Education Candidates

• Describe a typical reading lesson for grade X.
• Describe a typical writing lesson for grade X.
• How do you manage the behavior of 22+ elementary school children?
• Describe your philosophy and approach to reading/language arts instruction.
• What does an exemplary mathematics classroom look like?
• What is "inquiry-based" science?

Other Questions

• What would you say to your students on the first day of school?
• How do you think you could contribute to the school community?
• Describe how you would handle difficult parents.
• Describe your greatest challenge in your student teaching.
• Briefly summarize either the national standards or NJCCCS in your content area.
• What do you know about inclusion

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