INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS

“Tell Me about Yourself”

1. A brief summary of your personal details: You have to give your name, where you are from and a brief review of your
resume. You may also provide any other personal detail that you choose to provide.

2. Education: You should tell the interviewer about your educational qualifications and any relevant miscellaneous
educational qualifications that you might have amassed.

3. Professional experience: Standard questions during a job interview are “tell me about your professional experience”.
Depending on whether you are a novice or an experienced professional, you should share your previous job experiences. If
you are a novice, then, you could tell anything that you think would be relevant for the job. You may provide a scope of
your educational capabilities and strengths or any of your hobbies, etc.

“What are your strengths as a teacher?”

As a teacher, I would say that patience is my biggest strength, and this strength has allowed me to be very successful in my
profession. I also think that my cool and calm manner leaves an impact on the children, which makes me approachable,
while my knowledge on the subject generates an automatic interest for the children. I believe calmness begets calmness;
children imitate what they see.

Learning agility and effective personal communication skills

Self Motivated and Determined

Success Oriented and Natural Leader

Team Player

Hardworking

Intelligence and Self Confidence

What are Your weaknesses

Getting Nervous around people

Being a Debater

Going out of one’s Way

Lack of some skills

“Why do you want to become a teacher?”

1. I have had a strong passion for math and while in college did a lot of peer tutoring

2. I was born a teacher. It might sound very trite, but I was. I have a sister and a brother...I would rush home everyday and
teach them everything I learned. I have had many experiences in my life and each one has made me a better teacher.

3. I want to mold the minds of the young people.

4. I decided to become a teacher because I love to learn, be around children, and learn from others.

5. Im passionate about working with children.

6. l want to use my skills to do good to the society, l love to be around small children, I can learn new things.

7. I love interacting with children and it gives me joy everytime i share something new.

8. When I was young, I always had good teachers at school. I looked up to them and believe that they influenced me
positively in my life, helped me to become mature and be able to take right decisions in life. From that time I always
wanted to become teacher.

9. I always liked to listen to the others and to teach. I was an excellent student and I used to help fellow pupils with their
homework. On the top of that I believe in a great importance of helping the young generation to find their place in life and
be proud to take part on this mission.

10. Personally am a very enthusiastic learner and a good communicator with a strong zeal to contribute to the society.
Hence chose this profession to enlighten the young minds and drive them for a better life.

11. I wanted to become a teacher to be able to make a positive difference on the future of children. For me, it is
great/fulfilling challenge: stimulating the next generation to become lifelong learners. I have always been grateful to the
educational system for implanting values in me and at this juncture, I feel I should contribute what I have learnt and
experienced over the years. This way I will be paying back and at the same time can fulfill my desire of enhancing the
education system.

12. I can’t think of any job as important to society as teaching. I have always loved to give young people the best start in
life. Interacting with kids is great. Be it on educational grounds or recreational activities, it is a lot more fun interacting and
learning with kids. As a hobby, I have been giving tutorials to kids at the neighborhood community center.

13. I want to be a teacher for developing a new generation of thinking individuals. Being a goal oriented person with tons
of patience, I am sure I will be able to gel with kids and train them in the required subjects with utmost care and concern
for achieving the educational goals.

14. I’ve known from an early age that helping others grow is where my true passion lies. When I was in 11th grade I sat
down with my favorite teacher to get a better understanding of the job and if it was something that I should pursue. I was
so inspired by her love for learning and desire to make a change that I knew there was no other option for me.

In your opinion what do students look for in their teacher?

Students look at their teachers as role models and person who can guide them better for a bright future. As a role model
the teacher should infuse positive attitudes towards life and encourage them to be good citizens contributing to the nation
and society.

Each and every child is special and gifted differently. How do you identify those hidden talents?

Yes, the fact that each child is blessed differently and a teacher is the best person to identify the hidden talents and
encourage them to pursue those special skills. Different classroom activities like essay writing, elocution, painting and role
plays help in identifying children with special talents in writing, oratory, acting and artistic skills . Also the sports and
cultural events bring out their leadership & team working skills.
What are the challenges for teachers in handling the modern day students?

The role of teachers is becoming very challenging these days. Especially with both parents working and the time they
spend with the children for their studies is drastically coming down. Also the expectations of the parents on their children
both in studies and extra-curricular activities are very high. All this becomes a great challenge for the teachers in giving
individual attention to each child rather than just delivering the lesson.

Also the improving technology and communications are giving children a great exposure to the happening around the
world and tinge of innocence is completely missing. Children are able to get any sort of information in a click of mouse on
the internet. Hence the teachers are facing a great challenge in handling students in the current day. Teachers need to
really pull up their socks and improve their knowledge and not just rely on the text books.

How do you use technology in driving the interest of the students?

Use of technology is inevitable both to gain hands on knowledge using internet and using PPT’s and video clippings for
delivering the class room sessions.

Good Communication skills are a must for a teacher. How do you comprehend this?

A good teacher must be a good communicator. Without good communication skills one cannot get the students attention
however knowledgeable the person might be. Obviously what matters is the output or the delivery and no one would
count on the time spent on preparation or the years of experience gained.

What techniques do you follow to ensure active participation of the students in the class?

Communication should always be two way. The teacher delivering the lesson and students listening to it is an old style; the
teachers today need to be facilitators. Simple techniques like giving small assignments on the subject, conducting quiz
competitions and making presentations on the topics helps students to gain interest on the subject.

Discipline is very important for the success of any individual and what is the role of a teacher in it?

Schools / educational institutions are the places where the seeds of discipline are sown in the young minds. Students learn
the skills to build a bright life where discipline in time, work, and attitude play a vital role. Even though the students
remember their teachers as ‘strict masters’, teachers need to be really committed in making the students abide by the rules
and regulations. Giving punishments is justifiable to ensure that the student is on the right track and that indirectly goes to
the teachers as a credit.

What changes do you foresee in the next 5-6 years in the educational system in our country?

With the advancements in the technology the exposure that children are getting today is enormous. Text books are not the
single source of information anymore. Hence I feel that there would be major improvements in the course curriculum and
also the process of assessment would change.
How do you develop the confidence and self esteem in your students?

Teachers should understand that the capabilities of students differ from one another. Giving opportunities to perform to
only those students who are bright and enthusiastic is not the correct procedure. This would actually lower the confidence
levels of more than 50% of the class who fear of failure and poor performance.

One can say that, in the current institute, we make sure that each and every student takes part in both classroom activities
and extra-curricular activities. This actually helps the student overcome fear of not performing well over a period of time
and start gaining confidence and build self esteem.