Teacher Interview for 2023: Prep for These Four New Questions

These four new teacher interview questions reflect our evolving society. 

At some point, most of us have experienced the unpleasant feeling of being asked an unexpected teacher interview question.  Your interview prep and otherwise solid performance were wrecked by a rambling answer to a topic you weren’t ready for. 

Get ready, because some new questions are coming to a teacher interview near you.  

Check out the link to the article with strategies for developing your career as a teacher.  Staying current with the latest educational trends is critical to maintaining your career mobility.  

If you’ve been in a classroom lately, I’m guessing you can guess what these new questions are. 

Four New Teacher Interview Questions for 2023

Question #1: How do you incorporate social-emotional learning into your curriculum?

Why is this question asked?

The term “Social Emotional Learning” arose in the mid-1990s.  A group called Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) was formed to advance the cause.  The initiative has been gradually gaining traction throughout K-12 education over the last 25 years.

The pandemic accelerated this existing educational trend to teach students skills to cope with stress, anxiety, and depression. Data from the Centers for Disease Control reveals that over one-third of high school students experienced poor mental health during the pandemic.

The same CDC study, conducted in 2021 during the pandemic, also reported a staggering 19.9% of high school students seriously considered suicide, and 9.0% attempted suicide in the 12 months prior to the survey.  These are horrifying statistics.

In elementary-age children, the pandemic increased the need to help young people understand and manage their emotions as well as form healthy relationships with their peers.

Educators and parents hoped a return to normal, in-person learning would provide kids with the feeling of connectedness they lacked during the pandemic. For many students, that hasn’t happened and schools are turning to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as a solution.

Addressing interview questions pertaining to SEL:  

• Make it clear that you understand the importance of SEL. Many districts purchase a pre-packaged SEL curriculum and then ask their teachers to implement these lessons – often during homeroom or advisory.  The success or failure of this curriculum is often dependent on the teacher’s attitude toward the SEL lesson.  We’ve reached the point at which to be effective teachers, we need to address mental health in our classrooms. 

• As is often the case in education, old ideas get repackaged in a new name. In many ways, SEL is a modern version of “life skills”.  Kids have always needed guidance when it comes to managing emotions, bouncing back from failure, and maintaining positive relationships with their peers. Some examples: you emphasize group work and explicitly teach your expectations for student interactions or you incorporate student goal-setting and self-reflection. 

Question #2: How do you promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in your class?

Why is this question asked?

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives aim to improve learning outcomes by making sure that all students feel welcome, safe, and valued at school.  The DEI movement has met some resistance – read more about DEI pushback in this article from Education Week.  But at their core, the goals of DEI match the exact reasons why many teachers got into the profession: happy, successful young people.

Understanding DEI: three implications on your teaching practice

• A greater emphasis on Community Building.  Educators understand the impact that a positive connection to the school environment has on student learning.  All teachers should strive to create an environment that is welcoming and affirming for their students.  We should commit to learning about students, their families, and their heritage with the goal of establishing trust and respect in the school/home.  Your interview responses should begin with specific plans for creating meaningful connections with your students.

• Pedagogical Impact. Culturally responsive instruction values the personal experience, prior knowledge, and cultural backgrounds of its students. This student-centered approach emphasizes inclusive forms of instruction and assessment.  Teachers should deliver a rigorous curriculum, but also make room for various learning styles or allow for multiple methods of demonstrating knowledge.  In this way, we are supporting and holding all students to a high standard.

• Curriculum Choices.  When curating educational resources, teachers should select voices that have historically been underrepresented. Students gain a more diverse viewpoint as well as the opportunity to think critically about the systems of power that exist in society.  

Question #3: How do you teach digital literacy?

Why is this question asked?

Many districts proudly tout their 1:1 programs, but teachers and administrators alike recognize that daily technology use poses a variety of challenges.  As the technology component of classroom management grows, administrators will want assurances that you’re up to the challenge.  On that point, teachers with a handle on tech use in their classrooms typically send fewer tech-related discipline problems to the front office.

Some of the many areas that you might potentially cover when talking about Digital Literacy.

• Information Literacy
• Ethical/Fair Use
• Online Communications
• Bullying
• Online Collaboration
• E-Safety

We’d recommend researching a bit about each of these components and then selecting 2-3 to focus on in your answer.

Talking about digital literacy in three parts:

• Information Literacy.  This means that kids are able to discern fake information from the good stuff.  Kids are incredibly tech-savvy but not always in an academic way. They need to learn which sources are reliable, what it means if there is no author listed, why a .edu is better than a .site, and so on.  I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say information literacy is critical to our American democratic system.

• Ethical Use of Online Sources. Students need to know that information from the internet should be, just like from a book, cited. In your interview, discuss issues such as copyright law and the Fair Use Act.  Depending on the age of your students, it might be relevant to discuss proper handling and care of the device itself.

• Online Communications.  Sometimes called “netiquette”, students should be taught that different platforms require a bit of code-switching – alternating between types of communication depending on the situation.  (Kids are experts at code-switching and do it every day.)  

Question #4: What is your experience with equitable grading practices?

Why is this question asked?

The theory is that hidden within traditional grading practices are biases, unbeknownst to the teacher, that punitively impact certain subgroups of students.  And that grades do not accurately reflect what a student knows about the content.  The ideas below are from Joe Feldman, CEO of the Crescendo Education Group.  You can read more from an article Mr. Feldman wrote for the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Equitable grading major takeaways:

Feldman’s first point is that different grading policies from teacher to teacher within a school are not equitable.  He equates it to kids having to play by different rules every period of the day.

Second, Feldman maintains that grades should never include behavioral components such as how much a student participates or whether they complete their homework.  If a teacher includes those elements, then the grade does not accurately reflect what students know.  

The last piece is that standard-based grading is not tied to a particular timeline of learning.  If a student masters a skill or concept later than other kids, no “late penalty” should be awarded.

Teaching Doesn’t Prepare You to Interview Well

Teaching and interviewing are different and teaching expertise doesn’t always translate into success in an interview.  I found that after teaching for 15 years, I had no experience in talking about teaching in a way that might stand out amongst a dozen other candidates.  Our hope is to send you into that interview room better prepared than ever.

We’ve put together a completely free mini-course to help prep teachers master their next teacher interview. 

The mini-course focuses on interview intangibles – that undefined part of your interview that makes the hiring committee think and feel that you’d be a great hire.

Sign up below to access our FREE 5-day mini-course on Teacher Interview Intangibles!

What’s covered in the free course?

• How to present yourself as the perfect fit for their school and community
• How to incorporate storytelling and humor in your interview
• Simple ways to increase your likability in the interview setting