Hypothetical High School • Interview Questions & Feedback

Candidate:__________________________________ Date: ____________________

General Questions

1. Introduction - Tell us about yourself and explain your experience as it relates to the position you’re applying
for. Drew
Notes & evidence Desired elements
• Education
• Certification
• Licensure
• Experience in the
school setting

2. Professional Growth/Growth Mindset – Our school’s mission statement is “Learning for all by learning
from all”. In what ways might our mission statement be evident in your teaching practice and classroom?
How do you stay current in both your content area and your teaching practice?
Do you have a growth or a fixed mindset? What evidence/examples support this?
Stephanie
Notes & evidence Desired elements
•growth mindset
•evidence of lifelong
learning
• professional
practice/standards
• alignment to mission
statement
• continuous inquiry

3. Collaboration - How have you collaborated to improve your professional practice and student learning?
Please give us an example describing how you have done this.
Other: Could you expand on how your example impacted student learning?
Nikki
Notes & evidence Desired elements
• Learning for all by
learning from all.
• Impact on student
learning & achievement
• Importance of
collaboration as an
educator
•Willingness or evidence
of collaboration
4. Teacher’s obligation - What do you believe influences student success?
4a. What is the teacher’s role in student success?
Others: Ability of a high school student to choose to disengage?
What 3 expectations do you have of your students?
Drew

Notes & evidence Desired elements

• Believe all students can
learn at high levels
• Growth mindset
• Teacher’s responsibility
ensuring all students can
learn
• Teacher responsible for
classroom environment
• Respectful Culture
•NOT outside factors

5. Relationships - How do you get to know your students and how do you use this information as a teacher?
Give examples of how you build relationships with students.
5a. Have you had an experience where it has been difficult to establish a relationship? How have you
connected to students who are resistant?
5b. What role does family engagement play toward student success. How do you build connections and
relationships with families?
Stephanie
Notes & evidence Desired elements
• Different ways of knowing ss =
academic levels, personal, etc.
• TKOS
• Connecting to teaching
practice
•Impact of T/S relationships on
student achievement
• Teacher persistence
• Importance of relationships
• Family engagement/
communication
• Collaboration w/ colleagues to
improve relationship

6. Classroom Management - What does an effectively managed classroom look like? Please give examples
of how you create an effectively managed classroom.
6a. How do you respond to disruptions? Give examples.
Nikki
Notes & evidence Desired elements
• Student engagement
• Students achieving desired
outcome for the day
• Connection to relationships
• Intentional instructional planning
(DI)
• Respectful response to disruptions
•Ability to be flexible to meet the
needs of students
7. Planning instruction - (Unit design) Please talk us through the process you use to design a unit plan.
What are the essential elements in your unit plan?
7a. What role does assessment play in unit design?
Drew
Notes & evidence Desired elements
• Standards, content,
skills, assessments
• Activities, materials, &
assessments that are…
-aligned to standards
-sequenced from basic to
complex
-build on prior student
knowl, are relevant to ss
lives, and integrate other
disciplines

8. Planning instruction - (Daily lesson design) Please describe for us the essential components of a daily
lesson plan.
8a. What role does formative assessment have in daily lesson planning?
Stephanie
Notes & evidence Desired elements
• Opening - prior
knowledge, purpose
setting
• Engagement
strategies/activities
• Closure - reflection of
student learning
• Provide appropriate time
for student work, student
reflection, & lesson closure
•Formative assessment

9. Differentiated Instruction - How do you define differentiated instruction?

9a. Give examples of how you meet the needs of diverse learners in your classroom. What do you do if
learners don’t respond to your instruction as you expected?
What are ways you draw all learners into a lesson?
How do you use different teaching strategies to best provide for the learning needs of all students?
How do you demonstrate flexibility in instruction to meet student needs?
Nikki
Notes & evidence Desired elements
•Evidence that plan
provides regular
opportunities to
accommodate indiv ss
needs
• Variety of strategies
• Formative assessment
to drive DI
• Student interests
• Environment
• Choice in content,
process, product
10. Grading philosophy - What is your grading philosophy?
What elements do you include in a student’s grade?
What is the purpose of grading? Do you allow retakes?
10a. What is an acceptable failure rate in your classroom?
Drew
Notes & evidence Desired elements
• Communication about
student learning and
growth
• Communicates
assessment criteria and
standards to students and
parents
• Flexibility
• Measures what a student
knows and can do
• Not tied to behaviors,
discipline, attendance, or
outside factors

Content Area Questions

11. Art - How would someone with a strong knowledge base in this content describe an ideal art curriculum?
What are the critical components of a robust art curriculum?
Special Ed - How would someone with a strong knowledge base in Special Education describe an ideal
program? What are some critical components?
Stephanie
Notes & evidence Desired elements
•reading, writing, speaking,
listening...CONNECTING these
rather than teaching in isolation
•Connections with other content
areas, world at large, selves
•Reading selections that
represent facets of the world &
diversity
•Ss learn to select from variety of
ways to express what they know
•New literacies

12. Art – Why do you teach art? What is its value to students? (How do we make it meaningful?)
Special Ed – Why do you teach Special Ed?
Nikki
Notes & evidence Desired elements
•teaches us about humanity,
ourselves, and the world
•thinking skills or connections to
other courses.
13. Last question. Do you think you’re a good teacher? How do you know?
What’s the gift you can give your students as a teacher?
Drew
Notes & evidence Desired elements
Does this connect to
what they said above?

Connection to NP
values/vision

14. Do you have any questions for us?

Stephanie