36 Questions to Ask a Teacher’s Aide (Plus Sample Answers) walkini
If you want to be a teaching assistant, the interview is a very important part of the hiring process. Teachers’ assistants need to be good at talking to people and getting along with them. These are skills that are best tested in person. Reviewing a list of teacher assistant interview questions can help you feel ready for the kinds of questions you might be asked during an interview.36 Questions to Ask a Teacher’s Aide (Plus Sample Answers)walkini
This article gives you 36 different teacher assistant interview questions, along with tips on how to answer them and sample answers to help you come up with your own.
General questions
The purpose of these questions is to help the interviewer learn about the candidate’s education, hobbies, and personality:
- Tell me what you’re doing to get better at your job as a teacher’s aide.
- Show me what’s on your resume.
- Why do you want to help out a teacher?
- What do you think is the best thing you can do in this role?
- What do you think is your biggest flaw?
- Why are you interested in working at this school?
- Why do you think it’s important to have a teaching assistant role?
- Tell me what you think the job of a teaching assistant is.
- Do you think you’d be happy working as an assistant teacher? Have you enjoyed being a TA in the past? If so, please tell me how.
- What do you think will be the hardest things about this job?
- Tell me everything you know about our school and how we teach.
- How do you like working with kids the most?
- In three to five years, where do you see yourself?
- What do you think are the most important things a teaching assistant needs to have?
Questions about past work and history
These questions are meant to help the interviewer figure out if the background and experience of a teacher’s assistant match the qualifications they’re looking for in a candidate:36 Questions to Ask a Teacher’s Aide (Plus Sample Answers)walkini
- Tell me about a time when you worked with a group of kids and did a good job.
- Do you think it has to be fun to learn?
- Have you ever seen kids being mean to each other on the playground? How did you go about fixing the problem?Would you have done anything differently?
- Do you feel like you can talk to children well? What kind of plans do you use? Do you change how you talk to children based on who they are? How?
- Do you think you’re well put together? Tell me what you do to keep yourself and other people in order.
- What methods have you used in the past to teach a child a lesson?
- Tell me about a time when you and your team worked well together.
- What have you done in the past to get the kids in your classroom excited?
- Tell me about a lesson you taught a child that worked. How did you go about it?
- Tell me about how you’ve worked with kids in the past.
In-depth questions
These in-depth questions help the interviewer learn more about the candidate’s teaching philosophy and how well they can think critically and solve problems.36 Questions to Ask a Teacher’s Aide (Plus Sample Answers)walkini
- What do you do about it? Who else did you involve?
- Tell me about a time when a child or teenager did something that made you worried. What stood out to you?
- How would you help a child who was having trouble doing something?
- How would you deal with a student who was making trouble in class?
- How would you help a child who wasn’t interested in reading?
- How can you help make the world a safe place for children? Give me some concrete examples.
- What are some ways you could help a child who is having trouble in school?
- Do you know any tricks or tips for talking to parents? Describe them to me.
- If a child came to you and said they were bored, what would you do?
- How would you deal with a child who hit another kid in class?
- Tell me about a time when you didn’t agree with the way the teacher did something. How did you deal with the problem?
- What do you do to make the best use of your time at work?
- How do you think a lesson should be?
Sample questions and answers for an interview
Here are two interview questions, along with tips on how to answer them well and examples of answers to help you come up with your own answers.
Tell me about a time when a child didn’t want to take part in an activity in the classroom.
Children don’t always want to do what’s going on in the classroom. The interviewer asks this question to learn more about how you get kids to do things. A good answer is one that talks about how you will encourage a child in a good way instead of just talking about what will happen if they don’t. Your answer should include steps like figuring out why the child doesn’t want to join in, giving help where it’s needed, and helping the child see why the activity is important.
Example: “I would start by sitting down with the child alone to find out if there was a specific reason why they didn’t want to participate. I would then tell them why we were doing the exercise and try to find ways to make it fun and get past their objections. I usually don’t force someone to do something if they say no. I would just give them another way to learn the same thing, something they could do on their own and that I think they would also enjoy. I know that kids learn in different ways, and my main goal is to get them excited about learning.”
Why do you think that you are the best person for this job?
The interviewer might ask you this to find out what makes you different from other candidates. A great answer to this question would show off your skills and experience. It’s important to highlight the ones that the job description said were most important.
“I think I’m the best person for this job because I’ve worked with kids of different ages and backgrounds in the past. That experience has helped me improve my teaching skills and get better at using a wide range of different ways to teach. I also know how to run a classroom well and can adapt my teaching style to meet the needs of each child.”
