The Roots of the Equation

Questions for an Interview

A few weeks ago I went on an interview, and I was trying to think about the part at the end when they always ask ,”Do you have any questions for us?” I used to never ask questions then, but I realize now that I am interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me. (This is especially true when you already have a job, as opposed to first getting one.) Most of the time my questions come from previous experiences with things that were lacking – much like my questions during apartment viewings while home-hunting. But since my experiences are not universal, I reached out to the #MTBoS for some suggestions, and got a lot of good ones back. Here’s a bunch of the ones I liked, courtesy of Kate Nowak, David Wees, Tina Cardone, Shannon Houghton, Anna Blinstein, Jonathan Claydon, and Brian Palacios.

• Describe your students. (And take note of what kind of language they use.)
  
• What are class sizes like?
• What is your school/department working on improving?
• What math curricula have you adopted?
• What is your approach to students who failed previous math courses?
• What would my schedule look like? (Prep time/number of courses/number of sections/length of classes)
• What is [math] PD like here? What is the school’s PD priority?
• How do important decisions get made?
• Tell me more about the parent community.
• What kind of technology is available for teacher use? For student use? How reliable is it?
• Do you believe that all students can meet the standards?
• What is the school struggling with right now? What is it excelling at?
• What is discipline like at the school?
• How is lateness/attendance? What policies are in place to handle it?
• How much autonomy do I have regarding lesson plans?
• What’s one thing you would change about the school?
• What do you love about working here?