Looking for credible opportunities for online jobs for teachers?

There are a few different options for finding online work depending on what you are looking for. For full-time employment, online schools will likely be the first opportunity you should look into. By becoming an online tutor, you can secure a part-time job that can be done after school and in your spare time. And if you are seeking a job that doesn’t require any teaching, there are definitely a few options worth considering.

In this article I will briefly discuss each of these options.

Teaching at an Online High School

Online schools are becoming more and more popular. With increasingly more students opting for an online education instead of traditional high school, there are great opportunities for teachers looking for full-time employment online.

Online schools come in four types: charter, public, private, and university sponsored. To find online jobs for teachers at one these schools, you can usually complete an application directly through their website.

Check here for a great place to research online schools in your state.

Tutor Online

For those looking for part-time online work, tutoring can be a great option. There has been a slight explosion of online tutoring services over the past few years. During the school year, these websites are always looking for qualified teachers. Sites to consider contacting for tutoring jobs include TutorVista and Tutor.com, both of which have a large student base.

If you are looking for something even more flexible, starting your own tutoring business may be an option. You can get started almost immediately by advertising your services in classifieds and on sites like craigslist. You can then use free services such as skype to communicate with your students.

The obvious disadvantage to online tutoring is that you only get paid when you have students, and finding students can be a problem in the summer and during slow periods of the year.

Get Online Jobs for Teachers that Require Zero Teaching

A final option for teachers looking for online work is to scrap teaching all together and look into other legitimate opportunities online.

One great option to consider is affiliate marketing. There are hundreds and hundreds of companies that pay ‘affiliates’ to either sell their products or send visitors to their website. By gaining access to these companies, you can immediately start making money in your spare time. Sites like LegitOnlineJobs show you exactly how to find these companies and how to place advertisements that will make you money.

There are also a number of credible companies that hire employees that can work from their home. The problem is usually locating these types of jobs on the internet. A search of google for work at home jobs gives a whopping 300,000,000 pages to choose from.Weeding out the scams from the legimate opportunities can be next to impossible. Sites like homejobstop are great because they weed out the pyramid schemes and scams and allow you to find real, work at home jobs.

Data Entry positions are also excellent choices for work at home opportunities. Like with many work at home jobs, you must do your research and make sure you choose a reputable website to work with. The scam websites only provide you with a list of companies to contact. You want to find a website that will provide you directly with a job and offer full training and support.

Need more ideas for online jobs for teachers? Check out these reviews of 3 great alternative online jobs for teachers.

12 Questions You Can Ask the Interviewer

Towards the end of every teaching job interview, you will be given the opportunity to ask a few questions. The interview is not over at this point. This is your opportunity to finish the deal by asking questions that show you are thoughtful, prepared, and qualified for the job.

The teaching interview will cover a variety of topics. You should have a number of questions prepared in case any are discussed during the interview process. You should not ask questions where the answer is obvious or could be found through research of your own.

Instead, the questions you ask should show that you have done some research and care about the answers you are seeking. If possible (and if it makes sense to do so), I would preface each question with a sentence or two letting the interviewer know why you are asking the question. This will show that you actually care about the answer and it will feel more like a conversation.

What questions should you ask during the teacher job interview?

Here is a list of 12 questions you can ask:

• I’m excited to meet the teachers I will be working with. Can you tell me a little about my team members?
• Do you have a teacher/mentor program?
• I see that you currently have 1500 enrolled students. What is the average class size?
• During student teaching, I had duties such as hallway monitoring and lunch. Are there duties required in this position?
• I have a strong background in technology integration. What kind of technology resources will I have access to in my classroom?
• I have done some team teaching in the past. Do teachers work in teams? How is it structured?
• I enjoy playing and coaching soccer. What kind of extra-curricular activities are available for teachers?
• I am always looking for ways to learn and grow professionally. What kind of professional development opportunities does the school offer?
• I can’t wait to decorate and organize my room. Will I have my own classroom?
• I had three “preps” during student teaching. How many classes will I teach each day and how many different preps will I have?
• I think it’s important to create exciting and engaging lessons. How much lesson planning time will be provided?
• In my previous position, I had to turn in lesson plans weekly. Do you have procedures for turning in lesson plans?

By asking the right questions, you can demonstrate that you are qualified, knowledgeable, and prepared for the job. You should come up with some of your own questions, using them to highlight any of your strengths that were not covered in the interview.

Check here for more tips on acing your teaching interview.

3 Tips for a Successful Teaching Interview

Getting a teaching interview can be a difficult process, so when it’s finally time to show off your talents, you want to make sure you are prepared. In this article, I will give you 3 great tips that will help make your teaching interview a success.

Tip 1: Have answers to the first and last interview question ready

It’s almost a guarantee that the first question of the teaching interview will be “Tell me about yourself”. You should have an answer fully prepared. I suggest that you keep your answer short and to the point. I would limit it to discussion about you in the context of your education and teaching experiences – including your student teaching.

For the final question of the teaching interview, “Do you have any questions for us?”, you should also have a very good idea of what you are going to say. Make sure you have a few different questions prepared in case they cover some during the interview process.

Tip 2: Be Confident and Positive

A big mistake many new teachers make during the teaching interview process is that they unknowingly question their own abilities. For example, another common interview question is “What are your weaknesses?”. The last thing you want to do here is admit to a weakness! Instead of saying something like “I struggle with classroom management” or “I’m not good at…”, you should say something like “I initially struggled with classroom management until I did this” and explain exactly how you went about turning the weakness into one of your strengths. You really want to come across as being extremely confident in every area of your teaching game because you’re likely going up against teachers that are, in fact, extremely confident.

Tip 3: Examples, Examples, Examples

During the teaching interview you are going to receive a lot of questions asking you to explain how you will handle a certain situation. You need to act like you have been there and have done that. Instead of explaining how you would handle it, explain how you already have.

For example, if an interviewer asks “How would you use differentiated instruction in your class?”, you want to answer with “When I was student teaching, I used differentiated instruction by …”. By using specific examples and relating the questions back to your student teaching experience, you’re showing the interviewers that you’re more than just talk.

By following these three tips, you will be well on your way to a successful teaching interview. The secret is preparation.

Also see my article “12 Questions you Should Ask during the Teaching Job Interview” and my website at http://teaching-jobs.info for more info and tips.

free worksheets

3 Tips for Effective Classroom Management

If you want to be a great teacher, you must create an environment where teaching can be achieved. Remember, you were hired to educate. You weren’t hired to babysit and you definitely weren’t hired to run a jail. But you were hired to create an atmosphere where students can learn.

If you are perceived as weak and your students run all over you, you are not teaching. On the other hand, if you are too strict and your students fear you, that’s not teaching either. You need to strike a balance. In this article I will give you three tips for your classroom that can help you establish and maintain the perfect classroom environment.

Tip 1: Choose 3-5 Rules that simply can’t be broken.

It’s true. Good classroom management depends on your students knowing exactly what is expected of them. But, you don’t want to overwhelm them either. If you have too many rules, students will begin to pick and choose the one’s they feel are important. After the initial review of all of your class rules, you should choose 3 to 5 rules that are unbreakable. Display them somewhere where everyone can see and enforce them like your life depends on it.

Tip 2: When possible, have your students develop some of the rules.

Rules are meant to be broken. By involving the students, you can actually create an environment where students have a role in helping you enforce the rules. Peer pressure can be extremely powerful in creating a well-run classroom.

Tip 3: Have pre-class activities or assignments ready on a daily basis.

The dead time before the bell ring can determine how your class will function for the day. You must give students a way to channel their energy as soon as they walk in to your room. By making some “pre-class” activities available, you can spend your time taking role and preparing for the lesson.

You can get creative when coming up with activities to use. It could be anything from a pre-class quiz to a 5-minute discussion of the previous day’s lecture. By getting students in the routing of walking into your classroom and immediately getting to work, you will greatly reduce a number of classroom management issues.

Classroom management can be one of the biggest challenges for new teachers. By following these tips, you should be on your way to creating an atmosphere where all you need to do is worry about the teaching.

Please see http://teaching-jobs.info for more teaching advice and information.

Browse through thousands of teaching jobs from across the United States by clicking on the states below. Teaching jobs are obtained from a number of different sources and are updated every hour.

Tips for Choosing a Classroom Seating Arrangement

Your seating arrangement can have a huge impact on how your students learn and behave. Many ways of arranging desks are possible, but before you start moving things around, you should first have an idea of what you want to accomplish and what the strengths and weaknesses of each arrangement are.

Regardless of the seating arrangement you use, first make sure that you have enough room to move around and teach. You must also make sure that students are not put into any positions where they would have to climb over furniture or desks to get to the door. This is especially important for safety reasons.

The seating arrangement you choose will depend on a number of factors.

1. Do you do a lot of cooperativing learning or group work?
2. Do you encourage group discussion?
3. Where is the chalkboard?
4. Are there windows in your room?
5. What is the he maturity level of your students?

Once you have an idea of what a typical day will look like in your class, you can start playing around with different seating arrangements.

Three Common Seating Arrangements

1. Traditional or Military Style Seating

The traditional classroom arrangement, with desks in straight rows, is recommended if you are a new teacher, if you are starting a new school year, or if most of your lessons revolve around your lecture or information on a chalkboard or overhead projector.

This type of seating arrangement focuses the students attention on you while limiting opportunities for distraction. Drawbacks to this method include limited opportunity for group work and it reduces interaction and discussion among the students.

2. Group or Pod Seating

If you do a lot of group work or cooperative learning, you may want to set up a group or pod seating arrangement. This arrangement gives the clear message that it is okay to talk with other students and group members. Students are encouraged to involve each other in their learning, to help each other out, to discuss lessons, and to work as a team. This type of seating arrangement can be great for group projects, group discussions, or team related games and activities.

Downsides to using this arrangement include more opportunities for cheating as students are seated so close to each other. Students will also be more inclined to talk or pass notes when it is not permitted for them to do so.

3. Discussion Style Seating

If you want to establish a sense of democracy in your classroom, you may go with a discussion style seating arrangement. In this arrangement, each student faces every other student. You are letting them know that they are expected to voice their opinions and have an active role in their own learning. Many experienced teachers use this desk arrangement with classes that are outspoken or talkative (but not disruptive). Instead of fighting to keep everyone quiet, you can direct the talkative nature of the class into relevant discussion.

Like with group seating, drawbacks to this configurations are that it can be distracting because students are facing each other instead of the teacher. For this arrangement to be successful, your students must have a certain level of maturity and be able to take instruction and direction.

Mix it up

There is no one seating arrangement that always works. What worked last week might not work this week. To keep your students on their toes, you may want to frequently change the environment by rearranging furniture, updating pictures on your walls, and changing the look in your classroom. One week you could arrange the desks in a traditional format. Another week you might create small groups. Another week, you might arrange tasks in circles. Try to create classroom environments that are best suited to the lesson you are teaching that day.

Please visit http://teaching-jobs.info often for teaching advice, teaching interview tips, teaching jobs, and more.

Dealing with parents can be very stressful for both new and veteran teachers. Unfortunately, when a parent requests a conference, chances are they are not coming in to talk about how great their child is doing in your class. More commonly, these conferences are scheduled because the student is exhibiting behavior or achievement that is unacceptable.

Your role in these meetings is to simply inform the parents and administrators of the students status in your class. Remember, this student will continue to be in your classroom every day, so you should try not to make any direct accusations or place any blame directly on the student.

Parent-Teacher conferences are usually called for one of three reasons:

Grades. A common reason that a parent might request a conference is that their child is failing or falling behind in one or more classes. Usually all teachers are invited, and the goal of the conference is to determine why grades are low and what can be done to improve the situation.

Behavior. Unacceptable behavior is the most likely reason for a parent/teacher conference. If a student is acting out in class, the school counselor or principal will call for a conference as the parents are usually not aware of the situation. The purpose of these meetings are to notify the parents of the unacceptable behavior, figure out why the behavior is occurring, and to work on a solution.

Updates. The third and usually most pleasant type of conference is the update/checkup. These are usually parents who like to keep close track of their child’s academics and will call for a conference if they see a let down or drop in achievement. These meetings are usually good as they can help head off any problems before they become major issues.

So what should you bring to the meeting?

Once you know what conferences about you should gather up all paperwork pertaining to that student. You want to have proof when you’re informing the parents of the students progress and success.

Here’s what you should take to the meeting:

Student grades. Bring a copy of your gradebook or a grade print-out so you can show the parents exactly what the student has done in your class.

Documentation. If the conference is about behavior issues, you should bring every note you have made about the student’s behavior, documentation of every phone call you made to parents, copies of all detention slips or referrals to the office, and notes on every conversation or discussion you have had with the student. You should make photocopies of each of these to provide to the parents.

What is your role in the meeting?

Your role is simply to inform. You want to answer any direct questions that the parents may have and you want to be as accurate as possible when telling the parents about their child. It is generally a good idea to allow the principal or counselor deal with any consequences or suggestions.

After the parents have been informed, the final step is coming up with a list of suggestions that can be implemented to help improve the student’s behavior or grades. In most cases the principle or counselor will have already come up with a number of suggestions. The solutions suggested during these meetings should place the burden of improvement on the student and the parents. For example, parents may be asked to set up consequences at home and take a more active role in their towns and learning. You may be asked to establish stricter monitoring of the student. This could be anything from signing off on weekly progress reports to to coding the parents once a week to regularly update them.

Parent/Teacher/Student conferences do not need to be stressful. Just remember that it’s about the student, not you. Be confident, have all the facts, and be honest but not opinionated. If you follow this advice, you’ll see that these don’t have to be as bad as we sometimes make them out to be.

–
Sidney is a high school teacher, interview coach, mentor, and advisor to new teachers. Please visit teaching-jobs.info for teaching jobs, interview tips, advice for teachers and more.

You aced your education courses. You shined during student teaching. Now it’s time to find some students!

Finding your first teaching job can seem like an impossible task. For every one job that is advertised, there can be hundreds of applications. Many school districts don’t advertise their open positions at all, and those that do usually start the interview process by looking at the applications they already have on file.

For this reason, I would skip the education job boards and classified ads and get right to sending your application to every single school district in your area, regardless if they are advertising for teachers or not. Openings pop up all the time, so you need to get your application in front of as many eyes as possible. In the remainder of this article I will explain the process I recommend to my students.

Step 1: Secure Solid References
When applying for a teaching job, you should have at least three solid references that can speak about your teaching ability. You do not want to use personal friends or family members. Your cooperating teacher and college professors make the best references. You should have received a letter of recommendation from your cooperating teacher before the end of your student teacher. But if not, make sure you contact them immediately to get one.

Former professors also make great references. I have found that most professors are usually more than happy to write letters of recommendation if asked (It makes them feel remembered!). So just email or call a couple of your former professors and ask them to write a quick letter attesting to what a great teacher you will be.

Step 2: Secure All Documents and Paperwork

Now that you have your references, you should make sure you have all necessary documents and paperwork needed to apply for a teaching job in your state.

Depending on your state, documents needed for a teaching job include a copy of your teaching application, your resume, your teaching certification, and your letters of recommendation. I also suggest including your college or university diploma, one or two of your best lesson plans (from student teaching), and a copy of your criminal background check and any other clearances your state might require.

You will be making multiple photocopies of each of the above documents and including them in an application packet. But for now, set them aside and move on to the next step.

Step 3: Create/Refine Resume

If you’re a new teacher, your teacher resume should be simple and highlight your student teaching and education. Make sure you list any substitute teaching that you have done. Also include any tutoring you have offered. Even if you haven’t worked as paid tutor, I’m sure you have tutored someone privately or in a one-on-one situation. A tip would be to list those experiences as “Private Tutoring” along with student teaching on your resume filling in any gaps you might have.

Step 4: Create a Cover Letter

For this case, our cover letter is going to be general. I’m not going to go into details on writing a great cover letter in this article, but we want to keep it simple and to the point.

I would explain in the first sentence or two that you are writing to apply for any potential teaching job openings.

Possible example:

Dear {Superintendent Name},

I am writing to express my interest in any potential English teaching positions that may be available in your school district for this upcoming school year. I am from the {the general town or city or state} area and have heard great things about your school. Blah blah blah..

Check here for great information on writing your teacher cover letter and resume.

Step 5: Get Schools

You want to send your resume directly to the Superintendent of the school. This way your resume will get passed directly from the Superintendent’s office to human resources. If you’re lucky, the Superintendent will open it personally and will hopefully remember you as soon as a position is available.

You will address the envelope as follows, again making sure it’s going directly to the Superintendent:

Dr. Joe Superintendent
Some Area School District
333 Main Street
Anytown, USA

Sources for finding school districts with the Superintendent’s name vary from state to state. For Pennsylvania, a great place to start is http://www.edna.ed.state.pa.us/. Simply click on a county and you will be presented with a list of school districts with the Superintendent’s name. Click on the school district and you will get the address. Perfect!

Another source for information on school districts in every state is http://educationbug.com.

You can also go directly to the school’s website.

You want to go through a list of schools in your area and record the Superintendent’s name, the school district name, and mailing address for every school on the list. Don’t pick and choose here. Get them all and you can worry about turning down offers later.

Step 6: Prepare Mailings

Now we’re going to let these school districts know what they’re missing out on.

Count the number of the school districts you came up with in Step 5. If you have 50 school districts, you will need to make 50 copies of each document in step 2.

You will need also need to create a cover letter for each school. If you made the body of the cover letter general, this should only take you a few seconds. Just change the school name, Superintendent name, and print it out.

At this time you should also create an envelope. You can either print the envelopes using a computer or carefully write the address out using a pen.

Once you have the envelopes, cover letters, and copies of each document, start putting together the application packets. Your cover letter should be first, then your resume, your teaching certification, your references, your application, then anything else you want to include.

Step 7: Mail out your resumes!

Now that you have your resume packets, head to post office and send them out.

The more resumes you have out there, the better chance you will have of finding your perfect teaching job. Openings become available year round and having your resume on file when one does is a huge advantage.

Visit http://teaching-jobs.info often for more teaching interview tips, general teaching advice, teaching jobs and more.

Here’s the best guide to getting a teaching job.

The key to getting your job is impressing during the teacher interview. You must be confident. If you’re not sure of what questions they are likely to ask and if you don’t have the answers at the tip of your tongue, you are likely to come across nervous and unprepared. With the competition for teaching jobs at an all time high, you can be rewarded nicely by reviewing as many interview questions as possible and coming up with truthful and unique answers.

Here’s a list of 20 questions you might see in your next teaching interview. Read through them and think about how you would answer each one. I have provided tips for a few.

1) Tell me about yourself:

Tip: Keep this education related unless instructed otherwise.

2) What are your strengths?

Tip: In other words, “what makes you an asset to our district?”.  Think of the answer this way and answer accordingly.  Is it your classroom management skills?  Experience?  Abililty to integrate technology?  These are the strengths I would focus on.

3) What are your weaknesses?

Tip: This can be a tricky question.  I would try to be as honest as possible here and do not use any traditional responses like “I’m a perfectionist”.  The person interviewing has heard them all.  They’re asking this question for a reason.

My suggestion would be to reflect back on your student teaching and think about what you struggled with the most.  Was it time management?  You could say something like “My biggest challenge while student teaching was fitting in all the activities I had planned for the students.  I was constantly tweaking and rehearsing my lessons and I now always look for ways to prioritize what is most important”.  The trick here is to pick a weakness that all new teachers have and explain how you are working to turn it into one of your strengths.

4) What can you tell us about our school district?

Tip:  You should do as much research on the school district as possible before the interview.  Specifically look for information on test scores and where they rank state-wide in different subjects.  Check both the school’s website and the state’s education website for information.

5) Why did you decide to become a teacher?

Tip:  I would stay from answering “The summer vacations”

Possible answers here would include wanting make a difference in the community, wanting to inspire others, love of children and learning, etc.  Perhaps you had a teacher that inspired you to teach.  If so, discuss that teacher and what they did to make you choose this path in life.

6)  What is your classroom management style?

7)  Tell us about your past teaching experiences.

8)  What would you do if a student told you to “@#$% off”?

9)  How do you deal with a student that refuses to complete any homework?

10)  Explain the pros and cons of “teaching to the test”.

11)  When I walk by your classroom on a typical day, what can I expect to see?

12)  How will you incorporate cooperative learning into your classroom?

13) What would you do if you taught a lesson that 60% of the class understood and 40% were lost?

14)  How would you handle an extremely gifted student?

15)  What is differentiated instruction and will you implement it?

16)  How will you incorporate technology into your lessons?

17)  Do you have rules for your classroom?  What are they?

18)  Explain how you can assess a student’s higher order thinking skills.

19)  Describe the perfect classroom environment.

20)  How do you describe a successful principal?

–
Sidney is a high school teacher, interview coach, mentor, and advisor to new teachers. Please visit teaching-jobs.info for teaching jobs, interview tips, advice for teachers and more.