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6 Common Teacher Interview Questions and How to Answer Them

When you get a call from a school administrator inviting you to interview for a teaching job, how do you feel? Happy? Elated? Excited? Nervous? Scared stiff?

You don’t need to worry about the interview if you’re a well-prepared, qualified candidate. Preparing for a teaching interview is a lot like studying for a test. You can review commonly asked questions, think about what you’ll say beforehand, and go in to do your best. If you prepare beforehand, the interview questions will seem routine and familiar. You’ll have answers on the tip of your tongue, ready-to-go.

Below is a list of six commonly asked teacher interview questions from my eBook, Guide to Getting the Teaching Job of Your Dreams. How would you answer each question?

1. Tell us about yourself.

This will be the first question at almost every interview. Just give a brief background in about three sentences. Tell them what colleges you graduated from, what you’re certified to teach, what your teaching & working experiences are, and why you’d love the job.

2. How do you teach to the state standards?

If you interview in the United States, school administrators love to talk about state, local, or national standards! Reassure your interviewer that everything you do ties into standards. Be sure the lesson plans in your portfolio have the state standards typed right on them. When they ask about them, pull out your lesson and show them the close ties between your teaching and the standards.

3. How will you prepare students for standardized assessments?

There are standardized assessments at almost every grade level. Be sure you know the names of the tests. Talk about your experiences preparing students. You’ll get bonus points if you know and describe the format of the test because that will prove your familiarity.

4. Describe your discipline philosophy.

You use lots of positive reinforcement. You are firm, but you don’t yell. You have appropriate consequences for inappropriate behavior. You have your classroom rules posted clearly on the walls. You set common routines that students follow. You adhere to the school’s discipline guidelines. Also, emphasize that you suspect discipline problems will be minimal because your lessons are very interesting and engaging to students. Don’t tell the interviewer that you “send kids to the principal’s office” whenever there is a problem. You should be able to handle most discipline problems on your own. Only students who have committed very serious behavior problems should be sent to the office.

5. How do you make sure you meet the needs of a student with an IEP?

An IEP is an “individualized education plan.” Students with special needs will be given an IEP, or a list of things that you must do when teaching the child. An IEP might include anything from “additional time for testing” to “needs all test questions read aloud” to “needs to use braille textbook.” How do you ensure you’re meeting the needs of a student with an IEP? First, read the IEP carefully. If you have questions, consult a special education teacher, counselor, or other staff member who can help you. Then, you just make sure you follow the requirements on the IEP word for word. When necessary, you may be asked to attend a meeting in which you can make suggestions for updating the IEP. Your goal, and the goal of the IEP, is to make sure the student has whatever he or she needs to be successful in your class.

6. How do you communicate with parents?

This question will come up at almost every elementary school interview. It’s fairly common in the middle school and high school as well. You might have a weekly parent newsletter that you send home each week. For grades 3 and up, you may require students to have an assignment book that has to be signed each night. This way, parents know what assignments are given and when projects are due. When there are discipline problems you call home and talk to parents. It’s important to have an open-door policy and invite parents to share their concerns at any time.

For more teacher interview questions, I invite you to download my eBook Getting the Teaching Job of Your Dreams ( http://www.iwantateachingjob.com ). In it you will find 50 common interview questions and answers as well as practical advice for getting the teaching job you want.

Fundamental Questions to Ask Pertaining to a Surprise Intellectual Property Invoice

Make sure you ask basic inquiries any time that you receive a letter requesting money via a questionable source relating to a trademark application.

Through asking most of these queries, you could guard your business from being ripped off. For those who are not sure with regards to whether or not the mail you get with regard to your trademark application comes from a certified government organization, you really should consult with an authority in a timely manner prior to going forward.

The usual inquiries you should always ask prior to giving an answer to an unexpected correspondence are what’s the letter for, who is this statement or invoice received from, the actual reason why I’m receiving this specific letter, along with precisely where may my response go back to. By just understanding the details to many of these considerations, you can steer clear of the dilemma of paying currency to somebody, only to discover that you’ve been totally ripped off.

While deciding with certainty if a TM application request for money may perhaps happen to be another scam, a starting question is: What exactly is the communication pertaining to? In what way does the text or facts offered within the document inform you what it is designed for plus precisely what service plan is being offered? Checking out a few solicitation mailing, it is clear that the only place that the service will probably be defined is inside the fine print, which is where the statement claims you really consent to listing or maybe subscribing to a service that’s not truly required. In case a service is normally valuable, then that solicitation must have a clear point pertaining to it’s value to you in the leading content material. Why bury important information in the fine print, if the service is actually worthwhile. Ask, what exactly is the system being sold? What is it regarding? Exactly who really ought to utilize it? Might it be necessary? Assuming these kinds of basic questions are generally not clarified, then the service doubtless features minimal, if no, benefit.

Before delivering funds to a company by responding to an unwanted correspondence, everyone should first question who is the responsible company. You don’t really want to wind up getting deceived in transferring dollars to a con-artist. Who is the particular request coming from? When an individual requests your dollars, you should know them. Make it a rule of thumb to never deliver dollars to some enterprise and / or nonprofit except for when your firm has sought that company in the first place. This specific basic rule protects consumers from being duped by fake solicitations together with stress. Should an entity investigates a solicitation from an entity and really does not fully understand who these folks really are, then do more study. Your company could uncover a dishonest establishment associated with the notice which your enterprise has received. Look for respectable sources of information and facts concerning the particular corporation demanding your company obligation. Whenever you obtain a solicitation for funds from an unknown source, a person ought to first check the particular identity of the actual provider before supplying them your own money.

Addressing the above inquiries carefully should really stop you from making errant judgments along the route to trademark application together with enhanced protection. At the same time, continue to be conscious that the trademark and service mark application record maintained with the US Patent and Trademark Office will be public and can easily end up being searched and amassed by some to be able to give you invitations to items and programs, as well as annoying rip-offs. That fact that trademark creators do not at all times fully realize trademark laws and are usually always involved in conserving their particular trademark, developing the company and generating currency can lead to prospect for some to prey upon the small business.

So, organizations may continue to make use of the U.S.P.T.O. list of registrants to send out invoices to your business any time you file a trademark application for a brand. Keep in mind these kind of third-party demands for the purpose of overseas listing of your mark, tracking your trademark or service mark, supplying you with a certificate for the decoration. Commonly you don’t have to list your company’s trademark application anyplace aside from the government maintained list. Accordingly, examine your behavior diligently ahead of listing your own trademark application by using a business like for example a global provider.

6 Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing a Cover Letter

Many job seekers tend to consider the cover letter inferior to the resume, thus committing one of the worst mistakes in job-hunting. Perhaps this is because some people do not mind how a gift is wrapped but what is inside the package. But you know what they say about first impressions, right? Irrespective of what you believe, your prospect of landing an interview or a job ends where this letter ends.

However, attaching this document will not by itself convince the reader to look at the resume you have attached if the former does not adhere to certain essentials. Writing a good cover letter demands that you ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does it sound like a sales letter?

Suppose you are writing a sales pitch for a product, how would you frame it? What information would it contain? Now consider yourself the product you are selling to a prospective employer. Does your message carry the essence and import necessary for such a letter? Remember your ability to persuade a prospective employer to invite you for an interview lies in this document. Think about its content and style critically before writing it.

2. Will the reader be attracted to your letter?

Writing a cover letter involves packaging a precious object. The receiver may reject or accept your present depending on the appearance of the package. Judging from its appearance, can the reader of your text give it priority over the rest? One method of ensuring your document is attractive is to organize it logically. Moreover, use the inbuilt capabilities of your word processor to make the margins and spaces adequate enough for easy navigation and readability.

3. Are the language and content persuasive enough?

The language of a cover letter is crucial in determining whether your document will be read or ignored. Writing it is not merely about using the acceptable form of English, but how you express yourself and the content you are offering since this will influence the decision of the reader to shortlist you for an interview. Borrow a leaf from a love letter, if you know how to write one.

4. Have you focused on the skills that your prospective employer is looking for?

Every advertisement for a vacancy indicates the type of skills expected from the successful candidate and your success depends on matching your content to this requirement. Knowing how to write a cover letter entails informing the employer how exactly you fit into the picture. What academic, training, skills and experiences do you have that match the description of the successful candidate? Your resume may contain many skills, but in this text you only list what is relevant to the job you are applying for.

5. What value will you bring to the organization, if employed?

A cover entails a careful balancing act because you are expected to blow your own trumpet but also inform the reader what value you will bring to the firm. The focus here shifts to the organization instead of the individual, but within the same letter. Considering you are one of the many that will apply for a particular vacancy, pay close attention to this section when writing a cover letter.

6. Have you proofread your cover letter?

Among the most vexing and demoralizing aspects of this crucial document are spelling and grammatical mistakes. It speaks volume about your level of carelessness if you submit a one-page letter full of typos and glaring spelling errors. To many prospective employers, this is an unforgivable mistake. Do whatever is possible, including asking for help from a more language-proficient person, to make sure your letter is error-free.

Whenever you sit to craft a cover letter, remember you are engaging in business communication with a product to sell to a customer. In this case, you are the seller; the prospective buyer is the reader. Your skills and competencies are the product, while your letter is the advertisement. Learn how to write a convincing and presentable letter if you want the reader to look at your resume and shortlist you for an interview.

Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Satellite Internet Service Provider

If you are a corporation in search of disaster recovery networking solutions, a first responder who may need connectivity from anywhere at any time, or you simply need broadband internet connectivity from remote locations you have probably considered that satellite may be your only reliable option. In the midst of a disaster many businesses and first responders may find themselves without communications of any kind due to the loss of terrestrial infrastructures, or the lack of it ever existing in the first place.

The problem is that most business professionals and emergency service workers do not have a complete understanding of the satellite business and the idiosyncrasies of communications via satellite, and why should they? Satellite communications is not their profession. In the quest for a satellite internet service provider there are certain questions you should be prepared to ask before you get locked into a contract for services that won’t satisfy your needs:

1) Do you have Non pre-emptible satellite space segment?

Satellite operators such as SES Americom, Intelsat among others lease space segment to satellite service providers. There are different levels of protection available in varying price ranges. Many service providers will opt to contract for pre-emptible space segment because it’s much less expensive and they can make larger profit margins which they may or may not pass on to their end users. Pre-emptible space segment gives the satellite operator the ability to deny access to the satellite for the service provider in the event of an on board equipment failure, or to make room for a service provider who is willing to pay the Non pre-emptible premium.

During large scale disasters such as the hurricanes in the Gulf States in 2005 many pre-emptible segments of satellite space were cleared to make room for government requests for satellite service leaving other service providers with no access. If you are considering contracting for service for disaster recovery applications it is highly recommended that you find service providers that guarantee that they have contracted for Non pre-emptible space segment. The service provider should be able to provide you with evidence of their service agreement with the operators if you ask. You may pay a little more each month for your non pre-emptible service, but at least it will be available when you most need it.

2) What is your “Over Subscription” or “Contention Ratio”?

Most satellite service providers who are providing Internet services are operating systems that use TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) based systems. A TDMA system is normally controlled by a central hub location which will command the remote units in the field to transmit their data when the hub is ready to receive it. This allows for many remote units to share the same slice of bandwidth improving the overall efficiency of the system. The transmissions from the remote units are sequenced at a very high rate, many times per second, which makes the service appear to be continuous.

However, the more units that are added to the system, the slower the service will be. A true enterprise level operator will never allow their contention ratio to exceed 20:1 or essentially 20 terminals per segment of bandwidth. Many operators that offer lower grade services will over subscribe their systems as high as 40, 80, 120:1 or more. Some operators may not be willing disclose this information to their end users. If a service provider will not tell you their contention ratio, you might consider looking elsewhere as their ratios are likely to be high. This will directly affect the quality of the service you receive. Enterprise level operators with contention ratios of 20:1 or less will charge more for their services since they have fewer users for their contracted space segment. But, you get what you pay for.

3) What is your system Latency, and does your hardware or software include TCP/IP acceleration?

Any IP transport platform will have a certain amount of latency that is inherent to the structure of the system. Latency is normally measured by how long it takes for a TCP/IP “Ping” to be sent to a server on the other side of the transport link and be returned back over the link to the point of origin. Satellite systems, due to the physics involved will have much higher latency figures that any terrestrial link. Data is transmitted to the satellite at the speed of light, or 186,000 miles per second. The satellite is located 22,223 miles above the equator.

For a ping to make its round trip it must travel up to the satellite, back to earth to the server, up to the satellite again and back to the origination point. This is a round trip is approximately 88,892 miles. When calculated with the speed of light, in a perfect world the round trip will take about 448 milliseconds. When you add in coding delays and processing delays you can increase that figure by 100 to 250 milliseconds. On an efficient system, a round trip ping should take between 550 and 700 milliseconds (225 ms one way in each direction).

Many lower grade systems on the market today will actually return ping times of 1200 milliseconds or greater which is too slow to allow for functionality of certain software applications. Some system operators have added TCP/IP acceleration products to their equipment. This can either be a hardware or software solution. Acceleration of TCP/IP does not speed up the actual transmission as it is already being transmitted at the highest speed possible, the speed of light. The acceleration is achieved by modifying the TCP protocol in ways that allow for more efficient transmission over high latency networks such as satellite. Acceleration can significantly improve the speed of loading web pages, so it is a highly desirable product to have. Most of the products are not capable of accelerating encapsulated data such as VPN’s, but the system should still pass that data, however more slowly. Be sure to ask whether or not the system has an acceleration product included.

4) Does your system support VoIP, VPN, and Streaming Video transmissions?

If you have certain applications that you intend to operate, be sure to inquire whether or not these applications are supported on the system. VoIP (Voice over IP) for telephone connectivity is becoming a very common need in satellite communications. All types of users from emergency services to business continuity are asking for telephone connectivity. The biggest concern most prospective users of VoIP over satellite have is that the latency will be too high for effective voice communications. This has largely been proven to not be true. In fact, most cellular telephone systems will experience as much or more delay in their systems than VoIP over satellite. Most satellite providers will support these systems, but if the system latency is more that about 800 milliseconds, you may experience difficulty carrying on a conversation. Some service providers will also sell VoIP equipment. If you choose to purchase from them, or on your own you will want to make sure the equipment includes good voice compression.

Most off the shelf VoIP systems that are not designed for use with satellite will occupy between 40 Kbps and 90 Kbps of bandwidth to complete each call. If you purchase 128K of satellite uplink bandwidth you may consume all of your bandwidth with one or two phone calls leaving none for internet access for your computers. There are compression VoIP systems available that have been designed for use over satellite that will use as little as 8 Kbps per phone call and the call is toll quality. There are even compression systems that will allow for a 1544 Kbps T1/PRI connection over less than 256 Kbps of satellite bandwidth. You will also want to inquire about connectivity to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). When the signal lands at the hub it will need to connect your VoIP traffic to a telephone line. Some service providers will provide this service for a fee; some will not provide it at all, so be sure to ask. If you need to operate a VPN over the system, keep in mind that it will likely not be accelerated over the satellite.

Acceleration of VPNs can be achieved with external hardware; however it is normally up to the customer to provide that equipment. There are some systems, mostly consumer grade, that will not support VPN’s at all or there are additional charges so be sure to ask. The same goes for Video transmissions from a streaming device, or a web cam. Video streams are highly bandwidth intensive applications and most service providers will require dedicated bandwidth for these applications. The pricing for dedicated bandwidth will be substantially higher than the shared ratio pricing as it consumes 100% of the bandwidth 100% of the time. If you are planning to stream video to multiple receive sites it is recommended that you stream the video over the satellite to a server, and allow other users to get the stream from the server. This way there is only one active stream over the satellite where the bandwidth is expensive.

5) Do you offer CIR or CRA services?

CIR (Committed Information Rate) and CRA (Committed Rate Assignment) are different acronyms with the same meaning. It is dedicated satellite bandwidth that is usually required by the service provider if you intend to operate high bandwidth applications such as video streaming over the satellite. Most enterprise level service providers offer CIR/CRA packages, most consumer level operators do not. The pricing for these services will be significantly higher than shared ratio services, so be prepared. Some providers also require CIR/CRA services for VoIP. Be sure to inquire if this is something you need as some operators may not volunteer this information until it’s too late.

6) How many public IP addresses do I get?

Many consumer level services do not assign public static IP addresses for you to use. This is primarily why they don’t support services such as VoIP and VPN. Enterprise level providers usually provide at least one address, some will provide more. Most providers will give you a fixed number of addresses with your service and charge you if you want additional static IPs. The recommended way to avoid the additional charges is by using your own router on the system and natting your own addresses. Some systems will not support natting so be sure to inquire if this is what you need.

7) Do you have a FAP?

A FAP or Fair Access Policy is a set of rules that you agree to abide by when contracting for their services. They also will include certain restrictions on your service. Read this policy very carefully as the providers like to include wording that can seriously restrict your usage. Some service providers will “meter” your throughput on the system. If you reach a certain level of usage, usually recorded in Kbps, or Mbps they may restrict your bandwidth to a low level, or cut off your service entirely until the next billing cycle. It is very difficult to measure your own usage since most people have no Idea how many Kbps are sent or received when loading a web page. The FAP is also where the provider will spell out the rules of usage concerning applications such as streaming video and VoIP. Going over that document with a fine toothed comb will be in your best interest.

8) What will be my actual measured speeds?

The service providers will sell you a specific rate plan that will have an uplink or return data rate, and a downlink or forward data rate. This will usually be expressed in a manner such as “128/512” or sometimes “512/128”. The larger number will always be the forward channel which is your downlink as a user. Most providers will not tell you that the speeds include IP overhead. Every internet system whether its satellite or terrestrial uses IP protocols that require a certain amount of bandwidth to process the IP traffic. Because of the overhead you can expect that your actual measured payload speeds will be around 20% lower than what you are paying for. Actual speeds can be measured by running a speed test from a PC over the satellite link.

If the service provider has their own speed test server at the hub location this will give you a more accurate test of the satellite link than an Internet based speed server. The internet based servers have too many variables to obtain accurate results since the data is being transferred over connections that are not under your control, or theirs. Most systems will be similar in their IP overhead usage, but be aware of this when you purchase your service. If you don’t think the speeds will be high enough when you factor in the 20% overhead you may want to consider a higher service level plan.

9) What Pricing plans do you offer?

In your search for a service provider you will likely encounter a multitude of pricing plans. Each provider will create pricing structures that meet their business model, and that will give them an edge over their competition. Because of this you may find it difficult to compare price. All providers will offer full time 24x7x365 service plans. Some will also offer plans based on usage, and some will sell daily or hourly plans. There are even providers that will sell service for a fixed number of days each month. These plans can be attractive as you will not likely use a system designed for disaster recovery every day of the month, so why should you pay for full time service? If you are comparing price between providers it is easiest to look at their full time rates to determine the cost. However, keep in mind that operators base their pricing on their cost for the satellite space segment. If they are charging less it may be because they don’t have non pre-emptible space or because they operate with high contention ratios, or both.

10) Do you offer other services such as terrestrial connectivity and collocation?

Be sure to inquire about value added services such as collocation space and terrestrial connectivity. Unless you are only buying internet access and have no need for VoIP, streaming, or data backup, you will likely need these services. Some service providers will provide connectivity to the telephone network, and some will not. If you need dial tone you will probably want to contract for that as well. For disaster recovery solutions it is highly recommended that you originate your dial tone from a safe location that is far away from the affected area.

In many disaster scenarios the terrestrial connectivity including cellular phones will not be available. It is important that this is taken into account when designing a backup network. Some of the satellite providers will also offer services to back up corporate or government server data at the satellite hub location. This is highly beneficial to the customer as it provides both off site storage of valuable data, and easy access to that data via the satellite when it is most needed. A satellite hub with a collocation facility can be a powerful tool, and should be highly considered when contracting for satellite services.