How to Answer: When have you not gotten along with a teacher before? What was the cause and how did you handle your difficulties with them?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Paraprofessional Educator job interview.
3. When have you not gotten along with a teacher before? What was the cause and how did you handle your difficulties with them?
How to Answer
Disagreements can happen in any workplace. What matters most, is that you are able to come to a compromise and continue working professionally, despite disagreements. Additionally, it is common that the teacher you would be working under would be your direct report. So, at the end of the day, you are working in their classroom and you should follow their lead. That is not to say that the paraprofessional cannot speak up and voice their opinion, but their role is to support the teacher and the students in the room. Be sure your example here highlights how you are able to come to a resolution and continue working collaboratively with the teacher.
Written by Audra Kresinske on July 15th, 2021
Answer Example
"In my last position, my co-teacher and I had a good working relationship. She was an incredible teacher, we communicated well, and she recognized my strengths and helped me to develop them. There were a few instances where we had a disagreement about different students' ability levels and how we wanted to challenge them in various areas. I typically wanted to push students towards more rigorous learning and she was worried about how behavior would be triggered by more challenging work. At the end of the day, we always compromised and came to a resolution. We worked well together and she usually wanted to hear my input on different things."
Written by Audra Kresinske on July 15th, 2021