Teacher Resume Example
Creating a stellar teacher resume helps showcase your skills and teaching experience and can help you land your dream teaching role. Teachers have an abundance of job duties, including the actual instruction of students but also classroom management, conflict resolution, lesson planning, grading, liaising with parents and school officials, and so forth. The teaching field is quite broad, with students spanning from preschool age to adulthood and subjects that range from grammar to natural sciences.
As a teacher, you likely have a wide range of skills, talents, and interests. Naturally, you’ll want to communicate this information to a potential employer. This article will cover which information to include on your teacher resume (with examples), as well as a few key tips for writing a powerful, compelling teacher resume.
How To Write a Teacher Resume
When writing your teacher resume, it’s important to focus on your industry-specific qualifications like your education and teaching certification as well as on the soft skills that make you an amazing educator, like your empathy and time management. Use a resume template to easily add your skills and qualifications.
Sections To Include
To create a powerful teacher resume, be sure to include these sections:
Name and Contact Information
First, create a resume header with your full name and contact information, including your phone number and a professional email address. You can also include your LinkedIn URL and your address or your general location information, like your city and state. If you plan to relocate, you can make a note of that in your header and reiterate your plans in your cover letter to avoid any confusion.
Resume Summary or Objective
Next, include a resume summary or objective as the introductory section of your teacher resume. If you already have some experience teaching, use a resume summary. Mention your experience and qualifications, highlight your most impressive teaching accomplishments, and showcase a few of your best skills. It’s often easiest to write this section last, after you’ve written the rest of your resume.
If you are applying for your first teaching job, a resume objective will likely be more effective. In your objective, outline your career goals and what you can offer your potential employer.
In either case, mention the school and the exact position that you are applying to by name. Here’s an example of a powerful resume summary:
Summary
Caring and compassionate elementary school teacher with 5+ years of experience and Arizona State Educator License. Improved student test scores by 20% and pass rate by 30% in one year. Excited to leverage lesson planning skills and proven classroom management techniques as a 3rd grade teacher at Oasis Elementary School.
Work Experience
List your work experience in reverse chronological order, with your current or most recent position at the top. Work backwards in time from there. For each position, include your job title, the name and location of the school, and the dates that you worked there. Underneath, add 3-5 bullet points that outline your biggest accomplishments in each position. These might include awards and accolades that you’ve won, student performance data, new or innovative teaching methods that you introduced, and so forth.
Work Experience
August 2018 - Present Elementary School Teacher (4th Grade), Central Tucson Elementary, Tucson, AZ
- Improved student test scores by 20% and pass rate by 30% from 2018-19 school year to 2019-20
- Won Teacher of the Year Award in 2020
- Implemented new quiz structure to increase knowledge retention
August 2016 - July 2018 Elementary School Teacher (3rd Grade), Desert Hills Elementary, Flagstaff, AZ
- Created a nurturing and engaging environment that welcomed all students
- Established and effectively enforced classroom rules
- Liaised with parents, school board, and support staff to help all students succeed
Education
Then list your education background, including the degree that you earned, the name and location of the university that you attended, and your graduation date. If you hold multiple degrees, list the most advanced or the most recent one first. You can also add bullet points under each degree to outline relevant coursework, Latin honors, or any other impressive academic accomplishments.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
- Graduated in 2015
- Relevant Coursework: Foundations of Education, Computer Literacy, Classroom Management, Student Engagement, Early Childhood Development, Physical Sciences, Instruction for Elementary Students, Social Sciences
Teaching Certifications
If you have some teaching experience, you can list your teaching credentials after your education section.
If you don’t have any experience yet, you can opt to place your teaching credentials at the top of your resume just under your resume objective. That way, potential employers will see that you are qualified to teach, and they’ll be more likely to continue reading the rest of your resume.
If you are currently in the process of earning your teaching certificate, include your expected certification date.
Certificates vary significantly depending on which state(s) you are certified in and where you plan to teach, so be sure to list any relevant information for your state’s license or certification. Generally speaking, you’ll want to include the certification name, the body that certified you, and the date that you earned it. For example:
Certificates
Arizona State Educator License
- Earned in 2015
- Certified by the Certification Unit of the Arizona Department of Education
Skills
Next, list your hard and soft teaching skills.
Expert Tip
For teachers, both hard and soft skills are quite important - you need technical hard skills in order to effectively manage the class and instruct the students, but you also need excellent soft skills in order to create a welcoming, productive environment.
When listing your skills on your resume, you can create subsections for hard and soft skills and provide skill level ratings to indicate which are your biggest strengths.
Hard Skills for Teachers
Hard skills include measurable, definable, industry-specific skills, so for a teacher these might include things like curriculum planning, using SMART boards, Moodle, computer skills, Blackboard, lesson planning, grading and assessment, and even things like CPR and AED certification. Here’s an example of a hard skills section:
Hard Skills
Classroom Management - Excellent
Lesson Planning - Excellent
Curriculum Development - Excellent
Computer Skills - Excellent
Grading and Assessment - Excellent
Soft Skills for Teachers
Soft skills are more difficult to measure and define, they generally aren’t industry-specific, and they are much harder to teach than hard skills. For these reasons, employers will often look for teachers that have strong soft skills, knowing that they can easily teach a new hire any necessary hard skills. Soft skills include things like communication, interpersonal skills, conflict resolution, time management, organization, empathy, active listening, and so forth. Here’s an example of a soft skills section:
Soft Skills
Empathy - Excellent
Confidence - Very Good
Organization - Excellent
Time Management - Very Good
Communication - Excellent
Optional Resume Sections
Finally, if you still have room on your resume, you can add optional sections like languages, hobbies and interests, internships, volunteer work, and so forth. Your resume should be no more than one page if you have less than 10 years of experience, and no more than two pages if you have more experience than that. So, only add optional sections if you can fit them in without making your resume too long.
Tips for Creating a Powerful Teacher Resume
Tailor Your Resume to Each Job Posting
While it can be tempting to create one generic resume for all of your job applications, you actually have a much better chance of scoring an interview if you tailor your resume for each teaching position that you apply for.
To do this, be sure to mention the school and position that you are applying for by name on your resume. Additionally, read the job description carefully and identify keywords and phrases that describe exactly what the employer is looking for in a teacher. Then, address as many of these items as possible on your resume to show that you are highly qualified and possess many of their desired characteristics.
Quantify Your Achievements
When listing your achievements on your resume, use numbers and data wherever possible to quantify your accomplishments. For example, mention the class sizes that you have previously managed, percentages of test score or pass rate improvements, the number of times you have been commended or won awards, and so forth. Hard data will legitimize your accomplishments and serve to back up your skills in a more concrete way.
Use a Reverse Chronological Format
Use the reverse chronological resume format to most effectively showcase your information. This format is easy for school hiring managers to quickly scan and see your teaching experience and certification right away. To create a reverse chronological format, enter in all of your work experience, education details, certifications, and so forth beginning with your current or most recent experience and working backwards in time from there.
Key Takeaways
To write a compelling teacher resume, be sure to use a reverse chronological format and include all of your key information, including your name and contact details, a resume summary or objective, your work experience, your education and teaching certification details, hard and soft skills, and any optional sections that you want to include. Always tailor your resume to each teaching position that you apply for and quantify your accomplishments with hard data whenever possible.
