Your teacher resume is the key to landing a role at your dream school. It should demonstrate your ability to harness subject matter expertise and classroom management skills to create a thriving learning environment. We’ll provide writing tips to help you communicate your teaching achievements and showcase the positive impact you’ve had on your students.
Key takeaways:
Writing a resume can be a challenge. Take it one section at a time by using a professional template. Your teacher resume should include these sections:
Introduce yourself to hiring managers by starting with your name and a few reliable ways to contact you, such as your phone number and email address. Next, list your location and a URL to your LinkedIn page to help school boards get a well-rounded picture of who you are as an educator.
Your Name
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]
City, State Abbreviation Zip Code
LinkedIn
In about three to four sentences, your profile should summarize who you are as an educator. Years in the field, subject matter expertise, special certifications, and key teaching skills would be great inclusions. The goal is to draw the reader in and get them invested in your story. What makes you unique, and how do you meet the school’s needs?
If you know the school needs a teacher who utilizes project-based learning, and you do, mention that. Or, perhaps you’ve had success working with diverse student populations, and you’re applying for a job in a culturally diverse setting. Highlighting this information at the top of your resume will help engage hiring managers and show that you’re well-qualified.
Strategic vice principal with more than 10 years of experience in an academic setting. Holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and has a track record of improving curriculum initiatives. Passionate leader who develops faculty through tailored support. Excels in driving school-wide achievement through academic programs and community engagement.
Passionate education undergraduate with nearly three years of teaching experience, expected to graduate in 2024. Certified National Tutoring Association tutor. Offers support across a range of subjects from kindergarten through 12th grade. Partners with tenured teaching staff to provide personalized tutoring after school.
To demonstrate that you’re a teacher who excels in your role, each job description you include should list three to eight examples of your skills in action. Go beyond your daily duties by providing specific achievements that show how you’ve achieved results in the classroom. Discuss the grade levels taught, improvements in student performance, and any special recognition received.
Remember to also describe times you’ve partnered with colleagues to develop programs or support school initiatives. Your performance both inside and outside the classroom should show that you would be an invaluable addition to any school.
Vice Principal, Inspire International Academy, Durham, NC
September 2019 – present
Elementary Tutor, Whizkidz Tutoring, New York, NY
June 2022 – present
To stand out from the competition, give some context to your duties. You can easily do this by using numbers in the form of dollar amounts, percentages, and other metrics to demonstrate how you affected change in your school. This strategy provides hiring managers with a measurable example of how you impacted your students, fellow faculty, or the entire community.
You need to make a good impression on hiring managers to land an interview. The best way to do this is by speaking directly to their needs. Each teacher position you apply for will list different requirements and qualifications. It’s your job to determine what schools, districts, and hiring boards are looking for and how you fit into the equation.
Make minor adjustments to your resume as you send it to different schools, using keywords from their job postings — just be careful not to overdo it. For example, if the job description emphasizes the importance of integrating educational technology, focus on your experience with any software, apps, or devices mentioned.
Although teaching experience is instrumental and often required for certain educator positions, you can still write an effective resume. Inexperienced teachers should focus on building up the following sections of their resumes:
A strong education is key to the success of any aspiring or tenured teacher. Start with your highest degree first, and include the name, school, location, and graduation date. If you’re a recent graduate, consider providing your GPA score and any relevant coursework.
Additionally, create a certifications section where you can list your teaching license and any unique certifications, if you have them. When competition is tough between senior-level teachers, specializations and credentials may become the deciding factor. So, include those that could set you apart and demonstrate that you’re the most qualified teacher for the job.
Template:
[Degree Name]
[School Name], [City, State Abbreviation] | [Graduation Year]
Example:
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Education
The City College of New York, New York, NY | Expected: June 2024
Template:
[Certification Name], [Awarding Organization], [Completion Year]
Example:
New York State Teaching License, New York State Education Department, Expected: 2024
Make space on your teacher resume for a “key skills” section. Use this area to focus on the most important skills you have to offer potential elementary or secondary schools. A simple bulleted list should showcase your expertise as a teacher and ability to work well with students and staff. Here are some examples of the types of key skills you could include on your resume:
Key Skills and Proficiencies | |
---|---|
Adaptability | Assessment design |
Classroom management | Curriculum development |
Emotional intelligence | Foreign language proficiency |
Google Classroom | Inclusivity |
Leadership | Lesson planning |
Organization | Patience |
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education | Special education |
Standardized testing | Teamwork |
Use action verbs to make the language of your teacher resume more impactful and compelling. This strategy will help you save space by replacing first-person language (e.g., “I was responsible for instructing…”) with strong verbs that highlight what you did. As you write your resume, consider using some of the words we’ve listed below:
Action Verbs | |
---|---|
Adapted | Assigned |
Assisted | Created |
Developed | Directed |
Encouraged | Evaluated |
Facilitated | Implemented |
Instructed | Integrated |
Mentored | Motivated |
Planned |
The best resume template for a teacher is clean and orderly. It should highlight your most relevant teaching experience, key skills, and education. This is your chance to make a good impression on hiring managers and recruiters, so choosing a well-designed template is important. This will give you a solid foundation to build an excellent teacher resume.
Ronald Harris
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]
City, State Abbreviation zip code
LinkedIn | Portfolio
Passionate education undergraduate with nearly three years of teaching experience, expected to graduate in 2024. Certified National Tutoring Association tutor. Offers support across a range of subjects from kindergarten through 12th grade. Partners with tenured teaching staff to provide personalized tutoring after school.
Elementary Tutor, Whizkidz Tutoring, New York, NY
June 2022 – present
Student Teacher, City College Prep, New York, NY
September 2021 – June 2022
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Education, Expected: June 2024
The City College of New York, New York, NY
While employment for teachers from elementary to high school will likely see little to no change in the next decade, post-secondary educators are expected to see healthy growth. Regardless of your grade level, you’ll need a resume that clearly aligns with the needs and expectations of schools and their districts. The best place to start is with the job description.
Your goal is to show how you’re an educator who meets or exceeds the hiring manager’s expectations. For example, suppose the school is looking for a teacher with experience in integrating new technology into the classroom. In that scenario, you would demonstrate success with things like educational software and online platforms that engage students.
As a teacher with a robust college education, you depend on a long list of skills gained over the years. A combination format puts those technical and social skills on display. It highlights your progressive teaching history by combining the best of a functional and chronological resume. You can easily adapt this resume format for tenured educators and fresh teachers alike.
It can be a challenge to express your passion for education on a resume — that’s where a cover letter comes in. After putting together the key moments and bullet points of your teaching career, a cover letter connects the dots and provides space to share your enthusiasm for the job. Even more than that, you can give context and reasoning as to why you’re the best candidate.
ResumeTemplates offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.