Teacher Skills for a Resume
Principals hire teachers who run a calm classroom and help every student grow. Show the grade and subjects you teach, the methods you use and the progress your students made.
Updated
13 skills at a glance
Hard skills
Hard skills
What the work takes, how a hiring manager judges each skill, and a bullet point that shows it.
Lesson and unit planning to state standards
Name the standards or curriculum you plan from, and show that your units led to something measurable.
Example bullet pointPlanned a six-week fractions unit to state standards, with a common assessment the grade team adopted.
Differentiated instruction
Show how you taught one class at several levels at once.
Example bullet pointGave the same science lesson at three reading levels, so every student could join the discussion.
Formative and summative assessment
Show how results changed your teaching, not just that you gave tests.
Example bullet pointUsed weekly exit tickets to regroup students for reteaching, closing most gaps before the unit test.
Classroom management
Show the routines you built and what they did for learning time or behavior.
Example bullet pointTaught a calm-down routine and quick transitions in the first two weeks, saving about 20 minutes of teaching a day.
Literacy and numeracy intervention
Name the program or approach, and the growth students made.
Example bullet pointRan a daily phonics group for eight struggling readers; six reached grade-level benchmarks by spring.
Special education collaboration (IEPs, 504 plans)
Show how you worked with specialists and families to meet students' goals.
Example bullet pointCo-taught math with the special education teacher and tracked IEP goals in a shared weekly log.
English learner strategies
Mention the strategies you use and the language growth students made.
Example bullet pointUsed visuals, sentence frames and partner talk with 11 English learners, most of whom rose a proficiency level.
Learning platforms (Google Classroom, Canvas, Seesaw)
Name the platform and how you used it with students and families.
Example bullet pointShared weekly learning on Seesaw, and 90% of families viewed their child's work.
Soft skills
Shown through what you did, never claimed as adjectives.
Patience
Show it with a student who needed time and support to succeed.
Example bullet pointWorked daily with a student who refused to write, building to full paragraphs by the end of the year.
Building relationships with students
Show trust that changed behavior or engagement.
Example bullet pointHeld two-minute check-ins with every student each week, which cut chronic absence in my class.
Communication with families
Show regular, two-way contact and what it achieved.
Example bullet pointCalled every family with good news in the first month, setting a positive tone before any problems arose.
Organization
Show systems that saved time for you and others.
Example bullet pointBuilt a shared folder of unit plans and assessments that the whole grade team used.
Teamwork with colleagues
Show work with your team that improved results.
Example bullet pointPlanned lessons weekly with two grade-level colleagues, sharing the work and aligning assessments.
Licenses and certifications
Give them a section of their own, with who issued each one and the year or expiry date.
- State teaching license or certificate
- Subject or grade-level endorsements
- ESL or bilingual endorsement
- National Board Certification
Keywords from teacher job postings
Use the ones that are true for you, in your bullet points as well as your skills list.
- students
- state reading standard
- small-group instruction
- English learners
- assessment data
- individualized education programs
- grade
- families
- classes of
Each posting has its own words. Our guide to tailoring your resume to a job description shows how to find them and where to put them.
Where to put your skills
- In a skills section: a short list of the hard skills the posting names, in its words.
- In your bullet points: every skill that matters should show up in something you did, with a result. That is where a hiring manager believes it.
- In your summary: two or three of the skills the job asks for most.
More on choosing them in how to choose and prove the skills on your resume.
Questions
What skills should a teacher put on a resume?
Planning to standards, differentiated instruction, assessment, classroom management, intervention, special education collaboration, English learner strategies and the learning platforms you use, plus patience and strong contact with families.
Should I include my teaching license?
Yes, in a section of its own, with the state, the subjects or grade levels it covers and the expiry date.
How do I show results as a teacher?
Use the data you already have: reading levels, test growth, attendance or the share of students who met a goal.
Put them to work
Start from a teacher resume that already uses these skills, for an invented person, and make it yours in the builder.