Teacher Resume: Example, Skills and Certification

1. Contact details: name, phone, professional email, city and state, and a LinkedIn URL if it is up to date. No photo, date of birth or other personal details: US employers don’t expect them.
2. A professional summary of two or three sentences.
3. Work experience, most recent first, with bullet points that show results, not just duties.
4. Certification: state, certificate type, subject and grade band, and expiration date, near the top.
5. For each school: district, grade levels, subjects and class size. For new teachers, student teaching counts as experience.
6. Education: degree, school and year, plus endorsements such as ESL, special education or reading.

Use the vocabulary of the posting. If the district mentions differentiated instruction, PBIS, MTSS or a specific curriculum, use those exact terms wherever they describe something you really did.

Change the grades, school type and strengths to yours. Middle and high school teachers should name the subject and the courses they taught, such as Algebra I or AP Biology.

Under each job, write three to five bullets that start with an action verb and say what changed because of your work. The numbers below are examples: use your own.

If you don’t have exact figures, describe the result without one, or use a range you could explain in an interview.

• Lesson planning aligned to state standards
• Differentiated instruction and small-group teaching
• Classroom management, for example PBIS or restorative practices
• Formative and summative assessment, data-driven grouping
• Supporting students with IEPs and 504 plans
• Classroom technology: Google Classroom, Canvas, Seesaw, interactive whiteboards
• Family communication, in a second language if you have one

• State teaching certificate or license, issued by your state’s education agency. Requirements and tests vary by state: many use Praxis exams, others have their own.
• Endorsements or add-on certifications: ESL/ELL, special education, reading, gifted and talented.
• Bachelor’s degree, and a master’s in education or your subject if you have one.
• Moving states? State the status, for example “[State] certificate in process, application submitted [month, year]”.
• Background checks and fingerprinting belong on the application, not the resume.

Many states offer alternative routes to certification for people with a bachelor’s degree in another field. If you are enrolled in one, list it under Certification with the expected completion date, and check the exact requirements with your state’s education agency.

Then show the experience that transfers: training colleagues, tutoring, coaching a youth team, explaining technical subjects to clients. Write those bullets in teaching terms: who you taught, how many, and what they could do afterward.