A Complete Guide to Writing a High School Teacher Resume | with Examples

The biodata-type boring resumes or those downloaded online don’t work anymore. Certainly not for well-paying jobs at top schools. They want your resume to comply with modern resume-writing practices.

But don't worry, as there’s nothing much that has changed over time in resume writing. In fact, we are taking you through them step-by-step to write a perfect resume at the end.

This article includes:

• How to choose the right resume layout and format.
• Guide to writing professional summary, experience, and skills sections better than 95% of the other applicants.
• Complete examples to get inspired.
• Key skills required for high school teachers to land well-paid jobs.

One of the main differences in modern resume writing is the type of templates used. For high school teacher resumes, most hiring managers prefer simple and elegant designs that can hold the candidate's information on one page. Check out our modern resume templates to see whether the template that matches your personality is there.

For more inspiration, read these similar resumes guides:

• French teacher resume
• Music teacher resume
• English teacher resume
• Kindergarten teacher resume

How Much Does a High School Teacher Earn?

A high school teacher in the USA earns, on average, $52,000 per year 💰(payscale.com). The pay would vary based on your experience and the subjects you specialize in.

In addition, most experienced high school teachers get to work on the school’s administration and management, allowing them to make a career with more salary and benefits.

Writing an Excellent High School Teacher Resume from Scratch

Your resume would be the first interaction you will have as a teacher with the school administration or hiring team. This is where you will demonstrate your organizational skills and academic skills first.

In creating an excellent resume, you should follow modern resume writing standards and practices to take the reader on a smooth ride.

In addition, most school HR teams use applicant tracking systems (ATS) for initial shortlisting. Your resume should pass the ATS test to reach the hiring team.

You don’t have to read a whole textbook to understand all these, as this guide has everything you need to start writing your resume from scratch.

High school teacher resume layout

This is the plan you create to write your resume. The layout saves you time and makes sure you don’t miss any important information from the resume. In addition, this helps you organize your resume template and its space.

This should include the headings, subheadings, and other important information you plan to include.

Here's the layout we suggest for a high school teacher's resume:

• Header with name and contact information.
• Professional summary.
• Work history.
• Education.
• Skills.
• Additional sections (certificates, languages, and interests).

Without writing your resume from scratch on an MS Word document, now you can use our resume builder to take a head start.

High school teacher Resume Format

As your experience is the most important section on your resume, you should have a plan to put it on paper – that’s what your resume format does. It defines the order in which you write your experience section.

The right resume format makes your resume easy to read and understand for the hiring manager.

There're three standard resume formats in use:

• Reverse chronological format: You should write your most recent experience first and write the previous experience in reverse chronological order. This format is mostly used for resumes and hiring managers are familiar with this making it a popular choice for candidates with different experience levels.
• Functional (skill-based) format: Start your resume experience section with your key skills and explain how you developed and demonstrated those skills in your work. Mostly used by entry-level candidates with minimal experience.
• Hybrid format: This is when the above two formats are used together.

We recommend you write your high school teacher's resume using the reverse chronological format. This helps you demonstrate your recent experience, and that’s what most hiring managers are interested in.

What keyword research has to do with your high school teacher's resume?

As your application could initially go through an ATS, it will read the relevant keywords on your resume to decide whether your application meets the job requirements.

The keyword richness of your resume would be the main factor that influences your resume’s ranking among the hundreds of resumes your hiring manager receives.

Make a list of keywords your resume should include. You may refer to the job advertisement to identify the relevant ones. Include the keywords naturally in your writing.

Start Your High School Teacher Resume with the Header

The header is the first section of your resume. This includes your name, job title, and contact information.

Though this is a short and straightforward section, there’re many instances applicants make mistakes here.

Check out the following examples and guidelines:

CORRECT

Kathy Franchesca

High school teacher

kathyfranchesca@gmail.com

(245)827-1542

https://www.linkedin.com/kathyfranc

INCORRECT

High school teacher

Kathy Franchesca

kathy@hudsonschool.com

(245)827-1542

207, Park Street,

Trenton,

New Jersey

• Write your name in big, bold
• Add the job title you’re applying for.
• Include the email address and mobile number to contact you.
• Add the link to your LinkedIn account.
• Don't add your full physical address in the header.

Pitch the Hiring Manager with the Perfect Resume Summary

Suppose you have only 5 seconds to introduce yourself to the school principal to make him interested in your profile and get the job as a teacher. In that case, you won’t be talking about your high school diploma or your roles & responsibilities at the previous job, right?

You will talk about your biggest achievements – the most relevant ones to the job.

Similarly, your professional summary should act as a sales pitch to make your profile attractive to the hiring manager and entice them to talk to you over an interview.

Here’re some examples for your reference:

CORRECT

A passionate high school teacher with over 7 years of experience teaching science for grades 8 to 12 served at Eleanor Roosevelt High School for over 200 students. Seeks to join The Bronx High School of Science to further my career. Awarded the best science teacher with the interactive class activities introduced in 2019.

INCORRECT

A highly motivated science teacher worked in high school for 7 years, teaching a number of students to develop their academic and practical scientific knowledge. Seek an opportunity to join a better position in a reputed high school.

In writing your professional summary, make sure you add relevant achievements with specific numbers and details to improve the credibility of your information. Keep your resume summary to two or three sentences.

Write an objective summary if you are an entry-level teacher

For entry-level teachers, it would be difficult to write professional summaries of their achievements and accomplishments on the job. Most teachers come directly after completing a degree or an academic training program.

In such instances, you can write an objective summary highlighting any training experience together with your career objective and passion.

CORRECT

A certified high school teacher with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry seeks to join Eleanor Roosevelt high school as a trainee teacher. I have done private tutoring for high school grade 10-12 chemistry, preparing 50+ students for examinations in the last 2 years.

INCORRECT

I am a fresh graduate with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and seek to join a high school as a science teacher. I do not possess previous teaching experience in a high school environment though I believe I can learn classroom management fast.

Increase Your Chances with an Excellent Experience Section

The experience section will make or break your chances of getting a job!

Most hiring managers read the first couple of lines of your experience section even before reading your name. Therefore, we recommend you spend most of your resume writing time on optimizing this section.

Work experience for an experienced high school teacher

INCORRECT

Aug 2016 to Present

High school chemistry teacher

Eleanor Roosevelt high school

• Teaching high school students.
• Assisted high school students in practical laboratory work.
• Measured student progress.
• Took part in curriculum development.
• Improved student engagement.
• Manage student behavior.

CORRECT

Aug 2016 to Present

High school chemistry teacher

Eleanor Roosevelt high school

• Taught chemistry for grade 10-12 students following the state curriculum.
• Organized 2 industry trips for every batch to visit and gain real-time scientific application experience working together with the local industries.
• Carried out laboratory practical sessions and assessed the students’ practical knowledge through different assignments and projects.
• Evaluated student performance through year-end and mid-examinations.
• Worked with management to make decisions and provide academic solutions on major curriculum updates.
• Trained teachers for the 2019 state curriculum update.
• Improved student participation for online classes by 27% by developing a positive educational climate.

As a senior high school teacher, you should start your resume experience section with your tutoring skills, subjects, and grades and move on to explain how you are involved in other management, administrative, and operational functions in the school.

Do not write roles & responsibilities of your previous job – instead, write achievements.

Read our complete guide to writing achievements on a resume for more examples.

Entry-level high school teacher resume experience section

INCORRECT

Aug 2021 to Present

High school science teacher

Eleanor Roosevelt high school

• Teaching students science and technology.
• Evaluate students' progress.
• Created a positive learning environment.
• Organized school trips.
• Marked academic progress.
• Helped maintain school yearbook for students.
• Created lesson plans.
• Used modern teaching and learning strategies.

CORRECT

Aug 2016 to Present

High school science teacher

Eleanor Roosevelt high school

• Taught science and technology subjects together with basic physics, chemistry, and biology to grades 8 to 10 students.
• Developed lesson plans for each grade based on their learning outcomes and measured their achievements at the year's end.
• Used creative methods such as interactive presentations and 3D simulations to make the learning experience fun and engaging – resulting in a 97% pass rate in 2020.
• Updated school yearbooks for 200+ students.
• Maintained positive relationships with students, school administrators, staff, and parents.

Entry-level high school teaching candidates can focus more on the subjects, grades, and classroom activities they are involved in.

If you have no previous experience in a school as a teacher, you could write your training experience, private tutoring experience, or any related experience that demonstrates the relevant skills.

The key is not to keep this section empty.

Your Education will be a Key Section

A high school teacher needs a set of specific formal education qualifications in relevant subjects. The requirements will be highlighted in the job advertisement.

If you’re applying for a formal education institution, be descriptive in your education section. Write the name of the institution, the years of graduation, key learning outcomes, and your GPA would be valuable.

State the Top Resume Skills for Teachers

A high school teacher needs to demonstrate a series of soft skills and technical skills to be successful on the job.

Soft skills are personality traits of a candidate, and anyone can claim to have these skills. Your job here is to identify the relevant soft skills for the job and match them with your skills.

Technical skills are also called hard skills. These are the skills you need to possess to do the job duties. Day-to-day job functions, software, and tools will come under this.

Your resume skills section needs to have a mix of soft skills and hard skills. Write about 5 to 7 skills that are highly relevant to the job.

Soft Skills for high school teachers

• Verbal communication skills
• Decision making
• Active listening
• Persuasion
• Leadership skills
• Problem-solving
• Adaptability
• Resilience
• Conflict resolution
• Interpersonal skills
• patience
• Critical thinking
• Time management

Hard Skills for high school teachers

• Performance tracking
• Lesson planning
• Standardized testing
• Learning Management Systems
• Microsoft Office
• Smart boards
• Behavior analysis
• Lesson planning
• Exam techniques

Make a Pleasant Surprise with the Additional Sections

The top 5% of high school teacher resumes have one thing in common: highly valuable additional information sections.

If you are to stand a chance in a competitive shortlisting process, your resume should have 2 or 3 targeted pieces of information that stand out your application from the rest.

Brainstorm to find out what additional sections you could write based on your profile.

Do not use additional sections just to fill up your resume space. If a particular section or information does not add value to your profile, you should ignore it.

Here are some example sections you could add:

Computing skills & certifications

As a high school teacher, you will be using many computer systems and software for your daily work. If you have completed or started any computer certification, it would be a great addition to your resume.

In addition, there’re skills certifications and licenses for high school teachers depending on their specialized subjects and geographical locations. Research what certifications are mandatory to practice as a teacher in the state you’re applying to and what certifications would be valuable for your profile.

Your job advertisement would be a great resource for finding out this information. Also, check the websites of the relevant schools and if you have any confusion, call the school and get clarification before applying.

Languages

Your multilingual skills would be valuable regardless of whether you’re a language teacher or not. Fluency in a couple of languages would make it easy for you to work with students.

Of course, if you are teaching languages, you should state your language proficiency in detail on your resume – indicating the level of proficiency in each language.

Interests

You should write your interests on your resume only if they add any value to your profile as a teacher. Either they should have direct value to your profession, or they should demonstrate a specific soft skill.

Tips to Improve Your High School Teacher Resume

• Check on the mandatory certifications and licenses needed to apply for the school.
• Your high school teacher resume can not have grammar mistakes – proofread your resume before sending it.
• Tailor your professional summary and experience section to each job you’re applying for.
• Use a modern resume template to create the high school teacher resume.

Write a Cover Letter that Complements Your Resume

Though hiring managers don’t have time to read cover letters at the initial phase of the shortlisting process, they might read them at the final stages to make shortlisting decisions between a couple of candidates.

The safest option will be to include a cover letter with your application if you’re serious about the position.

Writing a cover letter doesn’t have to take hours, even though it needs to be tailored to each job.

Using our cover letter builder, you can create one cover letter with the same template you used to create your resume, and then every time you make a new cover letter, you just need to change the body text and the receiving school.

Your cover letter doesn’t have to be a long letter. A half-page letter with 3 or 4 paragraphs describing your key skills, achievements, and how you can be a great teacher in the new position would be sufficient.

Your cover letter should end with a simple call to action. Request an interview to learn more about the position and how you suit the role.