An excellent resume is the first step in landing your dream teaching job, and these preschool teacher resume writing tips will make it easier to submit your credentials confidently. Your preschool teacher resume should focus on your accomplishments and skills in educating young children.
Ensure your resume reflects your dedication and passion for teaching and it adequately conveys the skills and credentials reflective of a preschool teacher.
Below are some top preschool teacher resume writing tips to point you in the right direction and help you get that comprehensive resume that will allow you to stand out against the competition.
Note: we don’t use the term resume objective – it’s an “old school” resume writing technique. A resume objective is the title of the position you wish to secure a job interview for. Put it right at the top of the resume; the reader knows exactly what teaching job you are targeting, like this resume sample.
Your preschool teacher resume’s basic setup should include a strong professional summary followed by some key preschool teaching competencies.
Utilize the professional summary section to draw the employer in and let them know you have the skills and passion to join the team as an early childhood educator.
Remember this preschool teacher resume writing tip when creating your opening profile:
The best resume summaries are those tailored to the specific teaching job within a specific district.
Do not write a professional profile in first-person. You should refrain from using the first-person language throughout your entire resume. Your professional profile is the first glimpse that a potential employer will get of your teaching expertise and style. Create this part of the resume highlighting your skills in educating young children.
Relay some soft skills you bring to the classroom, including patience, a nurturing attitude, a caring personality, organizational skills, and dependability and dedication. You may also want to add some specific educational keywords within your profile.
Examples of a Preschool Teacher Professional Profile or Summary
“Dedicated, passionate, and patient teaching professional with over twenty years of preschool teaching expertise. Outstanding ability to create engaging and age-appropriate learning activities that adhere to curriculum standards. Ability to demonstrate effective classroom management strategies while maintaining a fun and respectful learning environment. Possess strong organizational and communication skills to work effectively with children, parents, and the school community.”
“Lead preschool teacher with proven expertise in classroom management, individualized lesson plans, and offering one-on-one support. Strong background in early childhood development that fully utilizes a strategy of fostering a child’s physical, social, and intellectual development.”
Include Keywords Under Your Professional Profile
When creating your bullet list of teaching competencies, include educational buzzwords highlighting your teaching abilities. Incorporating the right keywords are critical to getting past the applicant tracking systems.
Include the most current and relevant keywords and those contained in the job posting. Do not make your list too lengthy; keep it to 10-12 points or keywords.
Some skills and keywords to include could be:
- Create Lesson Planning
- Role-Playing
- Use of Manipulatives
- Student Assessments
- Early Literacy Programs
- Cooperative Learning Strategies
- Reflective Teaching
- Growth Mindset
- Parent Communications
- Curriculum Development
- Learning Centers
Listing Education on Your Resume
Next, you will want to include your educational background and teaching credentials on the first page. You must attain the level of education hiring managers are seeking. Below is an example of how to list your credentials:
Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education
College Name, Philadelphia, PA, 2014
Elementary Education, Pre-K-4
Teacher of Students with Disabilities, Pre-K-3
ESL Certification
The Professional Experience Section of a Preschool Teacher Resume
In the professional experience or work history section, each relevant teaching experience should briefly describe your day-to-day duties in paragraph form, followed by a list of accomplishments. If this is a position you are no longer in, the job description and achievements are written in the past tense.
Two Examples of Job Descriptions:
Develop and implement creative lesson plans and classroom activities integrating manipulatives such as guest speakers, music, reading, and dance. Establish classroom management techniques that provide clear, consistent expectations and allow a fun and interactive learning environment full of positive reinforcement. Uphold consistent communication with parents, collaboration with teaching staff, and coordination of tutoring support services.
Designed and instructed age-appropriate activities that encouraged the development of physical, emotional, academic, and social skills. Maintained student portfolios, including work samples, skills checklists, and progress reports. Provided positive reinforcement and showcased children’s work throughout the classroom to boost self-esteem and ensure consistent motivation.
How to List Preschool Teacher Accomplishments in Your Resume
Listing your teaching accomplishments in bullet form allows them to stand out from the rest of your resume highlights. You want your accomplishments to reflect classroom or educational improvements, student achievements, and community involvement, including collaborative extracurricular activities.
Whether you are a new teacher, primary teacher, lead teacher, substitute teacher, or an experienced teacher, you must find and communicate achievements to include in your documents.
Examples of Accomplishments Include:
• Introduced a program that encouraged students to act out characters from storytime, thus increasing speech clarity and confidence by 15%.
• Developed hands-on activities to engage and entice students to participate in the curriculum by introducing manipulatives and interactive projects, resulting in students demonstrating a higher level of core understanding.
- Led an intervention team to identify and create individualized lesson plans for students with learning disabilities.
- Established activities and student-centred tasks that taught children self-reliance and independent learning and increased learning motivation by 25%.
- Introduced and distributed a monthly student accomplishments newsletter promoting parental and community involvement.
These achievement examples show what you did, the result of your actions, and quantify your results. When thinking of accomplishments to add, use the CAR acronym of Challenge-Action-Result. This should help you to create a top-notch job history section that stands out against other applicants.
Volunteer Work, Professional Development, Affiliations, and Technical Skills
After the professional experience section, include your volunteer experience, professional development, professional affiliations, and technical skills relevant to teaching preschool students.
You don’t need to include it if it is not specifically related to teaching or preschool teaching. For instance, although excellent, it is not pertinent to the position if you volunteer at an animal shelter. Instead, use this space to highlight volunteer experience as a tutor or den mother of the boy scouts. These relevant community experiences will be paramount if you have no work experience as a teacher.
Use the professional development section to showcase any courses or workshops you’ve attended that show your dedication to furthering your understanding and educational experience within the preschool classroom.
To include your technological proficiencies, have age-appropriate software and applications such as SMART Boards and Chromebooks.
Should you Include Color or a Graphic on Your Resume?
Adding color or an icon to your resume allows your resume and credentials to stand out against the many other applications. This is another preschool teacher resume writing tip that should not be overlooked. You can use many design elements to format an appealing education resume to increase interviews.
As previously mentioned, there could be a lot of competition for the preschool teacher position you are applying for. Why not get a leg up on the competition by showcasing your resume to the hiring authority?
Incorporating a splash of color and education-related icons is a good idea if you apply for a preschool teacher role. Color often brings attention to specific parts of your resume you want to be highlighted, such as your core competencies or section headings.
An icon such as alphabet blocks or young children will bring an extra visual appeal to the top of your resume. When your potential employer is flipping through resumes, your name and a colored icon will stand out above the others, thus gaining you a spot at the top of the list.
Betty Sue Teacher
123 Moon Road, Some City, Some State 22222
Phone: (123) 456-7890
Email: bettysueteacher@gmail.com
Additional Tips When Writing a Preschool Teacher Resume
• You don’t want your resume to become too long, so try not to go over two pages long. Remember, you can always elaborate during the job interview.
• When putting together your resume, make sure that you know what the job opportunity entails.
Look closely at the job description or posting to target your resume to what the job posting is seeking. By targeting your preschool teacher resume toward job postings, you will have a better chance of landing at the top of the interview list.
• Always include relevant skills and teaching keywords. Researching the school and district websites and searching for similar job postings or job descriptions can help you find the keywords to sprinkle throughout your resume.
Remember that any keywords you use in your preschool teacher resume, you need to have had experience with. Don’t just use any keyword without having knowledge or experience with it.
• Your resume should be well organized so your potential employer can easily pick relevant facts, see your experience in educating children, and understand your teaching style.
Ensure your resume draws upon your vast experience and showcases your knowledge of different learning abilities, early childhood developmental stages, and your passion for education.
• Lastly, proofread! This is probably the most important step in the writing process. After all the work you have put into creating your resume, you do not want it thrown to the bottom because you misspelled a key teaching term.
Wrapping it Up!
Once you have completed your preschool teacher resume and are confident in your ability to land your dream position, start applying. If you have included teaching buzzwords and showcased your passion and experience for early childhood education, then apply for preschool positions; sit back and wait for that interview call!
If resume writing isn’t something you enjoy or your forte, don’t hesitate to ask Candace for the help you need to put your resume and cover letter together to land a preschool teaching job interview.
