Writing a resume as a math teacher can feel a bit like solving a complex equation. You start with an empty page, equipped only with your set of skills and accomplishments. But instead of finding the value of x, you're illustrating your professional journey, aiming to impress school administrators.
It’s about combining the right elements of teaching expertise, classroom experience, and that touch of individual style that sets you apart. So grab your pens (or keyboards) and let’s dive into resume crafting, ensuring each entry highlights your unique contributions to math education.
This guide will cover:
- The ideal resume format and templates to effectively highlight your mathematical talents.
- How to describe your teaching experience and showcase your expertise in mathematics.
- Key educational and certification details that will make your math resume both complete and competitive.
- The latest skill requirements for math teachers and how to list them on a resume.
- Critical factors to consider when building a math teacher’s resume.
- How to write a compelling resume summary that captures your approach to teaching and student engagement.
Before you start writing your resume, you might want to consider some other education-related guides:
- Middle School Teacher Resume Example
- Elementary Teacher Resume Example
- Science Teacher Resume Example
- English Teacher Resume Example
- Preschool Assistant Teacher Resume Example
- Lead Teacher Resume Example
- Biology Teacher Resume Example
- Social Studies Teacher Resume Example
- History Teacher Resume Example
- Technology Teacher Resume Example
- Virtual Teacher Resume Example
- Summer School Teacher Resume Example
- Teacher Resume Example
The Best Math Teacher resume Format & Layout
When creating a resume, we usually choose between 3 resume formats — the reverse chronological, the functional, and the hybrid resume. As a math teacher, you need to underline both your skills and teaching experience, so your best bet would be the combination (hybrid) resume format. It combines the strengths of chronological and functional formats, making it suitable for teachers with diverse backgrounds, including those with steady experience or varied career paths. Plus, the hybrid resume is very flexible — you can use it to emphasize specific math teaching skills, innovative methods, and achievements, which are crucial for educational roles.
Here are the other two options and when to use them:
- Reverse chronological resume: It's the most widely recognized format, making it easy for hiring managers to follow. It emphasizes your solid track record in education which is great for math teachers with consistent career progression.
- Functional resume: Also known as the skills-based format, it highlights specific teaching skills and competencies over chronological work history, which is beneficial for teachers who have gaps in employment or are switching careers.
Resume designs
- Template: Opt for a double-column template to balance your teaching experience and mathematical achievements or projects. One column can detail your professional teaching experience and education, while the other underscores any relevant mathematical research, publications, or special projects. This approach ensures a structured yet visually appealing layout.
- Margins: Maintain resume margins between 0.5 and 1 inch to keep the document neat and readable, demonstrating your ability to organize information effectively—a crucial skill for a math educator.
- Colors: Select subtle, professional colors like shades of blue, gray, or green. These colors convey a sense of reliability while adding a touch of sophistication to your resume.
- Fonts: Use clear, ATS-friendly fonts sized between 10 and 12 points. Serif fonts such as Times New Roman or Volkhov are often preferred in educational fields. For headings, consider a clean sans-serif font to add a modern touch while keeping readability.
- Length: Aim for a one-page resume unless you have extensive professional experience that justifies a longer document. Focus on including information that directly supports your application for the math teaching position.
Resume header
- Contact Information: Start with your name, job title, and location. You can also use a distinctive color for your resume header to make it more eye-catching.
- Links: Include a link to your LinkedIn profile or personal website showcasing your teaching materials, projects, or any relevant publications. This is particularly useful for demonstrating your expertise and dedication to the field.
- Resume photo: Generally, it’s best to omit photos to maintain focus on your qualifications and avoid potential biases. However, check the specific requirements for the position you're applying for.
File format and naming
- Creative touches: To ensure ATS compatibility, keep the resume format simple. Avoid complex graphic elements as your resume might get rejected by automated filters.
- File format: Save your resume as a PDF to ensure the layout and formatting remain consistent across different devices. The Word format is also common for matching teacher resumes, so double-check the specific job requirements.
- Naming Convention: Name your file professionally; for example, ‘FirstNameLastNameMathTeacherResume.pdf’.
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Below are the essential sections to include in a maths teacher's resume.
The top sections on a math teacher's resume
- Math teaching skills: Essential for recruiters to assess your teaching abilities and approach to students.
- Professional summary: Highlights your qualifications and experience.
- Teaching experience: Demonstrates your relevant teaching background.
- Education: Shows your academic credentials and qualifications.
- Certifications: Lists any teaching certifications or specializations.
Before we explore each one separately, check out what school administrators will be looking for in your resume:
What recruiters want to see on your math teacher resume
- Proven teaching experience: Shows practical classroom management skills and ability to deliver math content effectively.
- Advanced math knowledge: Indicates a deep understanding of mathematical concepts necessary for teaching various levels.
- Student engagement techniques: Highlights ability to make math interesting and accessible to students.
- Curriculum development skills: Shows capability to design and implement effective math curricula.
- Certification in mathematics education: Validates qualifications and adherence to educational standards for teaching math.
Now, let’s focus on the most substantial part of your art teacher resume—your work history section.
How to Write Your Math Teacher Resume Experience
As a math teacher, you need to show hiring managers that your expertise aligns with their requirements. Here are a few expert tips on how to create a targeted experience section.
- Only include roles that are directly relevant to the math teacher job you’re applying for.
- Limit your experience to the past 10 years to keep your resume concise and on point.
- For each job entry, list your position, workplace, location, and include 3-5 bullet points.
- Each bullet point should detail what you did, the skills you used, and the outcome of your efforts.
- Use numbers to quantify your achievements and highlight the impact you had on the organization.
- Emphasize personal skills developed in previous roles to demonstrate your unique value as a professional.
Let us show you how to tailor a resume to a specific job description. We’ll explore two examples—one good, and one not so much.
Below is the high school math teacher job posting they were adapted to.
Elevate K-12 is a creative, challenging, and adventurous network where individuals and teams are driven by growth, collaboration, and the goal to constantly focus on our students' needs. But through all of this, we always remember why we're here: to teach!
Who YOU are and the essential prerequisites to join our network...
- You have an active, verifiable Math teaching certification in the state of Alabama for grades 9-12.
- You have a bachelor's degree from an accredited university or college.
- You have the required availability — a daily available time block of at least three consecutive hours.
- Ability to work a part-time schedule of 5-20 hours per week on average during normal school hours.
- The ability to work remotely in a private and professional setting, with a laptop/desktop computer and a reliable high-speed internet connection.
- Tech-savvy with the ability to use multiple computer programs and software, such as Microsoft Office and our proprietary LIVE teaching platform. We are an EdTech company, after all.
- You are flexible, can think critically, and can adapt to change quickly to ensure optimal student outcomes.
- You are professional both in and outside of the classroom environment with students, colleagues, and school employees.
- You respect and meet deadlines.
- Most importantly... a passion for doing what you love... TEACH!
At Elevate, we treat teachers like the educated professionals they are. We empower our network of teachers to choose which classes they want to teach, when (and how much) they want to work, and where they want to log in – while being empowered to teach LIVE in classrooms across the country. Become an Elevate teacher, and finally take control of your work/life harmony!
First, look at the badly made experience section.
- •Taught math courses to grades 9-12.
- •Utilized a daily available time block to provide consistent instruction.
- •Used various technology platforms.
- •Received positive feedback from students and parents.
This resume experience is a bit too vague, lacking the concrete details and metrics that make achievements stand out. Without specific numbers or clear examples, it’s harder for recruiters to gauge the impact of the candidate's teaching methods.
Now, look at the enhanced version below:
- •Taught math courses to grades 9-12, ensuring students' needs were the central focus; improved student math scores by 20%.
- •Utilized a daily available time block of 2 consecutive hours to provide consistent instruction; maintained a 95% student attendance rate.
- •Used Microsoft Office Teams and Google Classroom regularly, reducing technical issues by 30%.
- •Exhibited a passion for teaching and received positive feedback from 90% of students and parents.
This resume experience section is like a well-balanced equation reflecting accuracy and effectiveness.
- Quantified achievements: Just as numbers in math provide clarity and precision, quantified achievements in a resume offer concrete evidence of a candidate's impact. For example, improving student math scores by 20% and maintaining a 95% student attendance rate are clear indicators of success.
- Action verbs: In mathematics, actions like addition, subtraction, and multiplication define operations and outcomes. Similarly, action verbs such as "taught," "utilized," "demonstrated," and "exhibited" drive the narrative of the resume, highlighting the teacher's proactive contributions and dynamic role in the classroom. These verbs convey a sense of initiative and responsibility.
- Soft skills: This section underscores soft skills such as adaptability ("demonstrated tech-savviness"), dedication ("exhibited a passion for teaching"), and effective communication (evidenced by "positive feedback from 90% of students and parents"). These skills are essential for creating a supportive and engaging educational experience.
- Alignment with job description: The resume section mirrors the keywords and requirements from the job ad, such as "teaching math courses to grades 9-12," "daily available time block," "tech-savviness," and "commitment to educational excellence." Such alignment ensures that the resume is tailored to the specific needs of the employer.
This is how you created a targeted resume that shows recruiters the real difference you made in your previous roles. Below, we explore how you can make your achievements more tangible.
How to quantify impact on your mathematics teacher resume
Putting numbers on a maths resume is a logical thing to do. But it’s also crucial because it shows the clear, measurable results of your teaching efforts. Just as numbers in math provide clarity, precision, and concrete proof, quantifying your achievements offers concrete evidence of your success.
Here’s what you can do to enhance your resume impact:
- Include the percentage increase in student test scores to showcase your effectiveness in improving academic performance.
- Mention the average number of students per class to demonstrate your experience managing different classroom sizes.
- State the number of math competitions your students have participated in and won to highlight your role in fostering excellence.
- Quantify the improvement in homework completion rates under your guidance to show your impact on student discipline.
- Specify the percentage of students who advanced to higher-level math courses after being in your class to indicate your success in student advancement.
- Note the reduction in the number of disciplinary incidents in your classes to illustrate your ability to maintain a positive classroom environment.
- Detail the number of individualized learning plans you created to emphasize your commitment to personalized education.
- Report the frequency of parent-teacher conferences you conducted to reflect your proactive communication and engagement with parents.
These simple strategies can help you craft a strong, persuasive resume, even if you’re just starting out. If that’s your case, the next part of this guide is just for you.
We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.
Katherine Johnson, mathematician
How do I write an entry-level math teacher resume
According to an article on the IONA University website, math teachers are in steady demand due to turnover in the educator workforce caused by teachers retiring or switching professions. This sounds promising to those new to the field, so here are our tips for creating your first resume for a math teaching job.
- Resume objective: Start with a strong resume objective that clearly states your goals and enthusiasm for the position. For example, "Passionate and dedicated math teacher with a strong background in algebra and calculus, seeking to inspire high school students at [School Name] through innovative and engaging teaching methods."
- Showcase your math skills: The U.S. has some of the best prepared math teachers globally. Highlight your expertise in various math subjects, such as algebra, geometry, and calculus. This shows you’re well-rounded and can handle different levels of math teaching.
- Include relevant experience: Even if it’s tutoring or volunteer work, include any experience where you taught math. For example, mention if you’ve helped a student improve their SAT math score or volunteered at a local after-school program.
- Underline tech skills: Mention any experience with educational software or online teaching platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, or Zoom. Being tech-savvy is increasingly important in modern education.
- Tailor your resume: Customize your resume for each job application to match the job description. If a school emphasizes STEM education, highlight your experience with STEM projects or teaching methods. Using resume-building apps like Enhancv can be incredibly helpful—they allow you to create multiple resumes customized to meet various requirements.
- Proofread thoroughly: Ensure your resume is error-free to demonstrate your attention to detail. Typos and errors can be off-putting and suggest a lack of care. Consider asking a friend or mentor to review it as well.
PRO TIP
Math teacher residency programs offer aspiring teachers with a bachelor's degree a pathway into the classroom through extensive hands-on and graduate-level training. Investing in continuing education can be highly valuable for your career in STEM.
Next, let’s dive into the skills a math teacher should showcase on their resume to be considered for a job interview.
How to List Your Math Teacher Skills on a Resume
Aside from being a subject matter expert, your job as a math teacher mainly involves qualities that will make your classroom buzz with curiosity and collaboration. An article on affordableschools.net confirms that the top 5 skills for teachers in mathematics are empathy, resourcefulness, ability to explain concepts in simple terms, cultural sensitivity, and engagement skills.
So, how do you translate that on your resume?
With hard skills, the approach is quite straightforward. You research the math teacher job description and identify the key skills required for the job. Then, you think about which ones you have and list them in a dedicated section on your resume. It can look like this:
Math teacher hard skills
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Calculus
- Trigonometry
- Statistics
- Linear algebra
- Differential equations
- Discrete mathematics
- Mathematical modeling
- Probability theory
- Data analysis
- Microsoft Excel
- MATLAB
- Mathematica
- R programming
- Python for math
- Graphing calculators
- LaTeX
- Smartboard technology
- Online teaching platforms (e.g., Zoom, Google Classroom)
Your people skills, on the other hand, are rarely listed in a dedicated section. It’s best to integrate them into various sections of your resume, such as the experience or summary sections. Then, you should provide specific examples that demonstrate your mastery of each skill.
For example, instead of highlighting “creativity” in a resume skills section, you can weave it into the experience entries like so: “Introduced interactive math games and activities for K-12 students, leading to a 15% improvement in overall student performance on standardized tests.”
Now, look at the most in-demand soft skills for math teachers.
Best soft skills for your math teacher resume
In the next section of this guide, we explore the right way to list your educational background on your resume.
Math Teacher Education and Certifications on a Resume
When listing your educational background on a math teacher's resume, it’s important to tailor it to whether you want to teach in elementary or middle school. The type of education required varies depending on the students' level.
- Elementary school teachers in mathematics: Typically earn a bachelor's degree in elementary education with a second major in a related field. Advanced math concepts aren’t always required, but courses on teaching math can be beneficial.
- Middle and high school math teachers: Often need a bachelor’s degree with a double major in education and math, specializing in teaching math to prepare for advanced concepts and classroom management.
In addition to a bachelor's degree and state licensure, many states require completion of an accredited teacher preparation program, which includes both coursework and a student teaching internship.
Explore the education section below to see how a middle school math teacher’s educational experience can stand out on a resume:
- •Majored in Middle School Education and Mathematics
- •Completed student teaching internship at Jefferson Middle School
- •Passed the Praxis Middle School Mathematics (5169) and Principles of Learning and Teaching (5623) exams
So, why is it a good educational section?
Above all, it targets the top requirements for a math teacher position. It underlines relevant degrees from a reputable institution. It also includes specific accomplishments like completing a student teaching internship and passing relevant Praxis exams, which directly align with the qualifications needed for a middle school math teacher.
If you want to prove you’re well-prepared to provide high-quality education to students, you also need to highlight your certifications and licenses. The ones below are among the most sought-after on a math teacher’s resume.
Best certifications for your math teacher resume
Note that after listing the certificate and issuer, you should also mention the year you obtained the certification, as many require renewal after a certain time.
As for your state licensure, it’s best to put it in the resume header right after your job title, or in the resume summary. See how in the following part of this guide.
How to Write Your Math Teacher Resume Summary Or Objective
As a math teacher, you may find that expressing yourself with words isn't as effortless as working with numbers. Worry not, crafting a compelling professional profile is still within your reach. Use our guidelines below to create a standout resume summary.
- Review the job description and pinpoint the most important skills and qualifications that align with your experience.
- Integrate these keywords into your summary, ensuring it is concise with no more than five sentences.
- Avoid using the first-person narrative.
- Start each sentence with a strong adjective or a dynamic verb.
- Conclude by expressing your enthusiasm to contribute to the school community.
Now, here’s a math teacher’s summary that doesn’t really follow these rules.
This summary is too vague and lacks specific achievements or details that set the candidate apart. It doesn't mention how long they've been teaching, any notable successes, or how they've made a positive impact. Adding more specific examples and accomplishments would make it more compelling. See how:
This is a strong summary because:
- Specific experience: It mentions over 10 years of experience, showcasing long-term dedication and expertise.
- Range of skills: Lists various mathematical disciplines, highlighting a broad and deep knowledge base.
- Proven success: Includes a quantifiable achievement (35% increase in student performance), demonstrating effectiveness.
- Certification: Mentions a relevant certification, adding credibility and modern teaching skills.
- Commitment and passion: Expresses a clear dedication to the school community and student development, indicating a well-rounded and passionate educator.
Try to replicate these points in your resume summary. Remember, your summary is the first thing the recruiter will read, so make it count. However, don’t start by writing this part first. It’s much easier to do once you have a draft of the other sections prepared.
Objective statements are similar in concept but are up to 3 sentences long and focused on your career aspirations. They are more suitable for math teachers with less than 3 years of experience or those with gaps in their employment. If that’s your situation, here’s an example you can copy and paste into your resume.
Additional Sections for a Math Teacher Resume
Your math teacher resume can showcase a variety of skills in different sections. Choose those that align best with the job requirements and reflect your fit with the school culture. If space allows, consider adding an extra section relevant to the position you're applying for. For instance:
- Professional development: Include workshops, conferences, and additional courses you have attended. These enhance your credibility and expertise.
- Projects: Describe specific projects or initiatives you’ve led, such as curriculum development, math clubs, or tutoring programs. These can also be integrated into your experience section.
- Publications and presentations: Mention any articles, papers, or presentations given at conferences or seminars. If you have more than two, list them in a separate section.
- Awards and honors: List any teaching awards, scholarships, or recognitions received.
- Extracurricular activities: Include involvement in school activities like coaching math teams, advising clubs, or participating in school events.
- Languages: If applicable, list any additional languages spoken, especially if they can be an asset in a diverse classroom setting.
- Hobbies and interests: How you spend your time outside work can indicate your organizational skills and cultural fit within the organization.
- Volunteer work: Detail causes you're passionate about, roles you've held, and achievements in volunteering. Such experiences likely have honed a range of soft skills crucial for your dream job.
Key Takeaways
Creating a math teacher resume can feel like solving a complex equation, but these essential tips will ensure your resume stands out:
- Choose a hybrid resume format: This format highlights both your teaching skills and experience, making it ideal for math teachers.
- Quantify your achievements: Provide concrete examples, such as improving student test scores or implementing successful math programs, to demonstrate your impact.
- Balance skills and experience: Underline your mathematical expertise and teaching experience, ensuring both are prominently featured.
- Keep certifications updated: Make sure your teaching licenses and certifications are current and prominently displayed on your resume.
- Craft a strong professional summary: Write a compelling summary that captures your unique qualities, experience, and passion for teaching math.
- Tailor your resume for each job: Customize your resume to match the job description, emphasizing relevant skills and experience.