1. Bring your own writing pad to jot down notes to interview questions - most likely you will be given a list of questions to ponder while waiting for your interview. You will not be allowed to take those questions home. I noticed sharp applicants would read the questions and jot down notes on their own paper which they can take home. Then they have additional information for their next interview.
2. Take a risk in your application - almost every decent application have words like differentiation, lifelong learner, buzz words from the curricula we are using...and that is good because I expect that at the minimum. To bring the application to the next level, show some original ideas of your own. For example, an applicant wrote about a yearlong expedition incorporating technology and writing in the production of a video. That is different and showcase a talent/experience/original idea that separated him from the herd.
3. Don't be overly familiar if you know someone on your interview committee - an applicant was acquainted with 2 teachers on the interview committee. He kept using their names in his responses, probably as an attempt to establish rapport. However, the teachers were uncomfortable because they felt he presumed on the acquaintance. He was also interviewing for a different grade level than what his contacts taught but did not focus on the teacher he needed to most impress -- the one teaching his grade level band.
