Help With Writing a Teaching Philosophy Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

The teaching philosophy or teaching statement is becoming a more common part of academic life for both faculty and graduate students. Graduate students report that colleges and universities often request statements from applicants for faculty positions. Faculty at an increasing number of institutions must develop a teaching statement as they approach tenure and promotion. Instructors at all levels find that writing their statement helps them develop as teachers, since it entails making their implicit views on teaching and student learning explicit and comparing those views to actual teaching practice. This crlt occasional paper is designed to help experienced graduate students write a statement of teaching philosophy. The authors offer a rubric for writing an effective statement based on research into the use of teaching statements by academic search committees. The design of the rubric was informed by our experience with hundreds of teaching philosophies, as well as surveys of search committees on what they considered successful and unsuccessful components of job applicants rsquo teaching philosophies.

This link contains examples of teaching statements from u m and consists of a library of teaching philosophies from advanced graduate students who have taken part in the rackham crlt may seminar on preparing future faculty. The site has a carefully designed menu of topics such as what is a philosophy of teaching statement? and major components of a philosophy of teaching statement that are easy to navigate and give an overview of the teaching statement. The gwenna moss centre for teaching effectiveness outlines the parts of a teaching portfolio. This site includes a section dedicated to writing a statement of teaching philosophy, and several sample philosophy of teaching statements from a variety of disciplines. Tutorial on writing a teaching philosophy with resources to help you each step of the way, including reflective prompts, a teaching philosophy template, and three different rubrics for evaluating your statement. Think of the process as a writing project and give yourself some time to explore ideas and try out different ways of expressing those ideas before you write the first draft of the statement.

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  tps pre writing strategy 1: reflective pre writing explore your commitment to or stake in teaching in your discipline. Write for 5 minutes, without worrying about style or how your ideas sound, answering the following question: what are the most challenging, interesting, or exciting aspects of teaching?   tps pre writing strategy 2: generating potential content use the attached worksheet  as a rough guide for generating content and examples that you might include in your tps. After completing the worksheet:

    on your notes in the table, circle or put an asterisk next to any goal, method, or example that will allow you to discuss what you find to be most challenging, interesting, or exciting about teaching. make a note of any gaps in your preparation or your ideas that you’d like to address while writing the teaching philosophy statement. The statement will necessarily change as you continue to teach and experience new courses and try out new methods. tailor your statement.  select examples that address the kind of teaching requested in the job posting. use order, emphasis, and carefully selected examples to highlight important information. The teaching center at washington university offers tps workshops each semester on both the danforth and medical campuses. We also offer a tps seminar series over the summer 6 weeks and a jump start program during the fall and spring semesters condensed to 4 weeks each consists of multiple meetings and peer review sessions to begin and advance the tps writing process.

    Consider forming your own writing group. contact us for support, resources/materials, and structure to help you implement a successful peer review group. Individual consultations with teaching center staff on writing, revising, or tailoring your statements are also available for washington university graduate students and postdocs. Contact michelle repice   humanities, social sciences disciplines ,  denise leonard   stem disciplines , or emily cohen shikora social sciences, stem to schedule a time to review your tps and get feedback. Graduate students and postdocs should also ask faculty advisors, mentors, and peers to read your statement and provide feedback to help you improve its effectiveness and clarity.

    Resources and practices to help graduate students and postdoctoral fellows write statements of teaching philosophy. What’s your philosophy on teaching, and does it matter? the chronicle of higher education. Please contact the teaching support centre sample letter to students requesting feedback clause 6.5 c dear student , professor _ is being considered for _ at the university of western ontario.

    In arriving at a decision, the committee reviewing this case will be considering professor _'s performance in each of the areas of teaching, research and service. In assessing performance in teaching, the committee will have the results of the annual teaching evaluations along with peer opinions. In addition, it would be valuable to have the input from some of his/her former students such as yourself.