Any Ph.D. who plans on seeking a tenure-track position at a college or university needs a teaching/professional portfolio introduced by a brief (1-2 page) teaching philosophy statement. While gathering artifacts and evidence of one’s effectiveness in the classroom and as a researcher/writer is daunting enough, writing the statement of teaching philosophy can be an especially difficult task. Not only do many people find writing about themselves to be uncomfortable, but also most people do not consciously think about who they are as a teacher and researcher.
Looking Critically at Teaching
Writing a teaching philosophy statement forces teachers to take the necessary step of examining their teaching and how their research relates to teaching, and then presenting that information to an audience. While most who have never written a statement of teaching philosophy feel that their educational philosophies don’t extend much beyond “stay one day ahead of the students,” everyone has, even subconsciously, a personal opinion about why he/she teaches the way that he/she does.
Everyone Has a Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Teachers will find, after some brief exploration and reflection, that they have already formed an educational philosophy based in part on experiences that they have had as students. Maybe a former teacher presented something to a class in a unique way that everyone could understand, and the new teacher has chosen to emulate those techniques. Or, perhaps, the new teacher takes pains to avoid behaving like a teacher whose demeanor or classroom activities hindered his/her learning experience.
Grounding the Statement in Teaching Research
Once teachers have thought about the how and why of what they do in the classroom, the next step is to ground that personal information in some theoretical background. For those who do not have much theoretical background in the teaching methods of their particular discipline, a good step would be to look at statements of teaching philosophy written by a teaching mentor or other respected instructor in the department. A simple Internet search can also turn up sample statements of teaching philosophy written by those in the same or a similar academic field.
A Personal Statement Supported with Research
The statement of teaching philosophy should be personal, yet supported by the research and theoretical knowledge about teaching in the discipline in question. Once a teacher has done some self-reflection about his/her own teaching and some theoretical research about teaching in his/her field, he/she can look at the artifacts of his/her teaching and start to make some connections. What course activities are clearly influenced by what theory? What assignments clearly reflect personal feelings or experiences about how students learn?
A Statement of Teaching Philosophy is Never Finished
The statement of teaching philosophy is a living document that should be revisited and revised on occasion. As one’s teaching (and any research related to that teaching) grows and changes, the statement of teaching philosophy will change as well. By the time a teacher must assemble a tenure portfolio, the statement of teaching philosophy will have evolved into a teaching “history” as well, in which the teacher can explore changes in classroom technique over his/her career and discuss the rationales for those changes.
Sources:
Montell, Gabriella. How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy. The Chronicle of Higher Education. March 27, 2003. Last accessed October 20, 2009.
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