Developing your Teaching Philosophy

[brettwilcox]

Developing your Teaching Philosophy

Do not included everything from this brainstorming document in your teaching philosophy statement, but select the things that are most impactful, most personal, or most relevant to the jobs you apply to.

Why do I teach the way that I do?

• What do I believe about knowledge? Learning? Understanding? Meaning? How do these terms relate to one another?
• What motivates and excites me to learn in my discipline?
• What is my most memorable experience as a student?
• What kinds of specific objectives do I set for my students?

How do I teach?

• How do my motivations for or beliefs about teaching manifest in my teaching practice?
• What would an observer see if they sat in on one of my classes? What are 2-3 specific techniques I use in my teaching?
• What are the 2-3 most important things my students learn from my discipline?
• How do I convey a passion for my discipline?
• How do I make my classroom welcoming? What are my beliefs and commitments to inclusive teaching?

What is my teaching experience? What courses can I teach?

• What kinds of training in teaching do I have? How specifically has it prepared me to teach?
• How have mentors or teachers had a positive impact on me? What kind of student-teacher relationship do I strive to achieve? Why?
• What courses have I taught or TAed for? And what were the student populations in these courses? How do I changed my teaching style to suit different populations of students?
• What kinds of classes am I capable and motivated to teach? (Think about topics, size of course, majors/non-majors/grad students. This is a good place to think about customizing your TPS to a specific institution.)
• How do I differentiate my teaching style for different types of classes (consider different content and different students)?

How do I know that my teaching is effective?

• How do I assess student growth and learning? What kinds of assessments do I use? Why?
• What authentic, project-based, or novel assessment strategies do I use or plan to use?
• How do I know when I have taught something effectively? What formal and informal tools do I use to assess the effectiveness of my teaching?
• What steps have I taken to improve my teaching? What, in particular, have I changed in response to feedback?
• What goals do I have for myself as a teacher and how do I plan to reach them?

Produced from MIT, assuming it's okay to include here since they promote using in a resume and also for self reflection.

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IhL_JX1wtEXJHyWR3wxFvEwWnjFZa6zkS6QEkcKcs-E/copy
• https://tll.mit.edu/teaching-resources/faculty-applications/teaching-philosophy-statements/