Writing Your Teaching

Philosophy

Your teaching philosophy is a self-reflective statement of your beliefs

about teaching and learning. It's a one to two-page narrative that conveys your
core ideas about being an effective teacher in the context of your discipline. It
develops these ideas with specific, concrete examples of what the teacher and
learners will do to achieve those goals. Importantly, your teaching philosophy
statement also explains why you choose these options.

Getting started
Your reasons for writing a teaching philosophy may
vary. You might be writing it as an exercise in concisely
documenting your beliefs so that you can easily articulate
them to your students, peers, or a search committee. It might
serve as the introduction to your teaching portfolio. Or, it can
serve as a means of professional growth as it requires you to
give examples of how you enact your philosophy, thus
requiring you to consider the degree to which your teaching is congruent
with your beliefs.
Generating ideas
Teaching philosophies express your values and beliefs about teaching.
They are personal statements that introduce you, as a teacher,
to your reader. As such, they are written in the first person and
convey a confident, professional tone. When writing a
teaching philosophy, use specific examples to illustrate your
points. You should also discuss how your values and beliefs
about teaching fit into the context of your discipline.

Below are categories you might address with prompts to help

you begin generating ideas. Work through each category, spending time
thinking about the prompts and writing your ideas down. These notes will
comprise the material you’ll use to write the first draft of your teaching
philosophy statement. It will help if you include both general ideas (‘I endeavor
to create lifelong learners’) as well as specifics about how you will enact those
goals. A teaching philosophy template (pdf) is also below or you may click the
following link:
[Link]
Questions to prompt your thinking
Your concept of learning

What do you mean by learning? What happens in a successful learning

situation? Note what constitutes "learning" or "mastery" in your discipline.

Your concept of teaching

What are your values, beliefs, and aspirations as a teacher? Do you wish to
encourage mastery, competency, transformational learning, lifelong learning,
general transference of skills, critical thinking? What does a perfect teaching
situation look like to you and why? How are the values and beliefs realized in
classroom activities? You may discuss course materials, lesson plans,
activities, assignments, and assessment instruments.

Your goals for students

What skills should students obtain as a result of your teaching? Think about
your ideal student and what the outcomes of your teaching would be in terms
of this student's knowledge or behavior. Address the goals you have for specific
classes or curricula and that rational behind them (i.e., critical thinking, writing,
or problem solving).

Your teaching methods

What methods will you consider to reach these goals and objectives? What are
your beliefs regarding learning theory and specific strategies you would use,
such as case studies, group work, simulations, interactive lectures? You might
also want to include any new ideas or strategies you want to try.

Your interaction with students

What are your attitudes towards advising and mentoring students? How would
an observer see you interact with students? Why do you want to work with
students?

Assessing learning

How will you assess student growth and learning? What are your beliefs about
grading? Do you grade students on a percentage scale (criterion referenced) or
on a curve (norm referenced)? What different types of assessment will you use
(i.e. traditional tests, projects, portfolios, presentations) and why?

Professional growth

How will you continue growing as a teacher? What goals do you have for
yourself and how will you reach them? How have your attitudes towards
teaching and learning changed over time? How will you use student evaluations
to improve your teaching? How might you learn new skills? How do you know
when you've taught effectively?

Creating a draft
Two ways of organizing your draft
Now that you've written down your values, attitudes, and beliefs about
teaching and learning, it's time to organize those thoughts into a coherent form.
Perhaps the easiest way of organizing this material would be to write a
paragraph covering each of the seven prompts you answered in the previous
tab. These would then become the seven major sections of your teaching
philosophy.

Another way of knitting your reflections together—and one that is more

personal—is to read through your notes and underscore ideas or observations
that come up more than once. Think of these as "themes" that might point you
toward an organizational structure for the essay. For example, you read through
your notes and realize that you spend a good deal of time writing about your
interest in mentoring students. This might become one of the three or four major
foci of your teaching philosophy. You should then discuss what it says about
your attitudes toward teaching, learning, and what's important in your discipline.

No matter which style you choose, make sure to keep your writing
succinct. Aim for two double-spaced pages. And don't forget to start with a
"hook." Your job is to make your readers want to read more; their level of
engagement is highest when they read your opening line. Hook your readers
by beginning with a question, a statement, or even an event from your past.
Using specific examples
Remember to provide concrete examples from your teaching practice to
illustrate the general claims you make in your teaching philosophy. The
following general statements about teaching are intended as prompts to help
you come up with examples to illustrate your claims about teaching. For each
statement, how would you describe what happens in your classroom? Is your
description specific enough to bring the scene to life in a teaching philosophy?

"I value helping my students understand difficult information. I

am an expert, and my role is to model for them complex ways of
thinking so that they can develop the same habits of mind as
professionals in the medical field."
"I enjoy lecturing, and I'm good at it. I always make an effort to
engage and motivate my students when I lecture."
"It is crucial for students of geology to learn the techniques of
field research. An important part of my job as a professor of
geology is to provide these opportunities."
"I believe that beginning physics students should be introduced
to the principles of hypothesis generation, experimentation, data
collection, and analysis. By learning the scientific method, they
develop critical thinking skills they can apply to other areas of
their lives. Small group work is a crucial tool for teaching the
scientific method."
"As a teacher of writing, I am committed to using peer review in
my classes. By reading and commenting on other students'
work in small cooperative groups, my students learn to find their
voice, to understand the important connection between writer
and audience, and to hone their editing skills. Small group work
is indispensable in the writing classroom."
Assessing your draft
According to a survey of search committee chairs by the University of
Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, there are five
elements that are shared by strong teaching philosophy statements:

• They offer evidence of practice (specific examples)

• They are student-centered
• They demonstrate reflectiveness
• They demonstrate that the writer values teaching
• They are well written, clear, and readable

Now that you’ve completed an initial draft, ask whether your statement
captures these elements and how well you articulate them.

NOW, IT’S TIME TO WRITE!

Write your personal PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
and send it to ____________- filename: Module4-Task1-YourSurname).

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