Authentic Teaching Tasks
Teaching Philosophy Statement
To complete the AT Program, you are required to write a teaching philosophy statement. To fulfill this task, you will need to:
- Write your own teaching philosophy statement.
- Submit it to a member of your department along with the Teaching Philosophy Faculty Verification form.
- Once you receive feedback from your designated faculty member, submit the following items to CNDLS in Car Barn 314 by each semester's due dates:
- your original draft with faculty comments;
- your revised draft (if you have revised in response to faculty comments); and
- the signed Faculty Verification form.
- Receive feedback from CNDLS.
- If necessary, edit and submit final version to CNDLS
Deadlines
Your teaching philosophy statement must be submitted first to a faculty member in your department and then to CNDLS for review. CNDLS will review submissions twice a semester. You will then receive feedback and notification if any changes are required. The revised version must be submitted no later than the final deadline of your graduating semester (see Submission Schedule).
Suggestions
A teaching philosophy statement is a short narrative (usually two-three pages) that includes reflective commentaries focused on particular teaching episodes. Your teaching philosophy statement should create a coherent picture of your classroom teaching practice. A teaching philosophy statement often includes your conception of teaching and learning, a description of how you teach, and justification for why you teach that way.
The core AT workshop "The Teaching Portfolio" will be helpful to you as you design the required teaching philosophy statement and optional teaching portfolio. In addition, you might find the resources linked below helpful while preparing your statement.
Resources
- Preparation for Writing a Teaching Statement (135 KB Microsoft Word document)
- Six Ways to Get Feedback on your Teaching (139 KB Microsoft Word document)
- What Department Chairs and Provosts Think... (57 KB PDF document)
- The Center for Teaching University of Massachusetts Amherst - Preparing a Teaching Portfolio (PDF document)
- Vanderbilt University's Center for Teaching, Teaching Portfolios
- Penn State University Teaching with Technology Portfolios
- The Ohio State University, Faculty & TA Development site on Teaching Philosophy Statements
- Carnegie Mellon University, Quick Tips to Develop your Teaching Philsophy Statement
- Iowa State University Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching
Additional Resources:
