Your teaching philosophy: The what, why, and how

How to formulate, refine, and articulate your teaching philosophy. Podcast notes The academic portfolio: A practical guide to documenting teaching, research, and service by J. Elizabeth Miller Miller provides examples of the narrative from actual promotion and tenure portfolios. What is a teaching philosophy? Why we teach. Why teaching matters. Not just a formula for teaching structure, but the rationale behind the structure. Why is having a teaching philosophy important? Helps guide our teaching methods. Needed in the job hunting process. Typically part of the promotion/tenure process at most universities. How to identify, articulate, & refine it? Questions from The Academic Portfolio (p. 13): What do I believe about the role of a teacher, the role of a student? Why do I teach the way I do? What doesn’t learning look like when it happens? Why do I choose the teaching strategies and the methods that I use? How do I assess my students learning? Questions of my own that  I have found useful in articulating my teaching philosophy: Who are my students? How I describe them says a lot about how I approach my teaching. Who am I, as an educator? How I describe myself says a lot about my teaching, too. What is teaching? Is the purpose to convey information, or to facilitate learning (or something else altogether)? Planet Money episode about young woman becoming a business owner in North Korea. What are the artifacts of my teaching? Observable things. What would I see/hear/experience that would be evidence of those beliefs, if I was in your class? Espoused beliefs vs theories in use. Chris Argyris / Edgar Schein Podcast updates Thanks to Suzie RN for giving us our first iTunes review. We appreciate iTunes or Stitcher reviews from listeners, as it helps us get the word out about the show. Also, if you haven’t done the listener survey yet, please do. That will help us continue to make the show better meet your needs.