AY 375 Fall 2013: Fourteenth Day Plan

In this class, Eliot will join us to talk about teaching C13, 7a, and upper level courses. We will also remind ourselves about teaching philosophies.

1. Teaching philosophies are becoming more and more important in faculty applications. Have one, and edit it frequently.
2. Teaching takes time. Are you willing to put the time into it?

Open the floor up for general questions and sharing about how sections are going. Some questions include:

• What did you do?
• How did you implement your activities?
• What worked?
• What didn't work?
• What would you do differently?
• How did you assess learning?
• Did you receive any unexpected questions/reactions/etc.?
• Did anything unexpected happen?
• What were you thinking about while you were running section? Any moments of panic?

As a class discussion:

• What about your philosophy has changed over the semester?
• What sort of themes pervade your teaching now?

More and more colleges and universities are reexamining their commitment to teaching and exploring ways to improve and reward it. Faculty are being held accountable to provide clear and concise evidence of the quality of their classroom teaching.

What is a teaching portfolio? It is a factual description of your teaching strengths and accomplishments. It includes documents and materials which collectively suggest the scope and quality of a professor's teaching performance. It is to teaching what lists of publications, grants, and honors are to research and scholarship.

The portfolio is not an exhaustive compilation of all the documents and materials that bear on teaching performance. Instead, it presents selected information on teaching activities and solid evidence of their effectiveness.

No teaching portfolio is the same, but there are some common elements:

Material on yourself:

• Statement of teaching philosophy
• List of teaching responsibilities, including course titles, numbers, enrollments, and, if applicable brief statement about how the course plays a role in the major.
• Representative course syllabi detailing course content and objectives, teaching methods, readings, and homework assignments.
• Participation in programs on sharpening instructional skills.
• Description of curricular revisions, instructional innovations.
• Description of steps taken to evaluate and improve one's teaching, including changes resulting from self-evaluation and time spent reading journals on teaching.

Material from others:

• Statements from colleagues who have observed you in the classroom.
• Student course evaluations (all of them, not hand-picked ones).
• Honors or recognitions from colleagues, such as teaching awards.
• Statements from students/alumni on the quality of instruction.

Products of Teacher/Student Learning:

• Scores on pre/post test exams.
• Examples of graded essays along with the your comments on why it was graded the way it was graded.
• Successive drafts of student papers along with your comments on how each draft could be improved.

Other items that might appear:

• A videotape of a section or lecture.
• Self-evaluation of your teaching.
• Performance reviews from faculty advisers.
• Select outreach that emphasize teaching.

1. Revise your teaching philosophy.