Teaching Portfolios

1. Teaching Portfolios WSU Mentoring Committee Updated January 2016

2. About This Presentation These materials are designed to support your work on an online teaching portfolio. Nominees looking to submit a portfolio for teaching awards must include the following: • c.v. • statement of teaching philosophy • course information including a syllabus and rationale for each course • SET scores Additional materials may be included (with support for development offered in the slides below)

3. Platforms - Google Sites Pros: • Rich html editing • Easy updating (embedding google documents) Cons: • More complex system • Harder to make look “nice”

4. Platforms - Weebly (or Wix) Pros: • Attractive templates • Easy, drag and drop editing Cons: • Limited html/deep editing • Often more costly

5. Platforms - Wordpress Pros: • affordable domain • attractive themes • html options Cons: • not super intuitive • themes are sometimes limited

6. Overall Goal For Assembling Your Portfolio As you put together the pieces of your portfolio, think about… ...how each artifact talks to the others ...how the audience will want to read or use your portfolio to learn about you as a teacher ...how each artifact contributes to your professional ethos

7. Teaching Philosophy • The voice and style may be more narrative than other teaching statements • You may use anecdotes where relevant as evidence of how your philosophy enters your classroom • Include your theory of teaching and learning (i.e. pedagogical theories or critical theories, such as “social constructivism” or “feminist theory” (this could be one paragraph, but probably shouldn’t be more than that) • Include the practice of teaching and learning in your classroom (concrete examples of things you do in the classroom, and why you make those choices, for example: “I make students get into groups and talk to each other...because I believe in social constructivism and active learning. So by putting them in groups and making them talk to each other/discuss topics, I am guiding them to actively share and build knowledge…”--this should be a couple of paragraphs)

8. Teaching Philosophy, continued • Make evident how theory and practice inform each other: • what theory looks like in your classroom • specific examples of pedagogical methods and practices that demonstrate your beliefs. • How do you assess student learning? Why? • http://ngvarty.com/teaching-philosophy/ • http://amyannmetcalf.com/teaching-philosophy/

9. Teaching Biography • Includes when, where, how and why you have taught • Includes variety of courses, guest lectures, tutoring in content area, facilitating workshops, etc. • You may choose to simply incorporate these into your c.v., to have in an About page, or to make a separate space.

10. Academic Bio Helpful link for distinguishing how this is different than a teaching biography and how this genre is different from a purpose statement: http://www.gradhacker.org/2011/09/23/narrating-your-professional-life-writing-the-academic-bio/

11. Curriculum Vitae • The context of whatever you’re applying for should inform how you construct the c.v. • Think about how what you include highlights your strengths and distinctions among your peers. • Show and connect the values you highlight elsewhere in your portfolio.

12. Curriculum Vitae, continued 4. Format Matters: Example Site 5. Useful Resources • Surviving Your Academic Job Hunt: Advice for Humanities Ph.D’sby Katherine Hume • Dr. Karen. “Rules of the Academic CV.”The Professor Is In.

13. Teaching Evaluations and SET Scores Interpreting SET Scores • Mean (average) • Median (middle value of scores) • Q1: “How much have you learned in this course?” • Q2: “How much have you learned in this course?” • Q24: “How would you rate this instructor’s teaching in the course?” • The mean of the course ratings for each course taught throughout the year was averaged and represent a higher than average course rating score. Side Box for Average Class Rating for Each Course Taught: • Required courses with a score of 12 or higher are exceptional marks. My course ratings for both Intermediate Composition (ENG 3010) and ENG 6010 are above 12.

14. STUDENT COMMENTS • Choosing Student Comments: • Overwhelmingly, my courses are judged by students as difficult (around 75%) or moderate (around 25%) • Therefore, I wanted to represent student comments that spoke to the level of work in my class, but that were also represented in a positive light: • This class was fast paced and quite rigorous. Even so, the course taught me a lot about teaching and tutoring. I plan on working in the writing center as a volunteer next year. That is how valuable the tutoring component was for me as a teacher. • Always enthusiastic and more than willing to sit down with students or have individual conferences. I thought the course was the hardest course I have taken yet, but I am glad I did. • We were always given chances for revision. We had to work for it, but it was worth it. I increased my grades and I really learned how to write. I never knew writing was something you learned to do until now. • The course is very rigorous. It has a lot of work, but it is understandable that a research based English class would be this way. The professor made it manageable and the style of teaching she used was very helpful and helped us all learn in a fun way.

15. USE OF SET SCORES AND STUDENT COMMENT IN PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT • Remember that your SET Scores and your Student Comments are only PART of the entire story • Make sure your Teaching Philosophy Statementdraws upon and further develops your SET Scores and your Student Comments • Go through your SET Scores and Student Comments to find trends, strong examples of teaching, feedback, student growth and investment, etc. • Group this information and reflect upon what this information SAYS ABOUT YOU AS A TEACHER. This will help to contextualize and provide key examples to draw upon for your Teaching Philosophy Statement • Remember, your Teaching Philosophy Statement should not only be a philosophy or belief of teaching, but the additional material in your portfolio should BACK UP match your claims in your statement

16. Course Information Course descriptions • Learning objectives (not just those prescribed by the common syllabus, but how you approach those in your course) • Major projects, and how they tie in to the objectives • Syllabus file or link

17. Samples of Student Work • Include samples under fuller descriptions of the projects or embed them in a longer course description. • Select two or three examples of projects when possible, to show different ways students successfully compose these projects.

18. Lesson Plans • Focus on a timeline for a project or examination of a key concept (I have an example here). • Develop narrative descriptions and concrete examples of how your pedagogy plays out in the classroom. Should align with your teaching philosophy! • Include descriptions of the writing work that scaffolds the project or students’ understanding of a concept. • Include resources and student examples when possible. • Imagine an audience who might want to adapt your lesson plan sequence for their own purposes.

19. Sharing Your Portfolio • If you’re willing to share your portfolio on the WSU Comp site, send the link to Adrienne Jankens, dx1044@wayne.edu • Teaching Writing Award nominees for the 2016 awards should have their links sent by February 19, 2016 for review. • Continue to update your portfolio, one piece at a time!