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Teaching Philosophies. Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie. Why do we have to do these things?. Often to fulfill some requirement and get a job or scholarship or complete portfolio However it is a great opportunity to: Reflect on how you teach and why
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Teaching Philosophies Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie
Why do we have to do these things? • Often to fulfill some requirement and get a job or scholarship or complete portfolio • However it is a great opportunity to: • Reflect on how you teach and why • (Re)Consider your current methods and analyze how well they stack up to your ideals • Reshape your current teaching as needed to better reflect your goals, growth, and philosophies • Simply stimulate your thinking on about your teaching
Format • Keep it brief: ideally 1 page, maybe 2 • Write for a general audience (be able to explain to non-experts, this will further illustrate your ability to teach) • Use first person narrative • Make it reflective, vivid, and personal • Use examples even videos to support
Content • Answer these questions: • Why do you teach? • What do you teach? • How do you teach?/Why do you teach the way that you do? • How do you measure your effectiveness? • How do people learn? • How do you facilitate that learning? • What goals do you have for your students? • What do you do to implement these ideas about teaching and learning in the classroom? • Are these things working? Do your students meet the goals? • How do you know they are working? • What are your future goals for growth as a teacher? From: http://artsci.wustl.edu/%7Eteachcen/Teaching-ssistants/philosophystatement.php & http://ftad.osu.edu/portfolio/philosophy/Phil_guidance.html
Components • Conceptualization of learning: • Explain what you mean by learning and what happens in a learning situation • Draw on your experience and observations • Consider including things like learning issues/differences: learning styles, how different students respond to different types of learning (discussions, lectures, hands-on, …), various learning disabilities, and so on • If you want, feel free to use and explain a metaphor for learning
More Components • Conceptualization of teaching • Discuss what you mean by teaching • Explain how you facilitate and motivate learning • Consider how you have come to these realizations • If you used a metaphor before then add the teacher to the metaphor (how do you fit?)
Even More Components • Goals for students • Explain the goals you set for your classes • Discuss the rationale behind the goals • Present the activities you use to reach the goals • Discuss any changes in your teaching goals as you have evolved as a teacher • Consider a full range of goals: • Content (an easy starting place, example: writing a strong thesis sentence • Process (example: understanding and applying the writing process) • Career and lifelong goals (examples: ethics, social commitment, critical thinking, audience analysis)
Yet Another Component • Implementation of the philosophy: this is often the “fun” and relatively “easy” part • Explain how you implement your goals for students and your concepts of teaching and learning • Discuss your course design, course materials, activities, assignments, projects, and day-to-day teaching strategies • Consider how you conduct classes, grade, and even mentor • Discuss how you interact with students inside and outside the classroom
Last Component • Teaching growth plan • Reflect on your teaching and how it has changed over time • Discuss what goals you have set and how you accomplished these goals • Consider long terms goals (previous and current) • Discuss challenges in the past or present • Reflect on the teacher you want to become
Your Philosophy • Have fun with it • Make it reflect who you are as a scholar, person, and most importantly as a teacher • Use it to become a better and more reflective teacher
Samples! • See a class full of student philosophies http://richrice.com/5060 (bottom of page, links above the pictures) • Rich Rice’s: http://richrice.com/philosophy.pdf • Clay Spinuzzi’s: http://locus.cwrl.utexas.edu/spinuzzi/?q=node/7 • See also the handout for another
Questions? Sources: • Philosophy Of Teaching Statement http://www.oic.id.ucsb.edu/Resources/Teaching/TPS.html • Developing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement http://teaching.uchicago.edu/pod/chism.html • Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement for the Academic Job Market http://artsci.wustl.edu/%7Eteachcen/Teaching-assistants/philosophystatement.php • Guidance on Writing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement http://ftad.osu.edu/portfolio/philosophy/Phil_guidance.html