»Teaching Statements & Portfolios

A teaching portfolio usually consists of documents and materials that reflect a teacher’s skill, teaching philosophy, and qualifications. A teaching philosophy is a statement (that varies in length) on what the teacher believes about teaching, learning, and how they execute their beliefs into practice in the classroom. Below are some resources to help you craft your teaching philosophy statement and developing your teaching portfolio:

• How to write a teaching philosophy statement

• • When it's required: Tenure-track faculty applications and promotion

• • When to start: Begin developing your teaching philosophy statement early in your teaching career

• • Why start early: To better understand how you evolve as a teacher over time

• • What to keep on record throughout your career:

• • • How your teaching beliefs turn into practice in the classroom

• • • How your teaching beliefs have changed over time

• • • What teaching strategies you use that are effective

• • • What new strategies you have tried that are innovative

• • Benefit: Having all of this information on file will make it easier to write your teaching philosophy statement

• Examples and templates

• • Jean-Louis Bru, Ph.D. - Instructional Assistant Professor in Schmid College of Science & Technology

Developing your Teaching Portfolio

What is a teaching portfolio?

Teaching portfolios are essential tools used throughout an educator’s career for purposes such as hiring, tenure, promotion, and recognition through awards. 

They typically include:

A comprehensive teaching portfolio often includes three key categories of evidence. Self-authored materials may consist of personal teaching philosophy statements, reflections on teaching practices, and interpretations of student feedback. Feedback from others typically includes student course evaluations, peer and faculty reviews, and letters of recommendation or support. Instructional artifacts showcase course content through examples such as syllabi, assignment guidelines and rubrics, lecture notes or slides, and samples of student work. Together, these elements provide a well-rounded view of instructional effectiveness and professional growth. 

What is a teaching statement?

A Teaching Statement provides a rich opportunity to articulate the guiding principles behind your educational philosophy. It begins with a reflection on how students learn and how that understanding informs your instructional methods and how your instructional methods impact student learning at various levels. Your teaching statement can also include information on how you have tried new teaching methods and activities as well.

What Should I Include in My Teaching Statement?

A teaching statement should include what teaching means to you and what your views are on regarding knowledge, skills or attitudes you want to foster in your students. To do this, you can describe whether your course learning outcomes or student learning outcomes are content-oriented, thinking process oriented, skill oriented, knowledge skills, attitudes, etc. You’ll also want to include what effective teaching strategies you use to help students achieve learning outcomes. Your reader should be able to visualize you in the classroom! Another piece of information you’ll want to include in your teaching statement is to include the types of assessments you use such as quizzes, projects, and why you chose these assessment methods for your courses. You want to be able to demonstrate that you provide a variety of opportunities to assess student learning. Lastly, your teaching statement should address how you want to professional develop and grow as a teacher.

Also, refer back to Bloom’s taxonomy of learning!

Additional Resources:

• Curating your Teaching Portfolio

• Tips for Building your Teaching Portfolio

• Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness
• Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement
• Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Reflective Practices Support Improved Learning Experiences

As educators, we are also lifelong learners, seeking out new ideas related to pedagogy and strategies for teaching and keeping abreast of new developments in our field. If we don’t, we run the risk of becoming stagnant, or end up simply going through the motions in our classrooms. Education pioneer John Dewey was a proponent of reflective practice as a means of learning and improving our teaching skills. Regardless of how many years of classroom experience we have, whether it’s three or thirty, all educators can learn and grow through the process of reflection and feedback.

Reflective practice is a process that leads to growth; it requires instructors to “carefully collect evidence about their teaching practice in order to analyzer, interpret, and evaluate their experiences with the intention to improve their future teaching” (Suphasri & Chinokul, 2021). In order to maintain good teaching practices, instructors need to reflect upon their teaching, and identify areas for improvement to adapt for future terms. Reflective teaching can also support inclusive classroom practices.

Here are some ways you can begin to develop a reflective teaching practice:

1. Before a term begins, reflect on your course goals, and what you hope to help your students accomplish or achieve by the end of the course.
2. As you develop your syllabus and course content, consider the feedback you received last term and how students’ comments might lead to revised practices or changes to your curriculum.  
3. During the term, keep a journal in which you make note of student interactions and experiences in the classroom – what is working and what isn’t? What did you and your students enjoy most? What activities or topics did students engage with most actively? What wasn’t enjoyable or meaningful?  
4. Collect student feedback throughout the term and make changes along the way as appropriate. Use the feedback to revise future iterations of the course as well.  
5. Look at the current educational research, or talk to colleagues to find ideas for ways to improve teaching practices. You can also schedule a consultation with the CETL team to brainstorm ways to redesign assessments, incorporate new practices, or analyze and use student feedback.  
6. Conduct a self-assessment or ask a colleague to conduct a peer observation of your course.

Remember that reflective practice is an ongoing process, not something we do just once. The “Stop, Practice, Collaborate” approach helps us continually reflect on our practices, as we apply what we’ve learned and engage in dialog with our students and peers to grow as educators. In doing so, we can create more effective, inclusive, and enjoyable classroom experiences for us and our students.