A Guide to the Teaching Portfolio

1. Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolio Strategies
2. Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolio Allocation
3. Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolio
4. Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolios

Spring 2001 Edition

THEORY of teaching, the narrative explains the PRACTICE, as well as how the theory is transferred to practice. One of the main elements of a paper-based teaching portfolio is the collection of documents typically held in an appendix. These documents offer examples of the teacher’s practice, and typically include items created by the instructor.

Contents

• The Teaching Portfolio Concept Peter Seldin. “The Teaching Portfolio Concept.” In Successful Use of Teaching Portfolios. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing, Inc., 1993. Reprinted with permission from Anker Publishing, Inc. INTRODUCTION An important and welcome change is taking place on college and university campuses: Teaching is.
• As you begin your teaching career, one of the most important tasks you must complete is the creation of your Teaching Portfolio. This will be your professional folder that well represents what you will be as a classroom teacher. Many universities require this as part of their academic program, yet.

Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolio Strategies

Credits

Academic Programs in College Teaching
The Graduate School
in conjuction with the
Teaching Excellence Program
University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH 03824

Graduate Faculty in College Teaching

Professors
Christopher F. Bauer
Victor A. Benassi
Walter Eggers
Edward J. O'Brien
Lee F. Seidel
Sally Ward

Adjunct Professors
Leila V. Moore
Daniel Reagan

Associate Professors
Patricia D. Bedker
John J. Cerullo
Cinthia Gannett
Gary S. Goldstein
Marc W. Herold
Dawn C. Meredith
Terry M. Savage

Adjunct Associate Professors
Harry J. Richards
Michael Lee

Assistant Professors
Karla E. Vogel
Victoria L. Banyard

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Cheryl M. Jorgensen

Introduction

'One roadblock to change has been that it was more difficult to document teachingthan to compile evidence for scholarly accomplishments. Teaching portfolios appearto offer a mechanism for providing such documentation.' (Christopher K. Knapper,'The Origins of Teaching Portfolios,' 1995)

This handbook is offered as a general guide for anyone wanting to organizeand develop a teaching portfolio. While its primary audience is made up ofdoctoral students fulfilling the College Teaching Praxis requirement (GRAD990) for either the Cognate or the Master of Science for Teachers, it will alsobe of help to:

• junior faculty wanting to document their teachingactivities in anticipation of tenure review
• full-time faculty interested in using a portfolio toreflect on and improve teaching, and/or in anticipationof promotion review
• adjunct faculty interested in the portfolio process as ameans of professional development

We begin with a short description of the portfolio, including its purposes andfunctions. We then go on to discuss some portfolio features that are requiredspecifically for the completion of the Praxis, as well as some other materialsyou might choose to include. We also provide a sample table of contents todemonstrate the types of things many portfolios include in an order thatmakes items readily accessible to anyone reading the document.

There is an enormous amount of information and advice about portfoliosavailable in print and on the World Wide Web. Our list of resourcesprovides a representative sample of useful sources. Many of these sitesprovide examples of portfolios prepared by experienced faculty. While theseare intended to give you ideas about how to go about the process, please notethat the UNH portfolio represents a step beyond the traditional portfoliomodels you will find in these readings. The portfolio you produce for Grad990 will be markedly different from any of them.

We hope this handbook furnishes you with a useful general framework forbuilding a successful portfolio. As you will see in the following pages, aportfolio can be as individual as the person assembling it. The title andsignature pages are consistent with UNH standards for thesis anddissertation formatting, and we recommend some other conventions offormat and organization. More important, we also stipulate that the portfoliomust be built around evidence of a set of 'core competencies' (see sectionbelow) which will become the organizing principle behind your portfolio.

Please do not view this handbook as a set of 'rules.' Rather, see it as a setof guidelines and suggestions to help you get started. Rigorous stylistic andcontent constraints are not demanded. How you use these guidelines will begoverned by your individual needs, talents, and objectives, as well as by theguidance and direction of your Teaching Committee.

What is a teaching portfolio and what purpose does itserve?

Typically, the teaching portfolio is a relatively short collection of materialsyou select to document, summarize, and highlight your growth, yourexperiences and your strengths as a teacher. When you first enter the jobmarket, it can help set you apart from other candidates. For permanentfaculty, it provides concrete evidence of teaching effectiveness to offerpromotion and tenure committees. For adjunct facultyãand for anyone elsewho teachesãit can become part of a formal process for reflecting on one'spractice and developing one's strengths as a teacher.

While you can certainly provide evidence of teaching experience throughsuch traditional means as the 'classes taught' list in your C.V., the portfoliopresents this information in a more useful, more compelling manner. Notonly can you note that you have taught, you can also show how you teachand why you teach as you do.

Because teaching is such a complex, multi-dimensional activity, theportfolio has as a primary strength the ability to integrate information fromseveral areas, rather than relying on a single measure. The portfolio allowsteaching and learning to be considered in their appropriate contextãacontext that changes by field and discipline and/or class size and level. Andbecause teaching is such a creative activity, with no two individuals teachingalike, we expect that no two portfolios will look alike. Rather, each onemirrors the unique attributes and styles of the person who created it.Just as teaching approaches vary, student learning styles vary as well. Whilefaculty must teach in accordance with expectations set within a disciplineand shaped by the curricular objectives of a specific course, knowledge ofthe best professional practices based upon available scholarship in the fieldof college teaching should foster teaching that best facilitates studentlearning. To this end, we expect that you will use the teaching portfolio tohighlight and explain your specific strategies and approaches to prioritizing,enhancing, and assessing the student learning that results from yourteaching.

The term 'portfolio' is not used loosely. An effective teaching portfolio isneither a 'file cabinet' nor a 'highlights film,' but rather a thematiccollection of materials selected to 'define' your teaching and todemonstrate the effectiveness of your approaches and the quality of youroutcomes. Think of your teaching portfolio as an artist or designer thinks ofhis or her 'book': as a collection of your best work presented systematicallyand thoughtfully for your own self-improvement and for others to learnabout your solutions to the problem of effective teaching in thecontemporary college or university.

'Teaching effectiveness' and 'effective teaching'

The words fit so naturally, the phrases come so easily. Perhaps toonaturally, too easily to promote clear thinking about what they mean. Thefact is, throughout your teaching career you will be asking yourself thequestion (and in different ways and for different reasons others will beasking it of you): 'Am I (or are you) an effective teacher?' How you answerthat question, and how others answer it about you, depends, of course, uponthe meaning of 'effective' teaching. One important contribution of theportfolio movement to the ongoing conversation about college teaching isthat it forces members of the profession to address that question a priori. Inaddition, individuals benefit from the portfolio-building process as it forcesthem to make explicit their own ways of answering the question. Becausethe implied thesis of every teaching portfolio is 'I am an effective teacher,'everyone building a portfolio should be addressing the question of what thatmeans.

What should be included in a teaching portfolio?

As stated earlier, no hard and fast rules govern what you may or may notinclude. However, we do know that there is a consensus among experts inthe field of college teaching as to the professional values and behaviors mostdirectly associated with 'best practice.' Thus, for those submitting aportfolio as one of the requirements for either the Cognate or M.S.T. in theUNH Program in College Teaching, the portfolio must demonstrate a set ofspecific competencies which reflect those professional values. These 'corecompetencies,' which are outlined and discussed below, will bedemonstrated by such items as the following:

• a statement of philosophy of teaching and learning
• methods used to assess student learning
• statement of teaching competency
• course syllabi
• analysis of samples of student work related to course objectives
• analysis of student evaluations
• statement of teaching goals

Best practice and core competencies

'What we have looked for, but not seen, in advice for developing portfolios is adviceon how to go about a concurrent process to understand and express what constitutesexcellent teaching in the academic unit in a way that reflects actual teachingpractice.' (Laurie Richlin, 'A Different View on Developing Teaching Portfolios, '1995)

The Program in College Teaching at UNH rests upon a foundation ofprofessional values which are directly linked with current scholarship oneffective teaching and which inform our curriculum. We consider thefollowing professional values vital to effective teaching and believe they aremanifest in the skills of those teachers who are most successful in ensuringstudent learning:

• having an understanding of how students learn
• having a concern for students' intellectual development
• using research on teaching in one's discipline
• wanting to work with and learn from colleagues
• reflecting continually on one's own professional practice
• being aware of the importance of 'student culture' in the classroom

The teaching portfolio represents a dual opportunity. It allows you toarticulate the beliefs and values you hold about teaching, and to demonstrateyour mastery of the competencies that make up your 'best practice.' Whilesome studies of effective teaching list as many as twenty-seven'competencies required for good teachers' (Smith and Simpson, 1995), webelieve a teaching portfolio should be centered around a more focused set of'core competencies.'

To this end, your portfolio must provide evidence that in your teaching youcan effectively accomplish each of the following:

1. Articulate appropriate course goals andobjectives.

Note: Course goals and objectives should be a) tied to specificlearning outcomes consistent with existing scholarship about howstudents learn, and b) explained clearly to students - perhaps in asyllabus - to allow them to use these goals and objectives to assesstheir own progress and learning.

2. Organize and design courses with these goalsand objectives in mind.

Note: This includes but is not limited to: designing formal assignmentsand examinations appropriate to the learning goals/outcomes of thecourse; using multiple approaches to instruction, such as multimediatechnologies, computer-based materials, and writing to enhancestudents' understanding of course material; designing and applyingappropriate assessment techniques to insure student learning by gettinguseful feedback from them.

3. Present material effectively and communicatewith students in a variety of settings, includinglarge classes and small groups.

Note: Effective communication with students has two dimensions that canbe addressed in the portfolio: stimulating students' interest in andengagement with the course material by making it relevant to their lives;and facilitating students' participation in classroom activities that evoketheir interest and appropriately challenge them.

4. Provide feedback to students to give them clearmessages about their performance in ways thatwill help them improve before the semester isover.

Note: Your portfolio should show that you: a) know how to give studentsfrequent, timely, and constructive feedback; and b) use fair and consistentgrading methods, with criteria that are clearly conveyed to students.

5. Employ varied teaching methods that appeal tothe various learning styles and 'intelligences' oftoday's diverse student population.

Note: Examples include lecturing to convey information and concepts clearly,using forms of group learning and collaborative learning. and running effectivediscussions. Other examples include introducing service learning and usingcases when appropriate to the discipline and to the course content.

6. Apply your knowledge of undergraduate studentculture to specific features of your course design.

Note: Just as learning styles shape what goes on in the classroom, so too dovarious aspects of the culture of the larger campus. For instance, research tellsus that the values of students' peer groups are the single most importantdeterminant of educational outcomes. Therefore, truly effective coursesincorporate approaches that help establish appropriate peer group values andbehaviors related to course objectives, and then connect these values tointended learning objectives. Demonstration of this competency may include anassessment of your course design and teaching approaches in light of culturalnorms associated with undergraduates in your course.

7. Incorporate into your teaching the latestscholarship in your field or discipline.

Note: Although you may think this is a given, it must nonetheless be madeexplicit by means of a statement in which you highlight pertinent aspects of acourse syllabus or classroom activities.

How to best demonstrate these competencies in the portfolio will vary fromindividual to individual, from discipline to discipline. What is important isthat you consciously set out to do so, both in the selection of materials toinclude, and in your explanations of why and how those materials were used.The following sample table of contents offers an idea of the kinds ofmaterials you might use to accomplish this end.

Sample table of contents

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Curriculum Vitae
• Statement of Teaching Philosophy
• Statement of Teaching Competency
• Teaching Goals
• Appendix 1ãOverview of a course you've taught.
  • Course description
  • Syllabus
  • Rationale for the course
  • Methods used to assess student learning
  • Examples of assignments, examinations, and/or student work
  • Examples of innovative teaching methods used
  • Connection between course design and your philosophy of teaching
  • Your evaluation of student evaluation
  • Your evaluation of the course
• Appendix 2 - Overview of a second course you've taught
  (repeat format of Appendix 1)
• Appendix 3 - Teaching-related activities.

What is a statement of teaching philosophy?

As the attached paper by Nancy Chism states, it is a short (1-2 pages),concise and cogent expression of your beliefs, attitudes, and valuesregarding teaching and learning. Your statement should include commentaryon your goals for your students and how you see yourself helping advancethose goals. Since much of the actual content of the portfolio will be alogical extension and concrete demonstration of the principles you present inthis statement, keep in mind that what you say here must be supported bymaterials you choose for inclusion later on. One expert even advocateswriting the statement of philosophy after the materials have been chosen(Richlin, 1995). However, to keep the search for materials focused it mightbe best to see the development of the portfolio as a reflexive as well as areflective process. This means you will probably re-write your philosophy ofteaching statement a number of times as you fill in other sections of theportfolio. Just as your statement will help you decide what to includeelsewhere, some of those choices will help you rethink and refine how youarticulate your approach to teaching. Think of the statement as an abstract toa scholarly article. Writing the abstract first is a way of focusing the mainpoints of the paper, even though you know that after you write the paperyou'll have to go back and rewrite the abstract.

The important thing to remember is that your strengths as a teacher are reallyan expression of your beliefs regarding the teaching profession, most ofwhich can be inferred from the materials you choose to document yourclassroom approaches. This part of the portfolio forces you to make thosevalues explicit--to yourself as well as to others.

Given that the portfolio's implied 'thesis' is that 'I am an effective teacher,'the teaching philosophy statement is a good place to begin a career-longsearch for an answer to an important question (one that you someday mayhave to answer as part of a tenure review process): what do you thinkconstitutes effective teaching, a) in general; and b) in your discipline?

Statement of teaching competency

'With teaching portfolios constructed as arguments, faculty members who may resistassembling a portfolio from a potentially bewildering array of items will be moreinclined to make a case for their teaching because every college teacher knows how toconstruct an argumentãand knows the value of building a case and having it evaluatedby others.' (Lang and Bain, 'Recasating the Teaching Portfolio,' 1997)

This section serves as a bridge between your teaching philosophy statementand the syllabi and other course-related teaching materials you provide in theappendices. Here you solidify your argument that you have attained each ofthe seven 'core competencies,' making direct reference to the items in theappendices which illustrate that attainment. The objective is to provide acontext for anyone examining the materials you are using as evidence. In asense your are answering the unspoken question: What does this syllabus,this assignment, this example of student work, etc. provide evidence of? Theanswer is your way of linking your stated beliefs about how students learn(teaching philosophy) and your own practice.

One of the hallmarks of an effective teacher is the ability to reflect uponhis/her classroom experiencesãboth positive and negativeãand to growfrom those experiences. This section shows that you have done so. Inessence it's a 'lessons learned' statement with an eye to using those lessonsas a means of self-improvement. In this section you can be open aboutapproaches you have tried without complete success; you can admit thatyouãlike all teachersãhave run up against problems you couldn't solve thefirst time around. Indicating ways in which you have responded tochallenging situations shows you to be a responsible teacher, one who haslearned from mistakes to become a better teacher.

Teaching goals

Here you can discuss the specific areas and ways in which you would like toimprove your teaching. Keep your 'goals' statement limited to two or threegoals, each of which you can address in a single paragraph. Each goal shouldbe accompanied by a planãspecific ways of achieving the particular goal.

Appendices

A rule of thumb is that nothing speaks for itself. Your materials 'speak'through the selection process, through the contextualizing discussions inprevious sections, and through the 'transparent' organization of theportfolio. For example, including student evaluations makes sense if youprovide your own evaluative statement of those student evaluations. So too,sample assignments or examples of student work should be linked directly toa statement about how the assignment enhances or assesses understanding,or what the student work tells us about that student's learning in your course.If you include graded student papers, you might choose one very good paperand one poor one, both annotated to show why you judged them as you did.

Keep in mind that there should be a three-way link from philosophy todesign to execution. A well-constructed portfolio makes the linkage clearwith each of the materials chosen for inclusion.

Other items

If there are other items you think might help show your strengths or recordyour growth as a teacher, consider an appendix devoted to such 'teachingrelated activities' as the following:

• seminars, conferences, etc, regarding college teaching
• descriptions of efforts to improve your teaching
• evidence of work with individual students, such as advising, or research guidance
• materials related to courses not overviewed in prior appendices
• video footage from actual classes, labs, or discussion groups

The portfolio and evaluation: formative or summative?

At different points in your career a teaching portfolio will serve differentpurposes. For someone preparing for tenure or promotion review, or beingconsidered for a teaching award, the portfolio can be part of a 'summative'evaluation process. As such, it is an essentially retrospective process, theintent of which is to document your teaching achievements. While yourprofessional development is never complete, at this point in your careeryou'll be able to offer evidence of where your professional journey has takenyou to date, and what you have accomplished along the way.

As a graduate student you should see your teaching portfolio as part of amore developmental, 'formative' process. In many ways the portfolio canbe seen as a map of where you intend to go in your teaching career, with theemphasis, of course, on your demonstrable ability to get where you want togo.

The role of your teaching committee

A requirement of GRAD 990 is that your teaching be supervised andevaluated by a faculty teaching committee. This committee consists of threefaculty members-- two from your field or discipline and one appointed bythe Teaching Excellence program. You should coordinate the recruitmentand selection process with the Director of the Teaching Excellence Program.The Director of the Teaching Excellence Program will review an initial draft

of your teaching portfolio, after which your teaching committee will go overit, making suggestions for improvements and expansions. Often one or moremembers of the committee will ask to visit a class and furnish a formalassessment, which you may or may not choose to include in your portfolio.

Conclusion: 'Lessons Learned'

Over the past five years the Teaching Excellence Program and the Graduatefaculty have helped many graduate students develop teaching portfolios asdemonstrations of their teaching abilities. Along the way we have learnedsome valuable lessons. Among them are the following generalizations:

• Effective teaching portfolios are 'reader friendly'

  Simply put, keep your writing clear, direct, and as free of jargon as possible.Whatever organizing principles you use, be sure to make the organizationclear to your audience.

• Effective teaching portfolios contextualize everything

  Side notes or introductory statements help readers understand what they arereading and why they are reading it. Raw data should never be presented;instead everything should be summarized and contextualized. The readershould be given conclusions to consider.

• Effective portfolios demonstrate teaching-readiness and job-readiness

  Faculty (including department chairs) want peers who can contribute uponappointment to the teaching mission of their academic departments.Experience is still considered the best teacher. Without it you are still untriedand untested; with it you can demonstrate your ability to contributeimmediately upon appointment and to enhance your contributions over acareer. Therefore it is important that the portfolio appropriately documenthow you have used your Praxis to demonstrate to potential facultycolleagues your readiness to assist their department with its teachingmission.

  Competition for faculty positions remains strong in most fields anddisciplines. Faculty search committees frequently must sift through manycandidates who are interested, to find those that could truly contribute totheir department. It is essential that your portfolio make it easy for potentialfaculty peers to glean from your teaching portfolio a strong sense of whoyou are as a teacher, as well as evidence of your accomplishments.

  As a side note, it is important to remember that a curriculum vitae, ateaching portfolio, and other products of your graduate education can at besthelp you get face to face interviews. A successful candidate for a facultyposition is one who has convinced future faculty colleagues that he or she isthe best choice for a specific position. In other words, while an effectiveteaching portfolio will help you get interviews, after that it is yourresponsibility to demonstrate to a search committee that you (and yourunique qualifications) are their best option.

• Effective teaching portfolios are both biographical and thematic

  Everyone expects that you will continue to mature as a teacher. That is notthe point of the portfolio. Instead, the portfolio presents your argument thatyour education and professional experience have prepared you to begin yourformal career. Above all else it communicates who you are as a teacher andillustrates to your committee (and potential colleagues) the special skills andinsights you bring to the academic profession.

References

Bernstein, Daniel. 1998. 'Putting the Focus on Student Learning.' In The CoursePortfolio, ed. Pat Hutchings, 1998. Washington D.C., American Association for HigherEducation: 77-83.

Edgerton, Russell, Patricia Hutchings, and Kathleen Quinlan. 1992. The TeachingPortfolio: Capturing the Scholarship in Teaching. Washington D.C.: AmericanAssociation for Higher Education.

Hutchings, Pat. 1998. 'How to Develop a Course Portfolio.' In The Course Portfolio,ed. Pat Hutchings. 1998. Washington D.C.: American Association for Higher Education:47-55.

Knapper, Christopher K. 1995. 'The Origins of Teaching Portfolios.' Journal onExcellence in Teaching 6 (1): 45-56.

Lang, James and Kenneth R. Bain. 1997 'Recasting the Teaching Portfolio.' TheTeaching Professor 11 (10): 1.

Millis, Barbara J. 1991. 'Putting the Teaching Portfolio in Context.' To Improve theAcademy 10: 215-229.

Murray, John P. 1995. Successful Faculty Development and Evaluation: The CompleteTeaching Portfolio. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 81995.

Richlin, Laurie. 1995. 'A Different View on Teaching Portfolios: Ensuring SafetyWhile Honoring Practice.' Journal on Excellence in Teaching 6, (1): 161-78.

Seldin, Peter, Linda Annis and John Zubizarreta. 1995. 'Answers to Common QuestionsAbout the Teaching Portfolio.' Journal on Teaching Excellence 6 (1): 57-64.

Seldin, Peter. 1993. Successful Use of Teaching Portfolios. Bolton, MA: AnkerPublishing.

Seldin, Peter. 1997. The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to ImprovedPerformance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions, 2 nd ed., Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.

Seldin, Peter. 2000. 'Teaching Portfolio's: A Positive Appraisal.' ACADEME, January-February2000: 36-44.

Smith. K.S. and R.D. Simpson. 1995. 'Validating Teaching Competencies for FacultyMembers in Higher Education: A National Study Using the Delphi Method.' InnovativeHigher Education 19:223-34.

Web Sites about Teaching Portfolios

• University of Nebraska at Lincoln - http://www.libfind.unl.edu/teaching/tchport.html
• Texas Tech, Rebecca J. Rickly - http://english.ttu.edu/Rickly/teachingport.html
• University of Wisconsin at Madison - http://www.wisc.edu/MOO/tfolio.evidence.html
• Washington State University - http://www.sci.wsu.edu/cos/portfolio.html
• University of Texas at El Paso - http://www.utep.edu/cetal/portfoli/
• University of Minnesota - http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/pff/portfolio.html
• Penn State - http://www.psu.edu/celt/portfolio.html
• University of Washington - http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/TeachingPortfolioIntro.html

Appendix A

Sample title page for student teaching portfolios

Sample signature/approval page for student teaching portfolios

This portfolio has been prepared under the guidance of, and approved by:

______________________________
Chair, Teaching Committee
Faculty Name
Title
______________________________
Faculty Name
Title
______________________________
Faculty Name
Title
______________________
Date

Appendix B

Developing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement
by Nancy Van Note Chism
The Ohio State University

from Essays on Teaching Excellence:
Toward the Best in the Academy,
Vol. 9, No. 3, 1997-1998.

When asked to write a statement on their philosophy of teaching,many college teachers react in the same way as professionals,athletes, or artists might if asked to articulate their goals andhow to achieve them: 'Why should I spend time writing this down?Why can't I just do it?' For action-oriented individuals,the request to write down one's philosophy is not only mildly irritating,but causes some anxiety about where to begin. Just what is meant by a philosophy of teaching statement anyway?

In the current academic climate it is likely that most faculty willbe asked for such a statement at some point during their careers.The emphasis on portfolios for personnel decision making, newcommitment by institutions to the teaching mission, and the tightacademic job market have stimulated more requests of collegeteachers to articulate their philosophies. At many colleges anduniversities the philosophy of teaching statement is becominga regular part of the dossier for promotion and tenure and thefaculty candidate application package. Such statements areoften requested of nominees for teaching awards or applicantsfor funds for innovative educational projects.

Besides fulfilling requirements, statements of teaching philosophycan be used to stimulate reflection on teaching. The act of takingtime to consider one's goals, actions. and vision provides anopportunity for development that can be personally and professionalenriching. Reviewing and revising former statements of teachingphilosophy can help teachers to reflect on their growth and renewtheir dedication to the goals and values that they hold.

The Format of the Statement

One of the hallmarks of a philosophy of teaching statementis its individuality. However, some general format guidelinescan be suggested:

• Most philosophy of teaching statements are brief, one or twopages long at most. For some purposes, an extended description isappropriate, but length should suit the context.
• Most statements avoid technical terms and favor languageand concepts that can be broadly appreciated. If the statementis for specialists, a more technical approach can be used.A general rule is that the statement should be written withthe audience in mind.
• Narrative, first-person approaches are generallyappropriate.In some fields, a more creative approach, such as a poem,might be appropriate and valued; but in most, a straightforward,well-organized statement is preferred.
• The statement should be reflective and personal. What bringsa teaching philosophyto life is the extent to whicli it createsa vivid portrait of a person who is intentional about teachingpractices and committed to career.

Components of the Statement

The main components of philosophy of teaching statementsare descriptions of how the teachers think learning occurs,how they think they can intervene in this process, what chiefgoals they have for students, and what actions they take toimplement their intentions.

Conceptuaiization of learning.Interestingly, most college teachers agree that one of theirmain functions is to facilitate student learning; yet most drawa blank when asked how learning occurs. This is likely due tothe fact that their ideas about this are intuitive and basedon experiential learning, rather than on a consciously articulatedtheory. Most have not studied the literature on college studentlearning and development nor learned a vocabulary to describetheir thinking. The task of articulating a conceptualization oflearning is therefore difficult.

Many college teachers have approached the work of describinghow they think student learni!lg occurs through the use ofmetaphor. Drawing comparisons with known entities can stimulatethinking, whether or not the metaphor is actually used in thestatement. For example, when asked to provide a metaphor,one teacher described student learning in terms of an amoeba.He detailed how the organism relates to its environment interms of permeable membranes, movement. and the richnessof the environment; translating these into the teaching-leamingcontext by drawing comparisons with how students reach outand acquire knowledge and how teachers can provide a rich enviroriment.Grasha (1996) has done extensive exploration of the metaphorsthat college student and teachers use to describe teaching andlearning. An earlier classic that also contains an exploration ofmetaphors of teaching and learning is Israel Scheffler'sThe Language of Education (1960). Reinsmith (1994) appliesthe idea of archetypes to teaching. Such works might beconsulted for ideas.

Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolio Allocation

A more direct approach is for teachers to describe what theythink occurs during a learning episode. based on their observationand experience or based on current literature on teaching andlearning. Some useful sources that summarize current notionsof learning in a very accessible way are contained in Svinicki (1991),Weinstein & Meyer (1991), and Bruning (1994). Teachers can alsosummarize what they have observed in their own practice aboutthe different learning styles that students display, the differenttempos they exhibit, the way they react to failure, and the like.Such descriptions can display the richness of experience andthe teacher's sensitivity to student learning.

Conceptualization of teaching.Ideas on how teachers can facilitate the learning process followfrom the model of student learning that has been described.If metaphors have been used, the teacher role can be an extensionof the metaphor. For example, if student learning has been describedas the information processing done by a computer, is the teacherthe computer technician. the software, the database?If more direct descriptions of student learning have been articulated,what is the role of the teacher with respect to motivation? To content?To feedback and assessment? To challenge and support? How can theteacher respond to different learning styles, help students who arefrustrated, accomodate different abilities?

Goals for students.Describing the teacher role entails detailing how the teacher can helpstudents learn, not only a given body of content, but also process skills,such as critical thinking, writing, and problem solving.It also includes one'sthoughts on lifelong learning - how teachers can help students to valueand nurture their intellectual curiosity, live ethical lives, and haveproductive careers. For most teachers, it is easier to begin withcontent goals, such as wanting students to understand certainaerodynamic design pronciples or the treatment of hypertension.The related process goals, such as engineering problem solving ormedicaldiagnostic skills, might be described next. Finally, careerand lifelong goals, such as teamwork, ethics, and social commitment,can be detailed.

Implementation of the philosophy.An extremely important part of a philosophy of teachingstatement is the desciption of how one's concepts about teachingand learning and goals for students are translated into action.For most readers, this part of the statement is the most revealingand the most memorable. It is also generally more pleasurable andless challenging to write. Here, college teachers describe how theyconduct classes, mentor students, develop instructional resources,or grade performance. They provide details on what instructionalstrategies they use on a day~to-day basis. It is in this section thatteachers can display their creativity, enthusiasm, and wisdom.They can describe how their No Fault Test System or videotapingtechnique for promoting group leadership skills implements theirnotions of how teachers can facilitate leaming. They can portraywhat they want a student to experience in the classes they teach,the labs they oversee, the independent projects they supervise.They can describe their own energy level, the qualities they try toexhibit as a model and coach, the climate they try to establish inthe settings in which they teach.

Personal growth plan.For some purposes, including a section on one's personal growthas a teacher is also important in a statement of teaching philosophy.This reflective component can illustrate how one has grown in teachingover the years, what challenges exist at the present, and what long-termgoals are projected. In writing this section, it helps to think abouthow one's concepts as well as actions have changed over time.It might be stimulating to look at old syllabi or instructional resourcesone has created, asking about implicit assumptions behind these products.Dialogue with colleagues, comparison ofpractices with goals, andexamination of student or peer feeback on teaching might help withthe task of enumerating present questions, puzzles, and challenges.From these, a vision of the teacher one wants to become will emerge.Describing that teacher can be a very effective way to conclude aphilosophy of teaching statement.

Examples of Statements

By far the best philosophy of teaching statement examples for mostcollege teachers are those: of peers who teach in similar settings ordisciplines. Since statements tend to be tailored to specific contexts,peer examples are thus highly appropriate models. Dialogue withcolleagues on these statements can help to stimulate ideas for one'sown statement as well.

Other examples are contained in several recent books on teachingportfolios, such as Seldin (1993) and O'Neil & Wright (1993).Reflective books on effective college teaching often containextensive descriptions of teaching philosophies, such as the chapteron 'Developing a Personal Vision ofTeaching' in Brookfield'sThe SkillfuI Teacher (1990) and 'Three Teaching Principles'n Louis Schmier's Random Thoughts (1995).

References

Brookfield. S. (1990). The skillful teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bruning, R. (1994). The college classroom from the perspective ofcognitive psychology. (pp. 3-22) In K. Pritchard & R. Sawyer (Eds.),Handbook of college teaching. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Grasha. A. (1996), Teaching with style. Pittsburgh: Alliance Publishers.

O'Neil,C. & Wright. A. (I993). Recording teaching accomplishment.(4th ed). Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA: Dalhousie University.

Reinsmith, w. (1994). Archetypal forms in teaching. College Teaching,42,131-136.

Scheffler, I. (1960). The language of education. Springfield, IL:Charles Thomas.

Seldin, P. (1991). The teaching portfolio. Bolton, MA: Anker.

Seldin, P. & Associates (1993). Successful use of teaching portfolios.Bolton, MA: Anker.

Schmier, L. (1995). Random thoughts: The humanity of teaching.Madison, WI: Magda Publications.

Svinicki, M. (1991). Practical implications of cognitive theories.In R. Menges & M. Svinicki, (Eds.) College teaching: From theory topractice. New directions for teaching and learning, 45, pp. 27-37.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Weinstein, C. & Meyer, D. (1991). Cognitive learning strategiesand college teaching. In R. Menges & M. Svinicki, (Eds.) Collegeteaching: From theory to practice. New directions for teachingand learning, 45, pp. 15-26. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Nancy Van Note Chism is the Director of Faculty and TA Developmentat The Ohio State University.

Appendix C

Developing a Teaching Portfolio:
A Necessityfor the Academic Job Search

James H. Korn
Saint Louis University

As recently as 1995 I told graduate students that if theyhad a good teaching portfolio they would be unique and wouldhave an edge in fmding a college teaching job. Today I think thatyou will be at a disadvantage if you don 't have one; you need ateaching portfolio to keep up with your competition and meet theexpectations of many potential employers. That depends, of course,on where you are searching. Major research universities will be lessinterested in your teaching materials than will institutions whereteaching is the primary mission.

The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions and sources thatwill help you develop a teaching portfolio. Doing this well will take asignificant amount of time and effort. It is not something to do acouple of weeks before a job interview.

What is it?

A teaching portfolio is an organized collection of material thatreflects your ideas about teaching and your performance asa teacher. It should show who you are and what you do. As apotential employer I want to see your commitment to teachingand to your students, and the depth of your thought about thecraft of teaching. I also want to learn about your style,the content of your courses, and see some evidence of youreffectiveness.

What does a teaching portfolio look like?

Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolio

There is no set format. Each portfolio is unique, and it shouldbe because it represents the characteristics of the individualteacher. Peter Seldin's book, The Teaching Portfolio,(Anker Publishing, 1991) includes eight examples. Seldin suggeststhat the portfolio be 7-9 pages long plus appendices. At the endof this article I present an example of a structure for a portfolioand I will suggest having different versions of your portfoliothat vary in length depending on your purpose.

Getting started

It never is too early to begin to develop your teaching portfolio.First, get a container for all your potential portfolio items andput those items in it. Remember that a portfolio is an organizedcollection of material, so this first step simply involves gettingmost of that material in one place. Seldin's book (p, 9-12) hasa list of 30 items that you might include.

Second, get a three-ring binder and index tabs. When variousitems and sections are completed put them in this binder,so you can easily add or remove items. Style matters.Your portfolio should look good, but not flashy, and it shouldbe clearly organized and reader-friendly.

Third, select a teaching mentor. Find someone who is anexperienced teacher, who cares about your future as a teacher,and who will give you honest opinions about your teaching.This person may be someone other than your dissertationadvisor or clinical supervisor.

Reflecting and Writing

I enjoy helping graduate students and faculty develop theirportfolios in structured seminars and workshops. You shouldtake advantage of any opportunities in this area that youruniversity may provide. There are three areas in which youcan do some work on your own: describing your teachingbackground and responsibilities, writing your teaching philosophy,and designing the contents of your portfolio.

Your teaching background and responsibilities

Here you describe your past teaching experiences. This isnot a simple listing (put that in your vita), but a story abouthow you got interested in teaching and what you havedone. Two or three paragraphs should be enough.

Then describe your current and recent (past year) teachingresponsibilities. Say whether you were an assistant or hadfull responsibility for the course. Describe importantcharacteristics of the course, e.g., required or elective,class size, freshman or upper level. Was it something you created?

Philosophy of teaching

Most philosophies will say something about your beliefs and values,your idea of teaching excellence or of the ideal teacher, your style,and your view of how people learn. I hesitate to suggest anytopics to include because this statement should be your philosophyin both content and style. I usually ask my students, without anyinstructions, to write their teaching philosophy. Just do it. Havingdone so, reflect on it, then rewrite it and show it to a peer andto your mentor. Self reflection and the perspectives of others isessential.

Most philosophy statements are not more than two pages long.Write in the fIrst person and use nontechnical language.Your statement can use creative forms, e.g., a poem or a story,but consider the reaction of your audience.

You might be tempted to view this task as an exercise in the creationof socially acceptable cliches. Avoid this temptation; here is whereyou can show your commitment to teaching and students.Your excitement and the depth of your thought should be clear;it is difficult to fake these things.

Developing your teaching philosophy is more than an exercisein self reflection. This statement actually can guide your teachingfrom mundane aspects such as your attendance policy to moresignificant features such as your course objectives. When you seeinconsistencies you either change your teaching or your philosophy.I am certain that you will change both over the course of your career.

Designing the Contents

The design is another feature that makes each portfolio unique.Think carefully about who your audience will be. For example,busy people don't want to read a lot, so you usually want to be concise.Seldin and others recommend a narrative that is 7-9 pages long,with supporting materials in appendices. For example, you wouldput your syllabus and other materials from your statistics coursein an appendix, with discussion of that course in the narrative.The discussion is your rationale for doing what you did, as it relatesto your teaching philosophy. Evaluations of your teaching would bein an appendix and the narrative would discuss your strengths,the areas you need to improve, and how you have responded tothe evaluation.

I suggest that you create three versions of your portfolio:

Examples Of Minilessonschelsea Bagwell's Teaching Portfolios

• Complete. This would include all your materials for all coursesand other experiences with your commentary, covering a2-3 year period. The purpose is your own development asa teacher and the audiences are your self, your mentor, and peers.
• Portable. This is a shorter version: the 5-10 page narrativeplus selected appendix material. Take it with you on your jobinterviews. The purpose is to inform readers of your best work.The audience is potential colleagues and prospective employers.
• Summary. Two pages that give the essentials of your philosophyand the contents of the portfolio. Send this with your applicationfor a position. The purpose is to attract interest in you as ateacher. At the end of this statement say that you have acomplete teaching portfolio.

I will try to respond to your questions, and for more help withyour teaching portfolio check out this web site:

where you will find links to other useful sites. My ideas aboutthe teaching portfolio have been informed by numerous interactionswith graduate students and faculty, and by my work with Maria Lynn,Ph.D., at the Saint Louis University Center for Teaching Excellence,and James Groccia, Ph.D., at the University of Missouri Programfor Effective Teaching. Jim (grocciaj@missouri.edu) kindly hasagreed to add his advice to mine.

I hope I have provided enough information to get you started on adocument that will help you on your way to an academic career.Preparing a teaching portfolio is not an easy task. Two yearsago I put mine together for the first time. It took longer to dothat than it takes to prepare a typical research article for publication. Portfolio workshops last from two to three days and I work withstudents for several months before their materials are in finalform. It will be worth it fIrst of all for your self, but also as anecessity for the academic job market. Go for it!

Example of Structure for Teaching Portfolio,

prepared by James H. Korn, February, 1999.

This is only an example. There are other possible structures.See Peter Seldin's book, The Teaching Portfolio, for other examples.

1. Detailed Table of Contents.

   The table of contents should be related clearly to the contentsof the portfolio. One way to do this is by numbering all pagesin the portfolio, as you would in a book. However, this reducesyour flexibility in adding new materials later because you wouldhave to re-number everything when you teach a new course.I prefer having the contents relate to index tabs in your binder.

2. Personal information.
   • Summary of your background, development as a teacher,and career goals; a complete vitae would go in an appendix.
   • Description of teaching responsibilities.
   • Philosophy of teaching.
3. Teaching experiences.

   For graduate students, some teaching experiences will have beenas a lab instructor, discussion section leader, or the like. At thistime in your career, treat this experience as if it were a course.For each course provide:

   • Rationale for the course. How does your course design followfrom your philosophy? Explain innovative methods and uniqueassignments. This goes in the narrative.
   • Syllabus and examples of materials (exercises, assignments, etc.)
   • Descriptions of how you measure student learning. Put examplesof student performance in an appendix.
   • Course evaluation data, summarized. More complete data may bein an appendix.
   • Your self evaluation of the course. Do this for each course inan appendix, but include an over-all self evaluation in your narrative.
4. Teaching development activities.

   This section would include anything you have done to help yourself becomea better teacher such as involvement in professional teaching organizations,and attending conferences or workshops on teaching. Provide a descriptionof the activity in the narrative. Some materials might belong in an appendix.

5. Other relevant information.

   This might include descriptions of awards you have won, newspaperarticles about your teaching, and abstracts of relevant research articlesthat you published (with complete article in appendix). If you have videotapes of your teaching, describe them and how they can be obtained.

What Is a Teaching Portfolio?

• Portfolios provide documented evidence of teaching from a variety of sources—not just student ratings—and provide context for that evidence.
• The process of selecting and organizing material for a portfolio can help one reflect on and improve one’s teaching.
• Portfolios are a step toward a more public, professional view of teaching as a scholarly activity.
• Portfolios can offer a look at development over time, helping one see teaching as on ongoing process of inquiry, experimentation, and reflection.
• Teaching portfolios capture evidence of one’s entire teaching career, in contrast to what are called course portfolios that capture evidence related to a single course.

Why Assemble a Teaching Portfolio?

Portfolios can serve any of the following purposes.

• Job applicants for faculty positions can use teaching portfolios to document their teaching effectiveness.
• Faculty members up for promotion or tenure can also use teaching portfolios to document their teaching effectiveness.
• Faculty members and teaching assistants can use teaching portfolios to reflect on and refine their teaching skills and philosophies.
• Faculty members and teaching assistants can use teaching portfolios, particularly ones shared online, to “go public” with their teaching to invite comments from their peers and to share teaching successes so that their peers can build on them. For more on going public with one’s teaching, see the CFT’s Teaching Guide on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

General Guidelines

• Start now! Many of the possible components of a teaching portfolio (see list below) are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain after you have finished teaching a course. Collecting these components as you go will make assembling your final portfolio much easier.
• Give a fair and accurate presentation of yourself. Don’t try to present yourself as the absolutely perfect teacher. Highlight the positive, of course, but don’t completely omit the negative.

• Be selective in which materials you choose to include, though be sure to represent a cross-section of your teaching and not just one aspect of it. A relatively small set of well-chosen documents is more effective than a large, unfiltered collection of all your teaching documents.
• Make your organization explicit to the reader. Use a table of contents at the beginning and tabs to separate the various components of your portfolio.

• Make sure every piece of evidence in your portfolio is accompanied by some sort of context and explanation. For instance, if you include a sample lesson plan, make sure to describe the course, the students, and, if you have actually used the lesson plan, a reflection on how well it worked.

Components of a Teaching Portfolio

1. Your Thoughts About Teaching
   • A reflective “teaching statement” describing your personal teaching philosophy, strategies, and objectives (see Teaching Philosophy).
   • A personal statement describing your teaching goals for the next few years
2. Documentation of Your Teaching
   • A list of courses taught and/or TAed, with enrollments and a description of your responsibilities
   • Number of advisees, graduate and undergraduate
   • Syllabi
   • Course descriptions with details of content, objectives, methods, and procedures for evaluating student learning
   • Reading lists
   • Assignments
   • Exams and quizzes, graded and ungraded
   • Handouts, problem sets, lecture outlines
   • Descriptions and examples of visual materials used
   • Descriptions of uses of computers and other technology in teaching
   • Videotapes of your teaching
3. Teaching Effectiveness
   • Summarized student evaluations of teaching, including response rate and relationship to departmental average
   • Written comments from students on class evaluations
   • Comments from a peer observer or a colleague teaching the same course
   • Statements from colleagues in the department or elsewhere, regarding the preparation of students for advanced work
   • Letters from students, preferably unsolicited
   • Letters from course head, division head or chairperson
   • Statements from alumni
4. Materials Demonstrating Student Learning
   • Scores on standardized or other tests, before and after instruction
   • Students’ lab books or other workbooks
   • Students’ papers, essays, or creative works
   • Graded work from the best and poorest students, with teacher’s feedback to students
   • Instructor’s written feedback on student work
5. Activities to Improve Instruction
   • Participation in seminars or professional meetings on teaching
   • Design of new courses
   • Design of interdisciplinary or collaborative courses or teaching projects
   • Use of new methods of teaching, assessing learning, grading
   • Preparation of a textbook, lab manual, courseware, etc.
   • Description of instructional improvement projects developed or carried out
6. Contributions to the Teaching Profession and/or Your Institution
   • Publications in teaching journals
   • Papers delivered on teaching
   • Reviews of forthcoming textbooks
   • Service on teaching committees
   • Assistance to colleagues on teaching matters
   • Work on curriculum revision or development
7. Honors, Awards, or Recognitions
   • Teaching awards from department, college, or university
   • Teaching awards from profession
   • Invitations based on teaching reputation to consult, give workshops, write articles, etc.
   • Requests for advice on teaching by committees or other organized groups

Sample Teaching Portfolios

The website from University of Virginia provides sample teaching portfolios from a variety of disciplines. As you look at these portfolios, ask yourself,

• “What components did the author choose to include and which ones are most effective at describing their teaching?” and
• “What structural and organizational decisions did the author make as they assembled their portfolio?”

Electronic Teaching Portfolios

How do electronic portfolios differ from print portfolios?

• Increased Accessibility: Teaching portfolios are intended, in part, to make teaching public. Distributing a portfolio on the web makes it even more accessible to peers and others.
• Multimedia Documents: Technology allows for inclusion of more than just printed documents. For example, you can include video footage of yourself teaching, an audio voiceover providing context and reflection on the portfolio, or instructional computer programs or code you have written.
• Nonlinear Thinking: The web facilitates nonlinear relationships between the components of your teaching portfolio. The process of creating a portfolio in this nonlinear environment can help you think about your teaching in new ways. For example, since readers can explore an e-portfolio in many different ways, constructing an e-portfolio gives you an opportunity to consider how different audiences might encounter and understand your work.
• Copyright and Privacy Issues: While examples of student work can be compelling evidence of your teaching effectiveness, publishing these examples online presents legal copyright and privacy issues. Talk to someone at the VU Compliance Program before doing so.

What Role Do Teaching Portfolios Play on the Job Market?

• According to an October 11, 2005, search on HigherEdJobs.com, of the 1,000 ads for faculty jobs…
  • 585 include the words “teaching philosophy,”
  • 27 include the words “teaching statement,” and
  • 28 include the words “teaching portfolio.”
• According to an October 11, 2005, search on Chronicle.com, of the 2,978 ads for faculty/research jobs…
  • 388 include the words “teaching philosophy,”
  • 5 include the words “teaching statement,” and
  • 8 include the words “teaching portfolio.”
• While these data indicate that teaching portfolios are not frequently requested of job applicants to faculty positions, it is not just the physical document that plays a role. The process of constructing a teaching portfolio—and reflecting on your teaching—will prepare you to…
  • write a meaningful teaching philosophy statement and
  • to discuss your teaching more effectively during interviews.

Other Resources

The following books on teaching portfolios are available for check-out in the Center for Teaching’s library.

• Seldin, Peter, The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions, 3rd edition, Anker, 2004.
• Cambridge, Barbara, Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practices in Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning, American Association for Higher Education, 2001.
• Hutchings, Pat, ed., The Course Portfolio: How Faculty Can Examine Their Teaching to Advance Practice and Improve Student Learning, American Association for Higher Education, 1998.
• Murray, John P., Successful Faculty Development and Evaluation: The Complete Teaching Portfolio, ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, 1997.
• Anderson, Erin, ed., Campus Use of the Teaching Portfolio: Twenty-Five Profiles, American Association for Higher Education, 1993.

The following web sites offer additional resources and strategies for creating effective teaching portfolios:

• Developing a Teaching Portfolio, from the Center for Instructional Development and Research at the University of Washington
• Developing a Teaching Portfolio, from the Office of Faculty and TA Development, The Ohio State University
• The Teaching Portfolio, an Occasional Paper from the University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching
• What is a Teaching Portfolio?, from the Office of Instructional Consultation, UCSB.
• Curating A Teaching Portfolio, from the Center for Teaching Effectiveness at the University of Texas-Austin
• The Teaching Portfolio, from the Center for Teaching Excellence at Duquesne University
• Teaching Portfolio Handbook, from Brown University
• “The Teaching Portfolio,” an article published by the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.