Crafting an Impressive Teaching Statement
Aeron Haynie, Executive Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning & Associate Professor of English at the University of New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Stocksnap.io, used under CCO 1.0
When you apply for a position as an assistant professorâ whether at a small liberal arts college, a regional comprehensive university, a community college, or even a research university â chances are you will be asked to submit a âstatement of teaching philosophyâ or âteaching statementâ along with your application. For most graduate students this is one of the most perplexing parts of the job application process. And for good reason: few graduate students have received sustained, thoughtful mentoring in teaching and even fewer have taken graduate courses in pedagogy.
Iâve been on numerous search committees and have personally read hundreds of teaching statements. Most sound eerily similar; few really give the search committee a sense of the applicantâs strengths or potential as teachers. But they can. And hereâs how!
The Moves of the Discipline
Okay, Iâm going to ask you to do something pretty difficult here. But trust me, this will pay off. Youâve spent a substantial part of your life devoted to your particular field. Think back to when you were an undergraduate: what drew you to your discipline? If an undergraduate student only takes one course in your discipline, what would you like them to take away? Or, put another way, what understanding of the world does your field provide? I know these are giant, difficult questions, but if youâre going to inspire college students â many of them not majoring in your field â you are going to have to think about how to present the importance of your subject matter to non-experts. Ideally, you would begin your teaching statement with a succinct statement that shows the committee your ability to express the value of your discipline, to excite non-majors about your field, and to communicate the âmovesâ of your discipline. For example, what does it mean to think like an historian, a sociologist, a biologist?
(This is your first paragraph of your teaching statement)
Let the search committee âseeâ you in action: describe a specific assignment or exercise you developed that helped students understand a central value or âmoveâ of your discipline. What were your goals, did you get any mentoring or advice, how did the students respond, what kind of student learning occurred (and how do you know the students learned)? Did you use the assignment or exercise again and, if so, what kind of tweaks did you perform to make it more successful? Paint a picture for the search committee of your classroom practice.
(This is your second and third paragraph of your teaching statement)
Plans to Develop as a Teacher
Nobody expects a new PhD to have all the answers about teaching. One of the best ways to show how smart you are about teaching is to recognize and acknowledge what you donât know, where you need to grow. The department that hires you wants to know that you are committed to continued growth as a teacher. Tell them the areas in which youâd like to improve. What courses would you like to develop in your field? Mention any teaching workshops youâve attended, articles youâve read, teaching sites you read, teaching mentors you have.
(This is your fourth paragraph of your teaching statement)
Extra Credit, or If You Really Want to Impress the Committee
When you apply for a tenure-track college teaching position you will be competing with many (sometimes hundreds of) PhDs from some of the most prestigious programs across the country and abroad. What competitive edge does UNM give you over folks with PhDs from Harvard, Yale, or Stanford? If youâve taught here at UNM you have experience teaching at a Hispanic-Serving Institution with an undergraduate population that is over 50 percent (self-identified as) non-white and a considerable proportion of students who are the first in their families to attend college. Colleges and universities are becoming more and more diverse (https://www.usnews.com/news/college-of-tomorrow/articles/2014/09/22/college-of-tomorrow-the-changing-demographics-of-the-student-body) and therefore UNMâs student demographics mirror the colleges of the future. What are the best practices for teaching diverse students? Take a workshop at CTL on âinclusive teaching,â read one of the excellence books or articles on inclusive teaching mentioned below, schedule a consultation with me, or consider getting a certificate in college teaching! At UNM, we offer the Graduate Teaching Academy--http://grad.unm.edu/resources/gta.html. This certificate will give you a broad understanding of higher education teaching practices, theories, and tips. Position yourself to be a leader about how to increase diverse student success on your future campus. Â
Finally, feel free to schedule and appointment with me if youâd like to talk more about how to prepare yourself as a college teacher, how to craft an impressive teaching statement, and/or how to best highlight your teaching experience on the job market. [email protected]
Books on college teaching:
What the Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain (Harvard University Press, 2004).
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel (Harvard, 2014).
How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching, by Susan A. Ambrose, Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, and Marie K. Norman (Jossey-Bass, 2010)
Examples of teaching statements:
http://ctl.yale.edu/sites/default/files/basic-page-supplementary-materials-files/sampleteachingstatements.pdf
Chronicle of Higher Ed, teaching newsletter:
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Newsletter-August/240880
