Statement of Teaching Philosophy

A statement of teaching philosophy is a cornerstone of both the teaching portfolio and many job interviews!

What's my philosophy?

Consider breaking down that broad question into component parts --

• What do you believe about teaching?
• What do you believe about learning?
• Why?
• How is that played out in your classroom?
• How does student identity and background make a difference in how you teach?
• What do you still struggle with in terms of teaching and student learning?

Another useful tip is to think about what you don't like in a teacher. Reflecting on what you don't like can give you insights about what you do like, and that can help you to define your own teaching philosophy and goals.

Good statements and bad statements frequently start the same (with a broad philosophical declaration), but good ones anchor the general in something concrete (in an example that one can visualize). Anyone can talk about teaching in an idyllic sense; you need to give examples.
 

Articles attached here may help you consider how to develop your statement.

These were downloaded from the internet on January 6 2013 or later. Some were PDF files hosted on the internet, some were regular webpages now saved as PDF. Each page includes the original location and date of download.

There is no particular order in the following list, other than alphabetical by title. Nor are these particular recommendations, just a sampling of guidelines available on the web.