Teaching Statements INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON Promotion for Lecturer

Teaching Statements INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Promotion for Lecturer and Clinical Appointments • Standards for promotion and reappointment to long-term contracts should be formulated by units; criteria within a unit should be uniform, but flexible enough to accommodate some differences in responsibilities specified in the initial contracts • (https: //vpfaa. indiana. edu/policies/bl-aca-a 3 -non-tenure-track-instructionalappointments/index. html) INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Promotion for Lecturer and Clinical Appointments • Policies for IU Bloomington schools and departments: • https: //vpfaa. indiana. edu/policies/school-department-policies. html INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Statement • Goal: Document the quality of your teaching • Who is your audience? – Department colleagues – School and university colleagues – Colleagues at other institutions INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Statement • Content you may want to include – Executive summary/Introduction/Overview – Teaching philosophy – Course background – Reflective narrative – Teaching accomplishments – Service INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Statement • Individual narrative with concrete examples – Offer evidence of practice – Be student centered and attuned to differences in student ability, learning styles or level – Demonstrate reflectiveness – Convey that you value teaching – Be well-written, clear, audience-centered INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON E. Metzler, 9/2/14

Teaching Philosophy • What you do in the classroom and why? • Focuses more on theory behind your teaching; Teaching Statements focus more on specific evidence INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Philosophy • Encourages instructors “to describe their teaching methods, to justify why they use those methods, and to consider how they might appropriately modify those methods in future courses. ” (Kearns and Sullivan 2011) • What elements from your teaching philosophy could you include in your Teaching Statement? • Learning Goals • Teaching Methods • Learning Assessment • Testing Assessment INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Philosophy: Learning Goals • What most interests you about your discipline? • What do you hope students will appreciate about your discipline? • What knowledge, skills, and attitude are important for student success in your discipline? • How are these disciplinary knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to students’ academic, personal, and professional success? INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Philosophy: Teaching Methods • What do you see as the relationship between the students and the teacher? • What do you see are the respective responsibilities of the student and the teacher? • How are these relationships and responsibilities reflected in your teaching methods? • How do these methods contribute to your learning goals for students? • Why are these teaching methods appropriate for use in your discipline? • What pedagogical resources (disciplinary and general) support your teaching methods? • How are your teaching methods attentive to diverse student expectations and needs? • How do your personal characteristics and values relate to your choice and implementation of your teaching methods? INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Philosophy: Assessment of Student Learning • What learning assessment told do you use (e. g. , tests papers, portfolios, and/or journals) and why? • How do you know your learning goals are being achieved using your teaching methods? • What do the learning assessments say about your teaching? INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Philosophy: Assessment of Teaching • What do your teaching assessments say about your teaching? • What are your strengths as a teacher? • How will you improve students’ achievement of these learning goals? • What aspects of your teaching are you working on now? INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

COVID Statement • “The COVID-19 statement offers faculty an opportunity to reflect on both positive and negative impacts, as relevant, and to highlight achievements that may not be otherwise visible (e. g. , redirecting research to accommodate travel restrictions). The goal of the statement is to contextualize professional accomplishments and challenges related to the pandemic for audiences internal (and, if the faculty member chooses, external) to IU Bloomington. The statement is optional but open to all faculty. ” • https: //intranet. college. indiana. edu/faculty/guidance-for-covid-impactstatements. html INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Philosophy: Breakout Room activities (choose one) Self-reflective interview exercise In a creative writing exercise, imagine that you are being interviewed for a magazine article about effective teacher. The following are examples of questions that you might address: What is a “personal best” achievement for you as a teacher during the past year? How does your teaching reflect the best teacher you have ever known? What of your worst qualities as a teacher would you throw away? If you wrote a book about teaching, what would the title be? What three points about instruction would you make? INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON Critical Moments Exercise: Describe three or four critical moments in your course (e. g. , the first day of class, the first “stupid” question, the first exam, and/or the first time the class understands a complex problem), reflecting on how you prepared students for that moment, how you responded to the students during that critical moment, and how you might respond differently when the situation arises again.

Teaching Philosophy: Additional Resources • Duquense University • Iowa State • University of Colorado • University of Michigan • University of Minnesota • Vanderbilt University INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Teaching Statement • Avoiding the pitfalls – Trite, formulaic, or boilerplate expressions – Essays with no core idea, theme, or argument – Essays that fail to connect theory to practice or lack evidence of practice – Essays with vague, undefined terms (critical thinking, learn, etc. ) – Taking credit for work that every teacher must do – Essays focused on data from teaching evaluations – Essays that include quote after quote from students who thought you were the best thing since Aristotle INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON E. Metzler, 9/2/14