📘 TLC Guide Available
This topic includes a full-length TLC Guide for deeper exploration.
► Teaching Statement Guidelines and Tips
► Teaching Statements & Portfolios mini-course (for grad students and postdocs navigating the academic job market)
Representing Your Teaching
A teaching statement is a written document that communicates your values around teaching and learning, provides evidence of your impact, and demonstrates reflection on how you support student success in your field(s). Often used in academic job searches, teaching statements are also part of personnel review processes. When paired with a teaching portfolio, the statement serves as a framework for interpreting the materials included.
A teaching portfolio is a representative—but not exhaustive—collection of materials that document your teaching effectiveness. Portfolios provide concrete evidence of how you put your teaching values into practice, often including items such as course syllabi, sample assignments, and Student Experience of Teaching Survey (SETS) data. Importantly, portfolios also include reflections on your design and pedagogical choices.
TLC Guides
- Teaching Statements & Portfolios mini-course — designed for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars navigating the academic job market
- Teaching Statement Guidelines and Tips
Additional Resources
- Review this paper from the University of Michigan on Writing a Statement of Teaching Philosophy for the Academic Job Search.
- Read an article by James M. Lang on the 4 Steps to a Memorable Teaching Philosophy that addresses a common challenge for educators: “How do you write a statement of teaching philosophy that doesn’t sound exactly like everybody else’s?”
See Also
Peer Observation of Teaching
Preparing Community-Engaged Teaching Files
SETS
Lecturer Academic Review Template