Teaching Statements
& Portfolios

About the Program

The Teaching Statements & Portfolios mini-course is an online, self-paced Canvas resource that provides step-by-step guidance in creating or refining a teaching statement and a teaching portfolio—widely requested documents in the academic job search, particularly for positions that involve college-level teaching. This resource aims to help you develop strategies for effectively communicating about your teaching approaches and their impact on student learning, while telling a compelling story of who you are as an educator. The resource is designed for UC Santa Cruz graduate students and postdocs, but is open for self-enrollment to the broader campus community.

By enrolling in this mini-course, you can:

• Utilize reflection questions to generate content for the teaching statement and portfolio, including reflecting on how your social positionalities shape your teaching practice and values;
• Practice communicating about your teaching by using concrete and specific examples of your approaches and their impact;
• Select an organizational strategy for your teaching statement that feels most relevant to your expertise and strengths;
• Identify and practice effective writing techniques by reviewing examples of successful statements;
• Utilize organizational tools for aligning portfolio content with your teaching statement;
• Learn how to communicate quantitative and qualitative data from Student Experience of Teaching Surveys (SETS);
• Access answers to frequently asked questions and further resources for learning more about these documents and genres of writing;
• and more!