Teaching in SOP

[rems]

Yet another "SOP" question. I appreciate everyone's patience.

For those who have already taught at the college level, how are you going about addressing your teaching experience in your SOP?

I'm just interested in what different people are doing for this. I currently have three different "teaching" paragraphs written up. One simply states that I'm in my third year of teaching and addresses what I teach, one addresses the specific classes I teach and my interaction with the graduate teaching program at my undergraduate, and one address my teaching philosophy. I'm not sure which one I want to use yet... I think all three have their place.

Also, some schools ask that you specifically address teaching experience in the SOP while others say nothing about it. Wisconsin-Madison, for one example, SOP is max 500 words -- should I waste space on addressing teaching while it states it in my CV?

This isn't necessary asking for advice (though it's always welcome), but, rather, I'm just wondering how people are approaching this aspect of the application.

[Bearcat1]

I haven't addressed teaching in any of my SoP's, but it is on my CV under teaching experience and a teaching award I received is listed there as well. I have asked about teaching opportunities at each of the programs when I've spoken by phone or email with my POI or the DGS, and in some cases that has led to a conversation about my teaching experiences that I hope will be remembered favorably during application reviews. My advice would be to briefly address teaching where it's specifically requested, but not to waste space otherwise. Unfortunately, one's ability and/or to teach doesn't seem to be important for being awarded a teaching assistantship, so I would put more emphasis on things that are given more weight, like your research goals and "proof" that you will be able to hack it in grad school (or however that is subtly worded on SoP prompts).

[ProfLorax]

I am applying to Rhet/Comp programs, which all stress writing pedagogy, so I am emphasizing my teaching experience. I am doing so in a way that demonstrates my knowledge about the current conversations in rhetoric and composition and relates to my academic interests, rather than just saying "I have three years of teaching experience at the college level!" I'm not sure how helpful they will be since we are applying to different fields within English studies, but I'd be happy to share with you the different paragraphs I have relating to teaching (I have a few versions dependent on the SoP length requirement). Sometimes it helps just to see how others are doing it!

[practical cat]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I think I'm going to leave it to the CV minus a line or two mention of philosophy (maybe). One of my recommenders is able to speak to my (small amount of) college teaching experience and I think her comments on my pedagogical philosophy and experience/insights will be both on point and, more importantly, not taking up SOP space.

[rems]

Thanks everyone for their advice and input!

I'm thinking about not mentioning teaching specifically in the shorter SOP's, and just letting my CV do the talking. When I mention my goals for the future, I have a sentence that begins with, "As I am in my third year of teaching freshmen composition, blahblahblah..." to at least give it a nod but not focus on it. I wasn't sure it is "expected" for us to mention teaching if the department doesn't immediately specify mentioning it.

proflorax: I admire you for doing rhet/comp! It's really big in the department I'm in now, and I hear a lot of talk about the current field and keeping up with the theories. At least literary theory moves kind of slowly -- rhet/comp seems to change every month or so! Best of luck to you!