the teaching statement

[ideltoro]

Im in my final semseter, now the hunt is on. Every job and post doc I apply for requires a teaching statement. The problem is that I've only ever taught one class in grad school? What should I do? there's good examples out there on google but I dont want to just have something generic. Any useful tips?

[tspier2]

Im in my final semseter, now the hunt is on. Every job and post doc I apply for requires a teaching statement. The problem is that I've only ever taught one class in grad school? What should I do? there's good examples out there on google but I dont want to just have something generic. Any useful tips?

 

Think about how you define the role of educator and student, your beliefs on the dynamic of learning, and your procedures for teaching in general. For example, do you aim to differentiate learning in a certain way?

[fuzzylogician]

I don't really know of good examples of online version of the teaching statement, but here is some advice I was given:

 

First of all, if you are an inexperienced teacher, the statement doesn't need to be long. 1-1.5 page is a reasonable length.

 

Some part of the statement can be spent on concrete facts that pertain to the job you are applying for - namely, what are you prepared to teach at the school you are applying for? Name things such as the topic (perhaps course name), level of the course (ugrad vs. grad), brief description of content (e.g. students will learn theory X and application Y, use book Z, and are expected to be able to do W by the end of the course) potential for co-teaching with current faculty in the department. You may propose advanced seminars as long as you don't step on other faculty's feet (don't propose a seminar in X if you know that Prof Jones teaches the exact same seminar, unless you have reason to believe that Jones doesn't actually enjoy teaching X and would love to find someone else to take it over). Your list may include basic service courses for the department, anything that was explicitly mentioned in the job ad (if they say the candidate will be expected to teach Advanced Methods in Basketweaving, definitely say you can teach that, and explain how), undergrad seminars, grad seminars, possibilities for guided research for students (if your work is lab-based or allows for involvement or undergrads). Read the department's description of its teaching mission, if there is one on the website. Some SLACs and colleges place a lot of emphasis on guided research, one-on-one study opportunities, etc. Show the school you are familiar with their priorities and can fit with them. 

 

Even if you haven't taught much, you may have some ideas about what works and what doesn't based on your time in the classroom as a student. You need to have some description of your "teaching philosophy," but everybody realizes that this can't be more than a vague opinion since you are inexperienced. But you can still say some things about what you find important in the classroom, how you would go about teaching classes at certain levels, and how you would engage students. As much as you can, be specific. Give examples, use stories and anecdotes. What did you do well in the class taught? What could be improved? What did you learn about how students engage with the material? Again -- be specific! 

 

Finally, you might think about how you would approach mentoring students - both undergraduates and grad students. How would you try and involve them in your work? How would you make yourself available to them for questions or concerns? What guidance would you find important in different stages of the student's career (hands-on, hands-off; let them explore or send them down a certain direction; breadth vs. depth; grad school vs. industry preparation, etc). You don't need to have answers to everything, but the key to a good statement is the details. Everybody can talk about the generalities and big ideas, but the question is how you would implement them in the relevant environment - i.e. in the department you will be working at, if you get this job.