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Teaching Philosophy (Under Construction / Rough Draft, 2024 edition)

Getting students involved and invested in their coursework is critical as we transition to a world dominated by algorithmically curated distractions.

Dryer notes that that writing is not “‘natural’ in the way that speech is” [1].

Writing Transfer is soemthing we also want to bring in - Teaching for Tranfser.

  1. Dryer, D. B. (2015). Writing is not Natural. In L. Adler-Kassner, E. Wardle (Eds.), Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies (pp. 27-29). Utah State University Press.

Components for Teaching Philosophy and Portfolio

The teaching portfolio is an opportunity to showcase how you’ve grown as a teacher as well as reflect on ways you’d like to continue to grow. The teaching portfolio is both a beginning and a capstone. It’s the final project of ENGL 600, but it’s also a document that you can build on throughout your career as a teacher.

Artifacts

Teaching artifacts are materials that you have created yourself in the course of teaching ENGL 103. These may include things like handouts, videos, PowerPoints, visual aids, assignment explanations, and so on. Artifacts should be included to demonstrate how you met teaching goals in the classroom.

Reflections

You will be asked regularly to reflect on your teaching throughout ENGL 600. Include in your portfolio some of your most interesting reflections: ones that were transformative to you or ones that you’ve totally shifted your thinking on. You can use these prior reflections as a reference in your Reflection Overview, a summation of what you’ve learned about teaching this semester.

Note for self: We should write a new reflection focusing on our second year of teaching and the lessons learned beyond the initial ones - refining out methodology.

Philosophy

The teaching philosophy is a 1-2 page document that explains what is important to you as a teacher and how you implement these ideas in practice. Your philosophy for ENGL 600 should be grounded in composition theory (reference some reading from the semester) and should include examples of your philosophy in action (explain activities that demonstrate your philosophy in the classroom). Teaching philosophies are common in academia, and you’ll likely be asked for yours several times in your career. Consider this document a starting point that you can continue to build on.