Teaching Philosophy Statements-Guelph Examples

Statement 1 | Statement 2 | Statement 3

For more examples, refer to "Recording Teaching Accomplishment: A Dalhousie Guide to the Teaching Dossier" or "The Teaching Portfolio" available for loan from the Teaching Resource Centre.

Statement 1

I believe that it is my job to design and provide courses that are challenging, interesting, current, and relevant. This applies equally to the undergraduate and graduate courses, management development programs, and faculty development workshops that I am involved with. I endeavour to foster learning environments that are stimulating, motivating, supportive and participative. I strive to build on the insights and experience of each student.

I try to accomplish course objectives through a variety of means. To a large extent, I rely on my own enthusiasm, interest, and preparedness (i.e., which I achieve by remaining up-to-date with the appropriate literature, through contact with industry professional, and other academics, and through an active commitment to my own ongoing professional development). I structure class time to include a significant amount of student participation (e.g., case studies, debates, exercises, role plays, and presentations). I also use a variety of materials (e.g., transcripts, newspaper clippings, films, and videos) and regularly include guest speakers. Feedback from students (see section VIII) indicates they appreciate these approaches.

For courses which require formal student assessment, I provide innovative course assignments (e.g., field based, group research projects, student-led seminars), which provide students with the flexibility to pursue subjects of interest to them, the opportunity to interact with professionals in the workplace, and practice at giving formal presentations. Secondary benefits of these assignments include a greater appreciation of the difficulty associated with implementing "theory," and an enhanced awareness of career opportunities. Lastly, I prefer the use of take-home, essay based examinations. Such examinations remove the necessity of rote learning. Instead, students are required to assess and synthesize material, make judgements, state a position, and advance contextually specific arguments.

Outside the classroom, I endeavour to further support student learning by being readily available to discuss student projects, help resolve group conflicts, clarify material, or direct students to additional resource.

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Statement 2

My primary aim as a teacher is to encourage and facilitate learning. To accomplish this I see myself as a fellow traveler whose fascination for the subject, and experience with it, should be valuable to my students as together we explore the discipline. Because if our common interest I presume that we will learn together. Therefore I expect students will, at times, lead me to new understanding even while I am providing leadership for them. Thus each course becomes "ours" rather than "mine." Increasingly I see my role as the purveyor of knowledge diminishing while those of mentor and coach become more central to my teaching.

My teaching activities are underpinned by the 4Cs of teaching: commitment to the teaching endeavour, competence in the subject area, comfort with my teaching style, and compassion for my students. In fulfilling these four requirements I find teaching to be both demanding and rewarding. Personal contact with students is essential to my approach. Thus, I maintain an open door policy and encourage students to visit my office at any time. I also make a point of visiting laboratory sessions whenever I can, though with large multi-sectional classes this is not always possible.

My expectations for my students' education have been shaped by the University of Guelph's Learning Objectives. The articulation of these objectives helped me to crystallize in my own mind what it was that I hope to accomplish with my students. The Learning Objectives now provide the foundation on which all my courses have been built. Of greatest importance to me is that my students can think critically, become independent learners and, above all, can respect and appreciate learning.

Despite my firm belief in these stated values and approach, not all students respond favourably to my teaching. Given the changing expectations of university students in recent years, their focus on grades fuelled by the realities of grade inflation, and their feeling that all education must have utility, it is often difficult to convince students that learning neither equates with training nor even with grades. Intellectual rigour has always been integral to sound education and to my teaching. Accordingly, one has to be prepared to accept student criticism as an alternative to acquiescence to their demands for easy passage. What remains paramount is that students are made clear of my commitment to their learning and that I treat each one openly and fairly in my efforts to stimulate that learning.

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Statement 3

I have taught a wide range of courses and supervised a large number of graduate students since my appointment in 1990. While many aspects of my teaching have changed with experience and growing familiarity with the scholarly literature related to teaching and learning, many of the foundations I developed as a student remain the core of my teaching philosophy.

I have been teaching university courses related to XXXXX XXXXX since 1987. I was a teaching assistant and later a visiting lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1990, my teaching was recognized through an "Outstanding Contribution to Students Award", a prestigious university teaching honour. When bestowing the award, it was noted that my commitment to my student's futures was a defining characteristic. In simple terms, I believe this comment best describes my attitude toward teaching. I am less involved with who my students are at present and more concerned with who they will become. While I enjoy interacting with students as individuals, I perceive my role as a mentor who encourages and occasionally forces them to develop their own goals, confidence in their own abilities, self-sufficiency and independent thought. To accomplish these aims, I rely on a number of methods and approaches I have 'collected' over the years from teachers who taught me and colleagues whom I respect. I have, and continue to modify these methods to suit present needs and my evolving role as an educator.

During the course of my own education, I had the privilege to work with some of the finest academics in the world - people who have substantially shaped XXXXXX XXXXXX as well as other disciplines. Each of these people, whether they were "good" classroom performers or not, shared basic attitudes and approaches toward teaching and personal traits that I continue to value and emulate. The most significant of these are:

1. A respect for students, particularly undergraduate students, as partners in exploring and learning. All students have a unique and valuable perspective, a life history and a need to be heard. Too often students are not heard because they are not listened to in the rush to teach them. The most influential people in my own career gave me much more than information, skills and techniques. These teachers listened to me and allowed me to set my own learning goals. Along with the flexibility to set my own goals they also made it clear I had to take responsibility for my actions. Much of my teaching style is based on this simple ideal; if students accept the freedom I offer to pursue their own goals, then they must accept the responsibility of articulating and meeting their goals.
   
2. A commitment to encourage and a willingness to demand that students develop their own questions and their own ways of knowing. I work hard at encouraging and frequently cajoling students to develop their own ideas and even harder at avoiding giving them my own. It is my opinion that the life-long success and happiness of student's is predicated on developing a passionate curiosity structured by self-awareness and intellectual self-reliance. Students who rely on others to provide them with questions, I believe, will not develop into independent thinkers. Although my insistence on students taking the initiative is frequently difficult for them to adjust to, most of the students later comment on how unique and valuable the experience was for them in continuing their studies or professional careers.
   
3. An emphasis on the breadth and uncertainty of all knowledge and the importance of a well-rounded and continuing education. I use analogies constantly in my teaching. One of my personal observations is there is a general and pervasive lack of a broad cultural literacy in many students. Rather than adapt my teaching style to a simpler, more direct presentation of content, I strive to show students the utility and joy of bringing a multi-faceted knowledge of the world to their work. The best of my own teachers were well-read and conversant in a myriad of topics. I try to bring this to my students through stories, references to literature and analogies. This point is of critical importance to me. Too many students, particularly those in professional programs, are well trained and poorly educated. With the increasing use of technology to identify, collect and analyze factual information, I believe it is more important than ever to emphasize how information is used and to what ends it is used for. This can only be accomplished if students have a general knowledge of history, literature, culture and current events.

My basic teaching philosophy and the objectives of my courses are direct extensions of these three principles. I seek to encourage each student to develop their own philosophy and personal ethic toward learning and living. What I promote to students is not, I believe, the product of learning, it is the foundation of learning. It is my goal in almost all my teaching activities to encourage independent learners, students that have the confidence to understand what they are capable of knowing, how they uniquely arrive at knowing and, most importantly, students who will question everything. I encourage all students to ask questions rather than recite facts and convey through many means my expectation that each student must make the transition from learning dependent on others to self-learning. To do this they must take personal responsibility for their own education and in return I will do what I can to help them.

In conclusion, my personal goals in teaching have been strongly influenced by my belief that learning to teach and teaching for learning are life-long endeavors. I believe I have already made a difference in my students by instilling in them self-confidence and self-reliance and it is my goal to continue to shape the intellects of students whom I teach.

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