Developing a Teaching Portfolio for the Job Search Graduate Student Center University of Pennsylvania April 19, 2007 Kathryn K. McMahon Department of Romance Languages

What is a Teaching Portfolio? It is a factual description of a professor's teaching strengths and accomplishments. It includes documents and materials which collectively suggest the scope and quality of a professor’s teaching performance. It is to teaching what lists of publications, grants, and honors are to research and scholarship. (Seldin)

What is a Teaching Portfolio? The Teaching Portfolio is not simply a collection of teaching materials, but rather a descriptive narrative of teaching practice, supported with a few selective samples of materials as evidence of teaching excellence. It is a reflective statement about the ‘why’ of teaching more than the ‘what.’ (Trinity College, Dublin University )

What is a Teaching Portfolio? A coherent set of materials including work samples and reflective commentary on them compiled by the instructor to inquire into and represent his or her teaching practice as related to student learning and development (Hutchings) A collection of documents that represents the best of one’s teaching and provides one with the occasion to reflect on his or her behavior. (J. P. Murray)

Portfolios are used for different purposes Purpose of portfolio determines its contents Formative portfolios: - Emphasis on professional development - Documenting progress - Determining future growth Summative portfolios - Used for job search, promotion and tenure - Retrospective - Focus on achievements

Why develop a portfolio? More and more schools are asking for them Allows you to go beyond the list of courses taught on your CV to show why you teach the way you do Allows you to showcase your accomplishments Allows you to show how your teaching practices are consistent with your beliefs about teaching

Why develop a portfolio? Gives you the opportunity to reflect on your teaching in preparation for the job search process And to answer the question: In what ways am I an effective teacher? “In truth, one of the most significant parts of the portfolio is the faculty member's self-reflection on his or her teaching. Preparing it can help professors unearth new discoveries about themselves over the years.” (Seldin)

What does a teaching portfolio look like? They can (and should) be highly individualized and personal Generally begin with a title page and a table of contents Include a narrative reflection ( pages) Accompanied by appendices containing supporting documents Most often presented in text format (e.g. a 3-ring binder), but can be delivered on a CD or online

What should go in your portfolio? An overview of your teaching experience Your beliefs about teaching and learning: your teaching philosophy How your teaching philosophy translates into methods, strategies, objectives, teaching style: the narrative link between your philosophy and your documents Evidence of your teaching performance and how that reflects your teaching philosophy: the appendices

Teaching Responsibilities Overview of teaching experience Courses taught, responsibilities, number of students, etc. Indicate courses you are qualified to teach in the future

Statement of Teaching Philosophy Personal reflection on your beliefs about your role as a teacher and how students learn; what you value in teaching; goals you have for your students, etc. If your current experience is limited, think about how your philosophy might extend to other contexts of teaching in your field Use concrete examples, avoid jargon One to two-page document

How your philosophy translates into practice Description of specific learning objectives, why they are important in the context of your field Methods and approaches you follow in your teaching, and why Teaching strategies, techniques you use, and why Methods of assessment of student work and progress

Supporting evidence of your accomplishments and qualifications Your goal through the teaching portfolio is to demonstrate concretely that you are ready and qualified to assume the teaching responsibilities of a new position What additional documentation might you want to include, either in the narrative or as appendices of your portfolio? The documents you provide will vary depending on your field and your personal profile as a teacher. Evidence may come from you, from peers, from students

Some materials frequently included in a teaching portfolio Teaching materials prepared by you: Course syllabi (courses developed, proposed courses) Lesson plans Sample assignments Supplementary handouts Examples of assessment tools (exams, composition topics) How you enhance your teaching with technology

Some materials frequently included in a teaching portfolio Assessment of your teaching Evaluations by students Documents from observation by teaching supervisors, peers,etc. Teaching awards

Some materials frequently included in a teaching portfolio Student products / evidence of student learning Examples of student work Test scores /success on examinations Student writing samples with your feedback

Materials sometimes included in a teaching portfolio Evidence of work with individual students Advising Directing independent studies Directing student research

Materials sometimes included in a teaching portfolio Curricular development How did you change an existing course to enhance student learning? Contributions you made to the development of a new curriculum Teaching innovations you made that were adopted by others

Materials sometimes included in a teaching portfolio Evidence of professional development Description of participation in a teacher-development program, attendance at workshops, teaching-related conferences Evidence of membership in teaching associations Evidence of efforts to improve teaching through self- evaluation, teaching journal, action research Publications on teaching

Procedure Some advocate developing teaching philosophy first, then collecting evidence Others recommend collecting evidence first and then writing teaching philosophy Best to think of it as an integrated process; work back and forth between the two, refining each as you go Determine what is better represented in your narrative, what should be included as an appendix.

The documentary evidence Nothing speaks for itself: raw data are not useful Provide interpretations, conclusions to documents It should be clear either from the narrative or from annotations in the appendices why each document has been included

E.g. Teaching Evaluations They must be explained / interpreted to make them understandable to the reader. In narrative, highlight the overall strengths of your evaluations. In appendix, give specifics and contextualize them through annotations.

The documentary evidence For the documentation Feldman (1992) recommends: Explain: Identify what it is, how you created it, how you used it Relate: What does it say about you as a teacher? How does it relate to other items in the portfolio? Interpret: Why did you choose this piece of evidence over another? How does it represent your best work? Evaluate: What are its strengths? Tell the reader what you might to strengthen the results further.

An effective portfolio Clear organization: Use table of contents, annotate all documents, or explain them in the narrative Representative: Should be comprehensive and document the scope of your teaching Selective: Do not attempt to document everything; select those aspects of your teaching that highlight your special talents and accomplishments as a teacher

Questions