How to Prepare a Winning Teaching Portfolio
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Jun 13, 2009
A teaching portfolio is a work of reflective writing expressing how a candidate views her role as a teacher, supported by examples, course outlines, and evaluations. It is meant to supplement, not replace a cover letter and CV, and ideally will answer the following questions: What do you teach? Why do you teach? How do you teach?
What to Include in a Teaching Portfolio
A teaching portfolio is an organic document that develops and changes over time, however, there are standard features that hiring committees look for:
- a list of academic qualifications including institutions attended and dates, relevant professional development training, current professional memberships, and teaching awards.
- a list of courses taught and/or lectures given with the dates. A detailed description of course content is not required as course outlines will appear in the appendix.
- teaching philosophy: this is a candidate's personal statement reflecting on why he teaches, his approach to student learning, and his values and goals. One problem for selection committees is that many of these statements sound the same so it is important to be original, to showcase unique insights, creativity, and skill. It must also be succinct; interviewers do not have time to read through pages of philosophical musings.
- teaching philosophy in practice: This is a reflective account of how a candidate teaches, unique approaches he attempted, or things he tried that did not work, and what he learned from the experience. The goal of this section is to reflect on the candidates' development as teachers and learners and to provide concrete examples of teaching practice.
- a comprehensive appendix. Appendices contains relevant support materials and is often the longest section in the portfolio.
What to Include in the Appendices
The first appendix should include course descriptions. It is important to provide an outline of every course taught to exhibit range and knowledge. Hiring committees want to appoint candidates who demonstrate versatility and a willingness to teach outside their specialty, especially high volume, first year courses.
The second appendix should include sample activities or lesson plans. It may be tempting to offer an entire semester’s worth of material, but it is not necessary and may suggest a lack of experience. Two or three carefully chosen examples that demonstrate a candidate’s best work is sufficient.
The third appendix should include departmental and/or student evaluations. This section provides evidence of teaching effectiveness. Student and peer assessment reveals a great deal to hiring committees and not including this information may imply the candidate has not received any positive feedback on his teaching.
Presenting a Teaching Portfolio
As with all other aspects of the interview process, how a portfolio is presented is almost as important as the content. Hiring committees scan dozens of weighty documents in their search for the best, so the more concise, accessible and professional the finished product, the more likely it is to stand out from the pile.
Include a one page "table of contents" at the beginning so readers can find relevant topics quickly. Add page numbers and make sure they correspond exactly to the content; adding or deleting information from a portfolio often results in changes to pagination, so it is crucial to update these to avoid errors.
Use bold type, bullet points, and/or underline headings with sufficient room between sections so it is easy to locate information. Filling page after page with single spaced text is unappealing and unappreciated by busy academics, so aim for a clean and spacious layout .
Print the document on good quality paper and design a cover using card stock with the title “Teaching Portfolio”, name and the year. The cover does not need to be elaborate, but presenting a professional looking document is important; simply stapling a stack of pages together will suggest a lack of interest and effort.
Have the portfolio bound with plastic comb binding. This can be done cheaply at most printing shops and will make the document easier to open and read.
Many academics are short-listed on the basis of their portfolios. Therefore, taking the time to prepare a professional document that reflects a candidate’s skills, experience, and unique approaches to teaching and learning will not only help distinguish one application from another, it may also result in that all important invitation to an interview.
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