Writing a Teaching Philosophy - Purdue University Global Academic Success Center

A teacher stands at the front of a room of attentive adults sitting in chairs

17 Aug

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A teaching philosophy is a statement that allows new – as well as veteran teachers – to express their beliefs, views, methods, strategies, and expertise on educating students in a variety of disciplines and at varying levels. This statement should explain

what you teach,
why you teach,
how you teach,
and how you evaluate student learning.

A teaching philosophy is a dynamic document in that it changes over time. The more you teach, the more you will learn about teaching; thus, your philosophy may evolve or completely change from one year to the next. Additionally, teaching philosophies differ depending on the position you are applying for. Even if your general ideologies do not change, you should update your teaching philosophy to reflect your most current experiences.

For doctoral students, the teaching philosophy statement may also be part of a larger dossier or portfolio. Students who are asked to submit a portfolio or dossier may be expected to include student evaluations, lesson plans, sample syllabi, and more artifacts that help demonstrate their effectiveness as teachers and mentors.

Benefits of Having a Teaching Philosophy

As educators, we all have our beliefs about education, classroom management, classroom practices, and other aspects of teaching. A teaching philosophy is a written statement of those beliefs so that others understand our values, teaching strategies, career goals, and much more.

Teaching philosophies can

make you stand out to search committees, which can help you get interviews for a job or a spot in a graduate program.
guide you to examine your teaching practices as you think critically about the content and structure of what you are going to teach.

Overall, writing a teaching philosophy helps you to become a more organized and structured teacher because you know you are teaching with a purpose.

Who Will Read Your Teaching Philosophy?

Before you begin crafting your own teaching philosophy, think about why you are writing. Are you developing your philosophy for yourself to help you become a better teacher? Or are you developing a teaching philosophy to incorporate as part of your application process for an employment position or graduate program? Depending on your purpose for writing a teaching philosophy, your content may vary slightly. To help guide you as you construct your philosophy, brainstorm a list of questions your audience might ask if you were meeting in person.

Graduate students, for example, will often need to present a teaching philosophy statement as part of teaching fellowship applications. In this type of application, review committees often want to know about your pedagogical foundations (practical and theoretical), how your scholarship (research) informs your teaching, and/or how your graduate studies have shaped and will continue to shape your goals as an educator.

What to Include in Teaching Philosophy

Every teaching philosophy will be different, depending on the author’s experiences, beliefs, views, writing style, and other professional factors. Information you may want to include in a teaching philosophy is discussed below; however, what you include in your teaching philosophy depends on what it is being used for and the position you are applying for. Additionally, a teaching philosophy should be concise and straightforward, so the list below is only suggestions for what you might include, and it is important not to belabor any of these points. In other words, brevity will be appreciated by most audiences. The organization of your teaching philosophy is another criterion that employers may be looking for; therefore, it is up to you to organize the content of your teaching philosophy in a way that makes the most sense for you and the position you are applying for. There is no intended organization in the list of bullets below. Example teaching philosophies are included at the end of this handout.

Your name and email address (or some other type of reliable professional contact information): It is possible that your teaching philosophy could become separated from the rest of your application materials, so it’s important that prospective employers/program personnel always know how to reach you about your application.

A title: Be creative and clear. As in an essay, the title sets the tone for the teaching philosophy.
A thesis statement: Try to develop a single sentence or a concise passage that describes the core belief that your philosophies are built on. This thesis will help you develop and link your examples and stay focused as you describe your experiences and goals.
Your career goals: Where do you see yourself when you finish your degree? In five years? In 20? How far ahead you look will largely depend on your purpose in creating the teaching philosophy. Graduate students applying for fellowships, for example, may want to discuss the teaching experiences they hope the fellowship will help prepare them for, whereas students or current teachers applying for faculty positions may speak to more long-term goals, such as curriculum development. Doctoral students, for example, should discuss how they approach curriculum development, course design, or the creation of original materials. Doctoral students and candidates should also outline their plans to contribute to academia or their fields of study as part of their career goals.
Your teaching influences: What have you read or seen that has shaped you as an instructor? Graduate and doctoral students should be more theoretical in this section, including a specific description (naming specific theorists/theories as necessary) of pedagogical approaches used or modeled in classroom and/or course design. For example, graduate or doctoral students working in university settings may discuss how androgyny, Malcom Knowles’ theory of adult learning, influences them as teachers or mentors.
Your objectives as a teacher or a mentor: What is your view of the learner? What are you thinking when you walk in the door of your classroom? When you put together a lesson plan? When you put together a syllabus? Doctoral students often act as mentors or advisors for undergraduate students, so be sure to include your objectives as a mentor. What are your goals as a mentor or advisor to your peers? What is your view of this role? Coverage here can be general or specific, depending on your philosophy and your goals for the statement.
Your experiences with various modalities: Graduate and doctoral students teaching in online or hybrid environments may wish to discuss strategies to foster engagement, communication, community building, and student support in virtual learning spaces.
Your views toward generative artificial intelligence (AI): Doctoral students may also discuss how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, inform their teaching practices. Educators should consider how technology can support learning, critical thinking, accessibility, and student engagement while promoting ethical and responsible use.
Why you feel teaching is important to you: What are your expectations for the student-teacher relationship? What inspires you? Do you remember the moment when you decided to become a teacher? What was your motivation? What keeps you motivated even on the most challenging days? Why do you want to dedicate your professional life to education? Teaching is a very personal and emotional profession, so be sure to let your dedication and individuality shine through.
How you feel you can make a difference in the lives of others: All teachers make a difference. How have you done so? How do you hope that you will continue to do so? Here, you can think both large-scale (whole classes) and small-scale (individual students and faculty). Graduate students, and especially doctoral students, should also include:
A discussion of how your specific scholarship shapes/informs your teaching: Be specific here and avoid jargon that might alienate your audience or potentially be misunderstood. Doctoral students will need to discuss how they plan to bring innovative, current trends, and ground-breaking research in the classroom. The doctoral student acts as a scholar-practitioner, bridging theory and real-world classroom practice.
Your view of service and leadership: Doctoral students may need to discuss their views on service to their university communities and their leadership capabilities.

How to Write a Teaching Philosophy

Writing a teaching philosophy is an exercise you will do continually throughout your career as a teacher. It requires the same writing process as any formal writing: explore ideas, brainstorm, develop a plan, conduct research, create an outline, draft, revise, edit, and polish the final product. The following are suggestions to help you get started.

Pretend you are developing a dream course in an ideal classroom. Make a list of every element you can think of that would make it perfect.
Do some research and view some examples of teaching philosophies. At the end of this handout, you will find several examples, including a compilation of some university instructors’ teaching philosophies.
Talk to other teachers about their philosophies, beliefs, values, and views on what makes an effective teacher.
Create subheadings (such as objectives, career goals, strategies, values), then list as many details as you can for each subheading that would reflect you and your style of teaching. This list will help give you direction.
Answer these questions: What sets you apart from others? What knowledge and skills will students learn from you?
Think of a metaphor that describes your classroom (or your ideal classroom); then develop that metaphor by linking the ideas of your teaching influences (both personal and theoretical).
Go back and look at your own coursework and your own learning experiences. What theories did you learn about that you aspire to use? What educators do you strive to emulate?

Formatting a Teaching Philosophy

You have some flexibility with formatting. You want to set up your teaching philosophy in a way that best represents you. Just remember that your teaching philosophy is a committee or interviewer’s first impression of your teaching, so you want to make sure that whatever they see is polished and professional. The following are some guidelines you might want to consider:

Be concise: Generally, a teaching philosophy should be limited to two pages maximum. Again, follow the guidelines you are provided. If a doctoral candidate is applying for a fellowship or faculty position, for example, they may need a more robust, evidence-based statement.

Use a font that is easy to read (such as Times New Roman or Arial) and use an average-size font (11 or 12).
Use the first-person point of view.
Keep paragraphs short and focused: Like a resume, a teaching philosophy statement should be scannable; that is, the reader should be able to grasp your main points with a quick glance. Use headings, bold, and italics as necessary.
Maintain reasonable margins. Since a teaching philosophy is usually brief, writers often try to crowd text onto the page. The margins of your document should ideally match those of the rest of your application materials.

Note: Many programs and applications will have very specific requirements for how you should format your teaching philosophy statement. Some graduate programs, for example, ask for a one-page statement or a specific form to be filled out. Be sure to review the application and job announcement requirements very carefully for formatting information.

Dos and Don’ts

Do Don’t

Use concrete examples Use vague or grandiose statements

Make it personal Use jargon

Show instead of tell Write an experience summary

Sample Teaching Philosophy

Philosophy of an English Teacher

Lauren Jennings ljennings@university.edu
Statement of Teaching Philosophy I believe that the most successful instructors are creative, innovative, flexible, and organized both in and out of the classroom. They have a plan for their own and their students’ research, but they are also flexible and savvy enough to work with a “teachable moment” when it arises. To achieve this balance, instructors must understand that the classroom is a formative space where they learn from the students while the students learn from them.
Conducting a Course I would like my students to think of me as a conductor and of their class as a symphony orchestra. This metaphor represents my view that I should offer guidance and tools for success to the students on their educational journeys. The students are then responsible for learning the material (the music) well enough to perform. In an orchestra, all the members are sensitive to the needs and actions of others. All the instruments must work together, and each member must understand the roles that other members play. I may be leading the tempo and dynamics, but the students create the final product, and their participation, as well as the skill of my direction, will determine the quality of the learning experience. When students leave my classroom, I want them to say that I helped them to see and comprehend relationships between ideas and concepts, as well as understand the benefits of collaboration and individualism in their appropriate settings. I want them to feel that they were a part of a community of learners that walked together into new discoveries.
My Models I strive to create a learning community that reflects my most successful learning experiences. For example, I learned most when I was instructed to write through my ideas and develop original theories about class readings. I believe students learn best from instructors who place strong emphasis on peeling back the layers of a text’s meaning to reveal the intricate concepts and contexts beneath the surface. Students can then write sophisticated arguments more clearly and confidently. My most successful learning experiences also emphasized the melding of theory and practice. We would often study the theoretical aspects of a text or mode of composition, but the theories did not come to life until we discussed them thoroughly, considering them from multiple perspectives. We would then apply the theories to actual settings, experiences, texts, and situations. This modeling approach helped students make more productive connections between concepts and texts.
Pedagogical Foundations The above metaphor also fits my pedagogy because learning music, like writing and literary analysis, is a process involving both inspiration and technique. I believe that it is important to show students how writing can be a mode of creative expression that transcends the scholarly. Yet, I believe it is equally important to provide students with the tangible skills that they will need to excel, so I admire pedagogies that employ diverse methods of instruction, such as group work, conferences, and student-led discussion, as they challenge students to learn and apply the theories and concepts of classical rhetoric and analysis.

The above metaphor also fits my pedagogy because learning music, like writing and literary analysis, is a process involving both inspiration and technique. I believe that it is important to show students how writing can describe specific be a mode of creative expression that transcends the scholarly. Yet, I believe it is equally important to provide students with the tangible skills they will need to excel, so I employ diverse methods of instruction, such as group work, conferences, and student-led discussion as they challenge students to learn and apply the theories. and concepts of classical rhetoric and analysis.

Philosophy of an English Teacher [Title]

By Sally Smith mith@purdueglobal.edu)

Life takes us down many roads; some of these roads contain bumps, roadblocks, perils, challenges, failures, and even successes. Looking back, the plethora of roads I traveled has shaped me into who I am today. I am a proud educator devoted to making a difference in the lives of others. I do not fail with my head down, but fail with my head up, looking to learn from my struggles. True learning takes hard work and dedication, and sometimes much repetition to conquer. Learning never came easy to me, but I had the guidance of strong teachers to walk me down the paths of least resistance to reach

educational success. [Why I teach] These educational leaders provided me with the tools and the confidence to strive for success, and now, I have opted to be one of those leaders. Thanks to such inspiring leaders, I have dedicated my life to helping struggling learners make academic gains. [Thesis statement] My continually evolving philosophy of teaching reflects my beliefs that anyone can learn if given the right opportunities, building a solid foundation creates lifelong learners, and providing a positive atmosphere to learn in inspires magical results.

Anyone can learn if given the right opportunities. [How I teach] As an educator, I plan my activities to reach every type of learner, from auditory to kinesthetic and visual. These lessons incorporate teach-model-practice methods of instruction to foster a more productive, guided learning environment by helping all learners better understand the expectations. The learning activities will allow for self-discovery based on student needs, desires, and assessments. The various tasks will incorporate both independent work and collaborative learning with peers. I feel it is essential to work with others to develop strong social and leadership skills while also becoming better readers, writers, presenters, and critical thinkers. Another equally important element of learning is receiving constructive feedback. [Beliefs] People learn from their mistakes, and we are all going to make them. I want students to make mistakes without the fear of failure. These mistakes tell me, as the educator, when my instruction is essential to helping learners grow. Using the sandwich approach, I always start with a positive comment, then shift to an area that could use some development, and finish on a positive note. In almost all cases, I allow for self-improvement by all students who desire to take that extra step to reach perfection by opting to reconstruct/rewrite/or retest.

When students have the right learning opportunities, they grow as thinkers, building important learning skills that create a solid foundation. [What I teach] One basic learning skill that is a must is comprehensive reading strategies. [Strategies] I teach students valuable reading strategies that will help them succeed in any subject, such as SQ3R, question-stemming, and active reading, all of which foster critical thinking. Writing is another important skill that I push to the fullest in every class. Reading and writing go hand in hand and are incorporated into every concept I teach. Strong readers and writers reflect strong thinking. By guiding students to develop the basic skills of reading, writing, and thinking, I am creating lifelong learners.

Even with all the right tools, a teacher is only as good as the classroom environment that is established. I demand that all students be positive at all times. [Theory] “The glass is half-full,” and nothing below this theory is accepted. Rules are firmly established to make my classroom a safe learning environment. Being negative to oneself or to others is not tolerated. I lead by example through positive reinforcement. [Belief] When students realize the classroom environment is truly safe, they become more open to sharing their struggles, asking for help, and reaching out to others for guidance.

Teaching is a talent that is given to special people to lead the way for others to succeed. I was blessed with this special gift to motivate the struggling students to rise to the occasion and succeed. I have taken this challenging career path as an educator to make a difference in the lives of others. [Career Goal] Teaching pushes me to be a continual learner seeking growth that will help me build strong paths for my students. And, just maybe, I might inspire individuals to be educational leaders in the same way I was guided.