ASU graduate students learn how to prepare teaching portfolios in PFx workshop

The second workshop of the Spring 2020 Preparing Future Faculty and Scholars PFx program* offered valuable tips to future faculty as they prepare their teaching portfolios.

The goal of teaching is learning, and your teaching portfolio must demonstrate how you approach teaching, what you want students to learn and what you’ve learned about the art of teaching. 

During the “Designing Your Teaching Portfolio,” workshop, held on March 20 with Duane Roen, Dean and Professor, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Arizona State University, Roen suggested six common areas to consider for making your teaching visible to others.

Six ways to make your teaching more visible

1. Clear Goals: provide purpose of statement linked to objectives

2. Adequate Preparation: survey existing scholarship and also evaluate the skills you bring to the table

3. Appropriate Methods: apply proven strategies and theories, and offer how you address modifications that fit with the given circumstances

4. Significant Results: align teaching with your field and the research of teaching and learning to advance student learning outcomes

5. Effective Presentation: be rhetorically efficient with clear organization, integrity, and adaptive communication

6. Reflective Critique: access student growth and evaluation with a breadth of evidence 

Essential elements your portfolio should include 

• Your teaching philosophy,

• Sample syllabi and lesson plans, and

• Evidence of professional development in teaching.

When possible, your portfolio should also include

• Student evaluations,

• Peer reviews of your teaching, and

• Student’s work.

Roen explained that it is best if you synthesize and contextualize any evaluations and reviews, and it is extremely helpful to annotate syllabi, lesson plans, and student work. Don’t forget to obtain written consent prior to using any student’s work. 

Haven’t yet taught your own class or don't have much teaching experience?  Roen suggested that, rather than calling out these limitations, request that a faculty member who is familiar with your teaching (say as a guest lecturer), write you a letter of recommendation. You can also spend some time addressing what you value and are eager to do in the classroom as a way to demonstrate how you approach teaching and learning. 

“You can talk about challenges in your past and how you’ve worked to overcome them, [but] be careful about the language that you choose to describe [them],” he said. “Instead of saying, ‘I had this limitation or did not have this opportunity’, say instead, ‘I’ve had this opportunity thus far, and I’m eager to take it forward in this way…’ Don’t remind that you had limitations; remind that you had experience one way or another and here’s how you’ve grown.”  

Another good way to frame and/or demonstrate teaching experience is to address any opportunities you might have had as a tutor, mentor, or community engagement leader, Roen suggested.

To learn more about preparing your teaching portfolio you can watch the complete "Designing Your Teaching Portfolio” workshop here. 

*Preparing Future Faculty and Scholars is a program designed to help doctoral and MFA students and postdoctoral fellows transition successfully into faculty and nonfaculty careers.  PFx provides an insider’s look at how to prepare job materials, what to expect from various career outcomes, and where to find valuable tools and resources for career and self-assessment. Visit the Preparing Future Faculty and Scholars PFx program website to learn more.