Teaching+Philosophy+&+Dossier

**//Educators must critically reflect on our own teaching//**
**//because what we believe is what we create.//**  ~ Diane Hill, PLAR & Aboriginal Education Consultant, First Nations Technical Institute ~ To begin to understand exactly what a Teaching Philosophy is and what it might look like, read the article (hard copy provided at the workshop) "Developing a Philosophy of Teaching", written by Dr. James McNinch, Dean of Faculty of Education, U of R.
 * Instructional Strategy: Background reading to build prior knowledge**


 * If you are wanting to explore in more depth and are in the process of writing or refining your teaching philosophy, here are some suggested activities:**
 * Teaching philosophy is the entire integrative element or component of a teaching dossier. You write the TPS first and then everything (including your syllabus, goals and objectives for your class, learning outcomes, forms of assessment, instructional strategies, etc) you put in your dossier should reflect back to your TPS.
 * Visit [|Chism’s 5 components] **as one way to start a statement of teaching philosophy.**
 * The University of Minnesota’s Center for Teaching and Learning has an excellent [|Teaching Philosophy step-by-step process].
 * Think back to your teaching metaphor...How does your metaphor inform your teaching style, how you assess, how you conduct the class, how you ‘cover’ content, etc?
 * You may choose to create a [|Teaching Cube] (Goodyear & Allchin) and examine each of its six side. Each face of the cube has a word on it. The task is to write something that reflects the word into the square, cut, fold, and glue.
 * [|Working Philosophy of Teaching (Apps, 1991 & Gutierrez, 2002)]. A 24-page pdf from Wilfred Laurier University that will lead you through developing a philosophy of teaching and teaching dossier.
 * This is a start to creating your personal TPS—a critical part of your dossier--and a critical part of creating coherence in your course syllabus and in your teaching overall. What you write in your TPS should be referred to in other parts of the dossier (internal coherence/integrity).
 * Excellent resources on UofR Centre of Teaching and Learning - [|Teaching Dossiers] - website

Compiling the Scholarly Teaching Portfolio by Eileen M. Herteis, U of S [|Teaching Philosophy Sample Exercises] (Working with Metaphors) (Waterloo) [|Teaching Portfolios] (University of Saskatchewan) [|Teaching Dossiers] and [|Teaching Dossier Ki] (University of Victoria)
 * More Excellent Online Resources:**

1. Something I've learned is... 2. Something I'm still wondering about... 3. Something I hope we will do...
 * Instructional Strategy: EXIT CARD ** An easy3-5 minute activity to check student knowledge before, during and/or after a lesson, at the end of a week/month, or complete unit of study. Students respond to 3 questions posed by the teacher. Teachers can quickly read the responses and plan necessary instruction.

Getting Reading to start working on your syllabus? We will begin on Wednesday morning with a discussion of the following article and you will share your thoughts on the question, "What is a course syllabus and why is having one important?"

 HOMEWORK for Wednesday, August 26th.

 * Read “[|Writing a Syllabus]” (on the CTL site)
 * Be prepared to discuss the question **//“what is a course syllabus and why is having one important?//**

If you have a copy of a syllabus (course outline) that you are working on, please bring in paper format on a flash drive or email it to yourself. You may not have started to create your syllabus, but please come with your course number and name, the room you will be teaching in [also try to find out what your room looks like (theatre, smart room, room with movable tables and chairs, desks and seat joined, etc)], # of students, time/day of course, your name, office #, phone #, email address and any other information that is available to you (e.g., course calendar description, special needs, any special directions from your faculty that need to be included in your syllabus, your course text--if you have one, a calendar for the semester, etc).