October 15, 2014

Professional Development: Building Your Teaching Portfolio

Presenter: Dr. Laura Border, Director, Graduate Teacher Program

For those preparing for an academic career, the teaching portfolio will likely become a significant part of your job application. The teaching portfolio is a comprehensive way to demonstrate your effectiveness as a teacher. Furthermore, the portfolio allows you to contextualize your approach to teaching and learning as a professional academic. With this in mind, it is important to begin building your portfolio before entering the job market. 

So, what exactly is the teaching portfolio? The portfolio is an evidence-based document that outlines your pedagogical philosophy and the real impact this approach has had on the classroom. The format of a portfolio is fluid, but it should generally include three main components: a teaching statement that outlines your philosophy, a description of your experience, and material evidence. The evidence should touch upon both your philosophy and your experience, which includes demonstrations of effectiveness. For example, you can include syllabi to highlight how you have implemented a particular philosophy. GTP certification can verify your professional experience, while letters from former students can showcase effectiveness. 

Dr. Laura Border recently led a Monday Workshop on building a teach portfolio. To begin, she stressed the importance of thinking of the portfolio as a Socratic project. The teaching portfolio is not a static document. Rather, it tells the story of your experience. The portfolio should show that you know yourself and the reasons behind your approach.
In other words, the portfolio should indicate how your teaching philosophy—along with the evidence you choose to include—comes directly from experience. Dr. Border recommends taking notes throughout your graduate teaching career. Careful note-taking can help clarify your portfolio narrative by showing how your philosophy and approach has changed over time. 

Similarly, the teaching portfolio is best constructed as a living document. Update the document regularly to keep track of your experiences. Be very honest about the work you have done and avoid trying to plump up your CV. Accurately list your job titles. At CU these can range from teaching assistant, grader, and GPTI to research assistant and administrative intern (LEAD graduate teachers).

In addition to tracking your experience, it is extremely helpful to compile evidence as you move through your graduate career. A portfolio that includes evidence from different stages of your teaching experience is much more effective at showing how your pedagogy has evolved. Dr. Border emphasized that evidence can be gathered at any stage. As a grader, for example, you can ask a student if you may copy a graded essay or lab report (with feedback) to include in your portfolio. 

Building your teaching portfolio is a process. The document will grow and change as you gain new experience—and that is a good thing. A static portfolio can indicate that you are not applying a dynamic philosophy to the classroom. 

For more on building your teaching portfolio check out our past post: Professional Development: Writing A Teaching Statement For An Academic Job. And be sure to come by more workshops!



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