Teaching Philosophy

Teaching philosophy statements can be a daunting part of any academic job application. To help you get started,  Cornell Graduate School Career Services pages offers an overview on how to write a teaching philosophy statement and what should be included.

If you would like an in-depth experience in developing and refining your teaching philosophy statement and your professional online presence in general, Cornell’s ALS 6015: Teaching in Higher Education provides an excellent foundation and is offered in both fall and spring semester. Postdocs who can commit to the workload are able to register through the Extramural Study program in the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions.

There are also a number of additional resources from other organizations available online. Here are a few of the best:

• The University of Michigan has an outstanding short pdf guide to writing a teaching philosophy statement, as well as links to student examples
• If you are looking for inspiration, try these sample teaching philosophies from the University of Central Florida
• For a walk through some of the basics, take a look at this presentation about writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement published by Brown University
• The Chronicle of Higher Education has a series on Teaching Philosophy Statements: How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy, What’s Your Philosophy on Teaching?, Teaching Statement Advice, and More Advice
• Finally, UPenn offers this thorough overview of teaching statement resources, samples, and ideas including a timeline and step-by-step instructions.

If you find another resource that should be shared here, or you have advice for other graduate students and postdocs about writing a teaching philosophy statement, please let us know and we will share it!