The teaching statement

Recently, I have talked to a friend about the application process for faculty positions in the United States and Germany. While in the US it is very important to write substantial and convincing statements on teaching as well as on diversity, equity and inclusion, it is not that common in Germany and other European countries. From my experience, even if it is required, both the applicants and the search committee do not seem to take such statements very seriously. Of course, in the US it also depends on the specific university, but in general I would contend that the aforementioned documents play a much bigger role in the States. As I argue quite often on this blog, I think that the importance of teaching skills of future faculty is highly undervalued and should be at least as important as the research profile of an applicant. Obviously, it is hard to quantify a person's teaching skills, but I think that a teaching statement and a teaching demonstration are appropriate ways to better assess an applicant.

I might discuss the structure of teaching statements in a more general way in another blogpost, but today I would like to provide a few excerpts from my own document on my teaching philosophy. My hope is that this may serve as a guidance and inspiration for the reader to craft their own statement on teaching. However, as a disclaimer, I will say that every teaching statement has to be personalized, depending on the applicant's background, but also on the university that is being addressed. As a consequence, there is no perfect universal teaching statement that would fit to everybody. Instead, teaching statements can be as different as the diverse pool of faculty candidates who are writing those.

Now, let's get to the structure of the teaching statements that I have written in the past. Typically, I begin with my primary objective as a teacher: 

Establishing a stimulating and communicative classroom environment in which students from all backgrounds can achieve their full potential, become increasingly passionate about physics, and learn to think as scientists – this is my primary objective as a teacher. 

Subsequently, I discuss several distinct strategies that I like to follow in order to achieve the aforementioned goal. In my case, I usually bring up six points: 

• Using teaching tools wisely
• Encouraging student participation
• Assigning group work projects
• Mutual feedback between students and teacher
• Hands-on experience for students
• Close supervision of students and open-door policy

Each of these points is discussed in the context of a separate paragraph. For instance, let me use the third point on group work projects as an example in today's blogpost: 

Every teacher knows how challenging it can sometimes be to stimulate discourse, but there exist various strategies that I have developed for my own classes to overcome typical issues such as the shyness of students which prevents them from an active involvement in the class. One powerful approach is given by assigning group work projects. This can range from solving problem sheets for introductory physics classes in small-sized study groups to presenting modern research topics in groups of two or three people to the rest of the class. The latter idea may be particularly relevant for courses such as “Magnetism and Magnetic Materials” or “Condensed Matter Physics”, which are more advanced classes that I would be excited to teach at The University of XYZ. My previous teaching duties in Germany and the United States included, amongst many other activities, being a substitute lecturer as well as a teaching assistant for the aforementioned classes. One of my tasks was to organize discussions of topical research papers that were strongly related to the contents of the lecture and presented by small groups of students. Another activity included the design of computational projects, where the students had to become acquainted with numerical modeling of magnetic materials, solve concrete tasks in small groups within a few weeks and then present their results in front of the class. Besides the exploration of modern scientific issues, such projects help to develop students’ soft skills, such as their ability to work in teams or speaking in front of a group of people. As the primary contact person for the students, I realized how important it was for such projects to provide just the right dose of guidance to find a good balance between working independently and to avoid getting stuck in unnecessary details.

 

After the discussion of the above-mentioned points, I conclude my teaching statement with a brief, final paragraph:  

To summarize, my teaching philosophy is centered around an extensive dialog with students, the creation of a positive learning environment with strong participation and feedback from the students’ side, the connection of theoretical knowledge with hands-on experience, and the ability to promptly adjust my teaching activities to the students’ needs. I have no doubt that these values align with those of The University of XYZ, and I am looking to work with professors, staff members and students – together, as partners.

That's it. I think that it is important to show that as a teacher you are in the process of a continuous development. You have to adapt to new technologies, teaching methods, students with diverse backgrounds, non-traditional students, etc. Therefore, it is great if you have several well-developed strategies that you typically follow, but at the same time you should be open-minded with regard to novel approaches such as the flipped classroom concept or others. To this end, it is also very useful to read and learn about a university's mission -- this applies mostly for American universities. In this context, you can get a better idea of the teaching approaches and methods that are preferred at a specific university. The mission of a university can usually be found on its website.

If you have to craft your own statement: Good luck! Please feel free to leave a comment down below and reach out to me if you have any questions.