Creating a Teaching Portfolio
by Tracey Thornton

The teaching portfolio is an evaluative tool used in many departments. The teaching portfolio allows for a broader and more comprehensive view of your skills as a teacher than simply student or faculty evaluations of your work can offer. Many schools develop their own guidelines as to what the teaching portfolio will contain, but you can begin gathering materials for your portfolio now.

While many programs may not require you to develop a teaching portfolio as a teaching assistant, it will be a task you will be asked to do later if you pursue teaching full-time. Even if you are not required to submit a teaching portfolio for review in your department at this point, it's a good idea to start gathering materials now. It's an even more important idea that you approach your teaching self-reflectively; developing an ongoing teaching portfolio is an effective way of developing a self-reflective practice.

Standard fare in a teaching portfolio may include the following

• An updated curriculum vitae
• A philosophy of teaching statement reflecting how your classroom practices demonstrate the theoretical pedagogical approach that grounds your teaching
• Student evaluations
• Peer evaluations
• Sample assignments, lecture notes, handouts, syllabi, and student work
• Samples of teaching innovations you have developed in response to issues encountered in the classroom

The teaching portfolio is not simply a gathering of resume materials, however. It is both a process and a product and should be a carefully crafted argument for what you do in the classroom and a clear explanation of why you do what you do. Also, it can be a helpful tool for examining your own teaching because it necessitates that you articulate your teaching philosophy clearly.

KEEP A TEACHING JOURNAL

As you begin your teaching, you will find keeping a teaching journal to be an important way to digest what happens in your classroom. Keep notes on how particular assignments worked or didn't work, resources you might consult to solve problems in the classroom, feedback you have gotten from students and fellow faculty members, etc. It is often most helpful to jot down these ideas directly after a class session so the material is fresh in your mind. This type of self-reflection is vital in developing your skills as a teacher and forces you to think critically about what happens in your classroom.

VIDEOTAPE CLASS SESSIONS

Although this is initially a nerve-wracking process, filming your class sessions is another excellent way of assessing your own effectiveness in the classroom. You can do the recording yourself if you have the equipment, or at many schools services are offered for having your class videotaped (usually by Media Services).

Some of the questions you should ask yourself as you put your portfolio together.

PURPOSE

• What is your main purpose in creating this portfolio? What basic argument about your teaching will you make, and why?
• Who are the primary readers? What do you know about their beliefs about good teaching? Are their beliefs consistent with your own?

YOUR TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

• What types of evidence of teaching effectiveness will be most convincing to these readers? What evidence will they expect to find? What are the most significant claims you will make about teaching effectiveness?
• Why do you believe these claims are significant? How are your beliefs about teaching and learning reflected in your actions as a teacher?
• What evidence will show readers that your teaching reflects these beliefs?
• What evidence can your students provide? Your colleagues? What evidence can you provide?
• Which of the data listed above do you (or your department) regularly collect? How can you begin to collect the rest of the data you need?

HELPFUL SITES FOR CREATING YOUR TEACHING PORTFOLIO

• Preparing a Teaching Portfolio (at the Center for Teacher Effectiveness at UT-Austin)
• The Teaching Portfolio (at Washington State University)
  Contains sample portfolios
• Teaching Portfolios (at the University of Texas at El Paso)
• The Teaching Portfolio (at the University of Saskatchewan)
• University of Maryland Center for Teaching Excellence
• Iowa State University: Reflecting on and Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement
• Producing a Teaching Portfolio
  Excerpts from Peter Seldin's book, including "How to Produce a Teaching Portfolio"
• Creating Electronic Teaching Portfolios
  Includes sample electronic portfolios
• The Ohio State University: Developing a Teaching Portfolio

• Chism, Nancy Van Note. "Developing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement." Essays on Teaching Excellence: Toward the Best in the Academy 9.3 1997-98.
  Breaks down the philosophy statement into separate components. May be useful to those who are new to teaching philosophies, but its guidelines will seem too rigid for many.
• Edgerton, Russell, Patricia Hutchings, and Kathleen Quinlan. The Teaching Portfolio: Capturing the Scholarship in Teaching. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education, 1993.
  An excellent introductory discussion of the teaching portfolio and its benefits for individuals and departments. Discusses form and content. Contains several samples.
• Hutchings, Pat. "Peer Review of Teaching: 'From Idea to Prototype.'" AAHE Bulletin 47 Nov. 1994: 3-7.
  A report on the progress of AAHE's project to invent and promote strategies of collegial teaching reviews. Useful in teaching portfolio construction for its emphasis on using many strategies for peer review besides classroom observation.
• Seldin, Peter. "The Teaching Portfolio." ASEE PRISM May/June 1995: 19-22.
  A useful introduction to the portfolio concept which complements Edgerton, Hutchings, and Quinlan very nicely. Provides a succinct summary of the portfolio's basic points.
• Seldin, Peter. The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions. 2nd ed. Bolton, MA: Anker, 1997.
  In many ways, a seminal work. A good place to get started building portfolios. Contains several sample portfolios.
• Shulman, Lee S. "Displaying Teaching to a Community of Peers." An address given to the American Association of Higher Education, 1993.
  Presents the idea of teaching as community property and discusses how this concept is supported by the use of peer review and teaching portfolios for evaluating teaching.
• Shulman, Lee, and Patricia Hutchings. "Teaching as Scholarship: Reflections on a Syllabus." From Idea to Prototype: The Peer Review of Teaching. American Association for Higher Education.
  Three exercises encourage teachers to reflect on their syllabi and articulate beliefs about teaching and learning. Useful for departments interested in developing a portfolio system.
• Way, David. "Evaluating Teaching Portfolios: Moving from a Competitive to a Collaborative Culture." USA: Cornell University (in PDF format; available with the author's permission at http://www.usask.ca/tlc/pdf/David_Way.pdf