39+ Sample Teaching Statements

What Is a Teaching Statement?

A teaching statement, which is often referred to as a teaching philosophy statement, is an official statement reflecting a teacher’s purpose, beliefs, and practices. It not only narrates every instructor’s teaching or learning processes in education since it also includes their overall beliefs beyond the classroom. So instead of having cliched teaching philosophy statements, you have a more personalized, specific, and bona fide statement covering a teacher’s purpose, understanding, teaching description, and so much more.

According to Cornell University Graduate School, the main components of a teaching statement are the educational purpose statement and goals for pupils, the teaching methods, the students’ learning assessment processes, and the teaching assessments.

Also, it was reported that in 2017–2018, schools had around 3.3 million part-time and full-time public school teachers, 509,200 private school educators, and 205,600 public charter school instructors.

What Is the Purpose of a Teaching Statement?

Teaching statements have multi-faceted purposes, may it be personal or professional. One, a teaching statement helps employers know a lot about a teacher’s skills, perspective, and capabilities. It can be used as a basis if the instructor is fit for the mission and vision statement of an institution, as a teaching colleague, and more. Also, teaching statements help instructors themselves to be fully aware in conceptualizing their own learning and teaching approaches. And besides mentioning their professional growth and achievements, the statement includes the personal goals and values they believe in, which will say a lot about them as well.

Moreover, teaching statements give some flair to your teaching background, particularly in applying for a new academic or faculty position. Allow such statements to define more about yourself rather than simply being a master of mathematics, biology, engineering, communication, or any other subject. And these statements also become a good introduction to every teacher’s journey, experience, and beliefs. In fact, there are numerous teachers out there. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) research survey, there were 3.3 million part-time and full-time public school teachers, 509,200 private school instructors, and 205,600 public charter school educators back in 2017–2018. And you can imagine how many unique insights you can learn from each teacher.

What to Include in a Teaching Statement

There are a lot of things you can talk about in a teaching statement. But that does not mean you make the statement too long. Oftentimes, it works as a one-page document. So if you need a thorough guide on what your teaching statement should specifically include, here is your basis:

Learning Definition: If learning is generally defined as the process of understanding skills or knowledge, what about your own definition of learning? Every teacher has his or her own principle of learning plans and conception. So rather than making a generic meaning of learning, process it into your own words instead.Teacher-Student Learning Description: The next concern to answer is to identify how your teaching skills and methods can facilitate student learning. The key to this brief description is by focusing on how the teacher-to-student teaching process works and how learning is at play in such a scenario.Teaching Reflection: A thorough essay outline about why you teach a certain way is needed in a teaching statement. So focus on your personal reflection on why and how you teach. This is where every teacher’s awareness is tested because a poor reflection of their own teaching mechanisms says a lot about how they do as a teacher.Goal Statement: A teacher’s professional and personal goals are standard in a teaching statement. So you won’t get confused with what to write, start by mentioning your professional goals first, followed by personal goals, until you think about the goals for your pupils. And a clear goal statement not only shows how goal-oriented you are but also how you have an actual target of what to accomplish. Thus, you are obviously teaching for a reason.Relationship Between Goals and Teaching: Now that you have enough knowledge about your teaching ways and specific goals, focus on how they relate to each other next. So how can your teaching methods meet your identified smart goals? Or perhaps, you answer how your way of teaching leads to what you believe in at the end. The problem with some teachers is they have impressive goals but they lack realistic plans on how to get there. And that is a big deal.Student Learning Evidence: It may be easy to say that you want students to learn as much as they can. But in your own words, what is the sign that students actually learned in the process? State what sort of proof leads to student learning then. And if you know your students’ psychology and performance very well, then, for sure, you can ace this part effortlessly.Learning Environment: Note down what the ideal learning environment for you is. If teachers have different teaching schemes, then they surely have varying preferences of a learning environment too. And explain why you prefer that environment and how it can help the student learning strategic plan process.New Ways of Teaching and Learning: What people want to hear from teachers would be what their next steps are. Indeed, teaching helped them learned a lot. But a teacher who is eager to learn new things is actual proof of how the instructor is born to be a teacher in the first place. Write down your strategic plans for new methods, practices, and other innovative interests.

How to Create a Proper Teaching Statement

Whether you are a college student who just graduated, a rookie teacher on the job, or a well-established professor, formulating a decent teaching statement should come to mind already. Such a statement already adds up to your teaching portfolio and defines a lot about you as an instructor. So how do you make one? Simply follow these easy steps in creating a teaching statement:

Step 1: Save a Sample Teaching Statement Template

Every enlisted sample teaching statement provided in this article is here for a reason. It marks your official monthly worksheet to make teaching statements without bothering to make one from scratch. Explore and choose from the sample templates above until you can start working on a teaching statement to edit and rectify. In fact, Template.net’s editable features promise you to have enough leeway to personalize and craft teaching statements according to how you want them to.

Step 2: Follow the Standard Format

Make sure you are aware of a teaching statement’s standard format as a guide. The what-to-include section that was discussed earlier is already a good basis of what specific elements to insert in your teaching statement. But besides those, you also need to keep the statement as brief as possible. Since teaching statements normally don’t reach five or more pages, you should be direct and write in a first-person or narrative report approach to insinuate a sliver of personal touch.

Step 3: Stay Discipline Specific

Indeed, personal reflective essays are welcome. But not to the point where you end up forgetting your main discipline. You still need to research reports and remain discipline-specific. That means you expound on how you honed your teaching skills and talk about your overall development in this field. You may clarify your idea with at least one or two concrete examples so not everything written has to be abstract.

Step 4: Be Sincere and Humble

A teaching statement is not all about boasting your accomplishment reports or achievements in the field. Be modest in stating your experiences and development too. This step also reminds you to be mindful of your language in writing the teaching statement. Check if the statement’s mood is somewhat friendly, professional, and consciously aware of its topic. You need to change it if it sounds too braggy, informal, or vulgar.

Step 5: Conduct Evaluations and Revisions

Just like an assessment report, there is a need to fact-check and evaluate the teaching statement before actually submitting it. Maybe there are long sentences that could have been shortened. The same goes for cliches and jargon that need to be whisked away. Assessing the overall statement is your time to conduct revisions and improve the statement when necessary as well.

Step 6: Insert Some Evidence

Finally, think about other things worth inserting in the statement for extra evidence. This part is like the supporting documents or attachments to prove your statement distinctly. Examples include peer reviews, ratings, teaching portfolios, syllabi, recommendation letters, and other teaching activities. Just make sure to add only what is helpful to support your teaching statement rather than just inserting too many irrelevant files that hardly prove anything.

FAQs

What are the components of a teaching statement?

Cornell University Graduate School reported that there are four main components of teaching statements. These are the educational purpose or goals for students, the teaching methods, the pupils’ learning assessment programs, and the teaching assessments.

How long should a teaching statement be?

Teaching statements are not that long as they often cover around one to four pages long only. What matters the most is they cover the objectives, methods, and evaluation form aka the three core areas of teaching statements.

What is the difference between a teaching philosophy statement and a teaching statement?

The teaching philosophy statement focuses wholly on the teaching or learning objectives, beliefs, and values. Meanwhile, a teaching statement goes beyond your teaching philosophy by also indicating proof of how your teaching ways actually made you improve as an instructor.

What are the different methods of teaching?

There are numerous methods of teaching and are all categorized into three main types. These are the teacher-centered methods, student-centered methods, and high-tech approaches to learning.

As more people continue their academic life as professional teachers and faculty members, expect more institutions to be interested in checking teaching statements from teachers too. This also applies to fresh and tenured teachers may they come from a small or big university. So if you don’t have a teaching statement prepared yet, you might as well start early in making one with sample teaching statements and develop it from time to time. Your teaching views and practices may inspire others to develop in the field of teaching and individual learning plan as well.