revel_master
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Posts: 181
The forumite formerly known as "hire_me"
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« on: October 03, 2006, 10:10:15 PM » |
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Two random questions about application materials:
1) For a "statement of teaching philosophy" is it appopriate to quote a book or article on pedagogy if that source has had a profound effect on my teaching philosophy? Does this show that I'm critical engaged with my own practices as a teacher and in touch with some of the scholarly work on pedagogy? Or would it somehow make the statement not as purely original in the eyes of a search committee? I know what I'd tell my students with an essay--that a writer certainly should situate his or her own argument within the wider critical conversation when appropriate, as long as the original viewpoint of the writer remains paramount. But I'm wondering if there are expectations for a "statement of teaching philosophy" that I'm not aware about.
2) When a committee asks for "research interests," should this be in list form? Or a prose statement that describes past interests and speculates on future directions of scholarship in more detail?
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trystero49
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« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2006, 01:11:39 AM » |
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In my discipline, the teaching philosophy should be one page (one sheet of paper) tops. I have no clue about other disciplines. Keep the length in mind when playing with quotes and be sure to contextualize anything for people who haven't read the pedagogy book. If it takes too long or too much setup, I'd take it out.
I have some friends' teaching philosophies from last year (they got jobs in my field) and the only quotes they have are "money quotes" (heh) from student evals that really sound good and make them look great while also being good evidence of the teacher's approach. I don't have any great quotes like those in my files ("trystero49 was a really great TA!" is a boring quote ---- stupid students), so I'm trying to make do.
I don't have any advice from experts on the statement of research interests, but I was assuming that it should resemble the teaching statement or the dissertation abstract. Yet another item I have still to compose! Blasted job apps. Ever notice how everyone asks for different things? I'm tempted to not apply for a couple jobs just because I don't want to make one special thing for that job. But why definitively close off any possible avenues? I may as well make _them_ reject _me_ rather than pre-emptively reject myself.
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trabb
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« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2006, 05:23:50 AM » |
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Two random questions about application materials:
1) For a "statement of teaching philosophy" is it appopriate to quote a book or article on pedagogy if that source has had a profound effect on my teaching philosophy? Does this show that I'm critical engaged with my own practices as a teacher and in touch with some of the scholarly work on pedagogy? Or would it somehow make the statement not as purely original in the eyes of a search committee? I know what I'd tell my students with an essay--that a writer certainly should situate his or her own argument within the wider critical conversation when appropriate, as long as the original viewpoint of the writer remains paramount. But I'm wondering if there are expectations for a "statement of teaching philosophy" that I'm not aware about.
First, may the gods help us all if we're hiring people because of the pure originality of their respective pedagogies. That seems to me rather like hiring someone because his/her dissertation was so original that it drew nothing from major critical works. I have at least one quotation in my statement of teaching philosophy, and it has been well-received by search committees. I think it's fine, provided that you don't come across as name-dropping and slinging around ideas that you don't really understand. What makes such a quotation particularly effective is when you can back it up with something concrete that you do because of your agreement with the individual whom you are quoting. |
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« Last Edit: October 04, 2006, 05:24:19 AM by trabb »
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pembleton
Member
Posts: 234
...how I long for a grapefruit!
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« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2006, 07:23:52 AM » |
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An answer to #2: I'd avoid bullet points and strive for prose. Package yourself as a scholar with interests in specific types of questions, rather than one interested in writing articles X, Y, and Z. Some folks really value having a coherent research agenda.
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sibyl
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« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2006, 09:51:18 AM » |
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1. Follow your own advice. Quoting a well-turned phrase here and there is fine; saying "I agree completely with Socrates' creed, which I reproduce in its entirety below" is wrong.
2. Prose, for sure. It allows you to talk about the process and evolution of your scholarship, both past and future. It gives you a way to describe present research, too. A bullet list has the air of "My advisor told me I should research sexuality in Socrates, so I did; then she told me to research gender in Aristotle, so I did."
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"I do not pretend to set people right, but I do see that they are often wrong." -- Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
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revel_master
Member
Posts: 181
The forumite formerly known as "hire_me"
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« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2006, 09:05:57 PM » |
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I have some friends' teaching philosophies from last year (they got jobs in my field) and the only quotes they have are "money quotes" (heh) from student evals that really sound good and make them look great while also being good evidence of the teacher's approach. I don't have any great quotes like those in my files ("trystero49 was a really great TA!" is a boring quote ---- stupid students), so I'm trying to make do.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. So following up on trystero49's post: are quotes from student evaluations that illustrate the effect of one's approach to teaching a good idea if available? And, another question: is going slightly over a page on either of these documents (teaching statement or research interests) a fatal error? |
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« Last Edit: October 09, 2006, 09:07:16 PM by hire_me »
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trabb
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« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2006, 09:27:59 PM » |
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And, another question: is going slightly over a page on either of these documents (teaching statement or research interests) a fatal error?
A true story: I once was working on my statement of teaching philosophy, and just as I finished it up, the last word wrapped on to the second page. I suddenly felt a sharp, shooting pain on my left side. Fortunately a colleague of mine saw what was happening, rushed over, and hit the backspace key about ten times, deleting that final word and getting it all back onto one page, causing my massive coronary to cease all of a sudden. No, of course it's not a fatal mistake. It likely won't even cost you a job. |
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smurfette
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« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2006, 12:28:28 AM » |
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OP,
I'm in science and it's ok for the teaching statement to be up to 2 pages. I've never had a problem with that. The research statement also can be 2 pages. But it should be written out like the teaching statement, meaning no lists (as far as I know).
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trystero49
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« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2006, 01:12:05 AM » |
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A true story: I once was working on my statement of teaching philosophy, and just as I finished it up, the last word wrapped on to the second page. I suddenly felt a sharp, shooting pain on my left side. Fortunately a colleague of mine saw what was happening, rushed over, and hit the backspace key about ten times, deleting that final word and getting it all back onto one page, causing my massive coronary to cease all of a sudden.
Yes, we have as many as 2/3rds of a cohort perish because of this each year. Tragic, but we feel that this lets us do our little part toward the thinning of an overpopulated PhD market. Some critics argue that we should let fewer grads into our programs instead, but then how would we rake in all the money from their fees? |
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