Is summer really more than half over?

Do I really go “back to school” for the fall semester in about a month?

I’ve been so quiet, readers. I’m sorry. However, we all know that summer is the time when academics stop doing anything related to work or school (okay, maybe not). I made some major life changes this summer that I’m super excited about:

• I interviewed for and accepted a full-time (non-tenure track) teaching position.
• I moved to an adorable house that is still not quite put together.
• I received an award for my dedication to first-year student success.
• I went on a wonderful vacation to Grand Junction and Palisade, Colorado.
• And, oh yeah, I started teaching.

Stating Your Teaching Philosophy: How Do We Do it?

Over the past three years or so, my teaching philosophy has changed and developed based on my experiences in the classroom, my scholarly research interests, and my reflecting on both of these aspects of my life. I’m fairly confident in my beliefs of what makes an effective composition instructor and why I make the pedagogical decisions that I do.

I just have trouble articulating those in a concise way in a typed document.

In grad school, we spent a lot of time discussing teaching philosophies in a couple of my classes. I have drafts that show, really, just how much my philosophies (and abilities to state those philosophies) have progressed since the first and second semester of graduate school. I still remember some of the advice and feedback I got on those earlier versions: make yourself more present, good use of examples, “coaching” might be misread or misinterpreted.