Teaching Portfolio

ENGL 5361

Philosophy
A 1-2 page single-spaced document that makes clear (as clear as
possible) your beliefs about teaching and how those beliefs guide
or would guide your choices in the classroom.

Syllabus
We will use for reference the CLA adjunct faculty handbook for s reference on the required
parts of a course syllabus. You might also use the model of a teacher you observed, or use
guidelines published by an institution you'd like to work at. (This will be as long as it needs
to be.)

Major Assignments
A writing course will have major assignments, usually 3-5 formal, written, sometimes
researched, essays or projects of other genres. These usually scaffold (build upon each
other) learning, so students are developing progressively more difficulty skills as they move
through the semester. A writing assignment should include audience, purpose, and genre,
and criteria for evaluation.

One theoretical concern of BW is what type(s) of assignments are appropriate; usually this
is a "crawl before you walk" argument vs. a "learn by doing" argument, which usually falls
along traditional/transactional philosophical lines. In other words, do you assign full length
works, or teach the paragraph before you teach the essay?

Obviously, assignments demonstrate philosophy too in how they require "process" vs.
"product." Or how they treat writing as "social" vs. "individual." Or how (much) they require
SAE or other conventions of academic writing.

Also, the assignments provided might be impacted by the "level" of student &
expectations/requirements of the institution. So it could be best to look at an institution at
which you'd like to work, and create a course & assignments that correspond to those
requirements/expectations, even if they are constraining.

Reflective Overview
The RO is something you should write at the end. It can be completely informal and
personal (and you may use non-standard English), but should be relevant, thoughtful, and
reference the portfolio. It should discuss the processes you used to write/compose the
portfolio, the struggles you might have had, the choices you made, and the "so what?" Did
you find this task useful or not, why, and how? Be creative. Do what makes sense to you.