Teaching Portfolios

Although there are many examples of uninspiring teaching portfolios on the internet, teaching documents can be organized into a portfolio that demonstrates both serious thought and rigorous standards of scholarship. In The Teaching Portfolio, Peter Seldin estimates that a portfolio takes about 12–15 hours to create—a small time commitment considering its benefits, which include growth as a teacher and increasing your chances of success on the job market. As Seldin notes, the teaching portfolio "is to teaching what lists of publications, grants, and honors are to research and scholarship."

The Bok Center and the Mignone Center for Career Success advise TFs and other instructors to begin developing a teaching portfolio early in their teaching careers. Starting early and continuing to collect material during your ongoing development as a teacher is the best way to craft a portfolio that both captures your educational philosophy and documents your teaching efforts.

Typical Components of a Teaching Portfolio

  1. Statement of Teaching Philosophy. A polished, narrative statement similar to that describing one's goals as a researcher. (See our page on Teaching Statements.)
  2. Description of one's past responsibilities as a teacher and advisor. Save all syllabi, handouts, and assignments from courses in which you teach. Make sure to make a note of exercises, assignments, and materials you developed yourself.
  3. A list of courses taught (as a course head, Teaching Fellow, or Tutor). This list might include additional data such as the number of students enrolled, the type of student taking the class—concentrators, first-year students, non-specialists, graduate students, etc. (This may be combined with #2 above and included on the CV instead of in the teaching portfolio.)
  4. Prospective syllabi. Sample syllabi of courses you have designed and taught (for example, a junior tutorial) and/or syllabi for courses you are prepared to teach if hired by the particular university/college where you are interviewing for a job.
  5. Sample assignment prompt, lesson plan, or class activity. An example of an assignment, lesson plan, or activity that you have written/used with your students and which illustrates your approach to teaching a common concept in your field. 
  6. Objective and subjective evaluation of teaching skills. A list or chart of your Q scores by course accompanied by an explanation of how you interpret them.

Additional Items which Might be Included in a Teaching Portfolio

  1. Letters of recommendation. If you are concerned that none of your regular letter writers can speak extensively about your skills and ability as a teacher, advisor, and/or course administrator, you can use the teaching portfolio to include an additional letter from a course head for whom you have taught. Remember to request a letter while the faculty member's memory of your teaching is fresh.
  2. Description of efforts to reflect on and improve your teaching. If you have served as a graduate fellow at the Bok Center, participated in our Bok Seminars and/or earned a Teaching Certificate, or have given professional presentations at one of our teaching conferences or in a departmental workshop, be sure to note this on your CV and/or in a short reflective statement in your teaching portfolio.

For more information...

Bain, Ken. What the Best College Teachers Do. Harvard University Press (2004), ch. 3.

Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching. Jossey-Bass (1993).

Hutchings, Pat "Teaching Portfolios as a Tool for TA Development," in The Professional Development of Graduate Teaching Assistants, Marincovich et. al., eds. Anker (1998), pp. 235–248.

McKeachie, Wilbert J., "The Teaching Portfolio," in McKeachie's Teaching Tips, 10th edition, Houghton Mifflin Co. (1999), pp. 283–284.

Seldin, Peter. The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisons, 3rd edition. Anker (2004).