Chapter 11
Beyond the Classroom

INTRODUCTION

Final exams week. For many instructors, teaching assistants and teaching fellows, this is the most hectic week of the semester. Sometimes in the space of four days you find yourself grading as many as one hundred papers or exams. For a time it seems as though you will never finish. Of course, the papers do get graded and the grades do get submitted, and before you know it a new semester has begun and it all starts over again. In between all this—it sometimes seems—is when you earn your degree.

In this chapter, we take a look at life outside the classroom. First we offer a warning about managing your time; second, we suggest ways in which you can use your teaching experience at the University of Pittsburgh to get a job when you graduate. Almost any instructor you speak with will sheepishly admit that teaching is its own reward; academic employers think otherwise and in an increasingly competitive job market, the skills you are gaining as a teaching assistant can make you a more competitive applicant for positions in the academy.

MANAGING YOUR TIME

Let’s state it baldly: no matter how much you love teaching, it is a job. You are paid to work 20 hours a week, to come to class prepared to lead a recitation or give a lecture, to grade assignments, and to hold weekly office hours. Setting aside a few hours a day for sleep, travel, relationships, laundry and food, you find that you need every remaining hour to read, write and attend your own graduate classes. Keeping all of these activities balanced may seem like a Herculean chore. Here is some advice: Plan. Experts agree that the only way to get things done is to prepare weekly and daily plans for yourself. Record your weekly commitments (classes, office hours), set aside time for leisure, and then schedule your projects into the remaining time. Know that on occasion you will not meet all of your weekly and daily goals, but if you have prioritized and organized your work, you should be able to finish less important projects at a later date.

Prioritize. We mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Prioritizing is probably the most important secret to successful time management. Some things have to be done. Papers need to be graded; qualifying exams must be taken. However, other projects have less urgent deadlines and some activities can be skipped altogether without too great a sacrifice. Only you can determine what the priorities are in your life, but once you have set those priorities, stick to them.

Be Realistic. Do not expect to grade fifty papers in an afternoon or to read a 300-page book in an hour. When planning your week, schedule sufficient and realistic periods of time to get your work done. Setting unrealistic goals only leads to discouragement.

Say No. It is hard to say no, but sometimes it is necessary. Saying no can be especially difficult for graduate student teachers. As a student, you have responsibilities that you need to meet. As a teacher, you probably have great sympathy for your students. As an employee, you have a responsibility to your supervising faculty member and to the University. Each of these may be an important obligation, but on occasion you will have to weigh your options and say no. Be polite, but your academic career and your teaching have to supersede favors. Refer students who demand too much of your time for non-course-related problems to the Counseling Center. Inform your supervising faculty member that you will not be able to meet with him or her for coffee this week. When you politely explain your reasons, saying no can be painless and productive.

Get Help. As a graduate student, you have a unique and wonderful resource at your disposal: your colleagues. Most departments have a community of graduate students who help each other out with advice and support. Do not expect others to do your work, but talking to the graduate students in your department can be a quick way to save time. Fellow graduate students can share lesson plans and other resources with you, advise you on teaching, and those who "know the ropes" can even give you hints on how to get the necessary work done in less time.

Don’t Procrastinate. Avoiding procrastination is necessary if you are going to balance the life of a student and the life of a teacher. To make it easier to complete your academic work, try breaking large tasks into smaller, more manageable mini-projects and recording your progress on a check-off list. Pick a part of the project that appears fun, and begin as soon as possible. Do not wait for the "right moment" or a "perfect" idea; get started.

Use Peak Hours. Most of us have a time of day when we seem to get more things done. Know yourself and your natural peak hours. If you work best at night, schedule your hardest tasks from 6 o’clock to 10 o’clock. Avoid doing your laundry or watching TV during these peak times.

PORTFOLIOS AND THE JOB SEARCH

A teaching portfolio is a documentary history of your teaching philosophy, experience and evaluation. Increasingly popular, teaching portfolios are a means of reflecting on your teaching objectives and can be a useful way to record what you have done in the classroom and what you want to do. Perhaps most important, they are often a significant part of a young academic’s job application.

Creating a teaching portfolio is a worthwhile, but time-consuming process. The earlier in your career that you begin to document your teaching experience the easier the process will be. In the following essay, we introduce the teaching portfolio and suggest how you might present your teaching experience at the University of Pittsburgh to potential employers.

TYPES OF TEACHING PORTFOLIOS

Reflection. A teaching portfolio can be a systematic means for instructors to reflect on and improve their teaching. The process of articulating teaching goals and then documenting how these goals are met is central to creating a portfolio and offers insight into your approach to teaching. Creating a portfolio reveals the areas in which you excel as a teacher, and areas in which you might wish to improve.

Evaluation. In some universities teaching portfolios are used as the basis for evaluating teaching assistants’ progress or as part of a tenure review (or post-tenure review). Generally, portfolios designed to highlight teaching accomplishment are prepared by individual instructors and are then reviewed by a committee of colleagues or supervisors.

Curriculum Development. Some departments and/or universities have begun using teaching portfolios as the basis for curriculum development. In this case, instructors prepare and exchange portfolios as a basis for discussion about the department’s overall goals for instruction. The portfolio can demonstrate how an individual instructor’s teaching style and course content fit into the department’s goals.

JOB SEARCH

At the University of Pittsburgh, most teaching portfolios are prepared in anticipation of a job search. Therefore, the remainder of this chapter will focus primarily on creating a portfolio as part of an application for an academic (e.g., college or university level) teaching job. As part of the job application process, teaching portfolios are becoming more common as universities place a higher priority on teaching in response to public demands for quality education.

A teaching portfolio should be tailored to the specific position to which you are applying. Small, predominately undergraduate colleges obviously have different teaching objectives than large research institutions. Make certain you have a clear idea of the school’s teaching mission and the type of teaching that will be expected (introductory courses, large lecture classes, seminars, survey courses for non-majors) so that you can maximize the effectiveness of your portfolio application. Just as in applying to graduate school, it is a good idea to contact the university or college to find out about the needs and priorities of that particular institution. Most universities advertise that they have a strong commitment to teaching, but you should speak to faculty members or students to get a truer picture of the institution’s priorities. Specifically ask about the emphasis placed on teaching abilities in hiring or tenure decisions. Junior or recently tenured faculty members are often good resources for candid information about the "culture" of a particular department or school.

Keep in mind that universities annually review hundreds of applications. As a result, quality not quantity is the key to a good teaching portfolio. Not all universities will require a full-length portfolio; however, if you have developed a complete portfolio you will be able to pick and choose the most appropriate material to insert for each position that you seek. Furthermore, some teaching assistants and teaching fellows have found that by taking time to prepare a full portfolio they were better prepared to articulately answer questions during an interview.

ORGANIZATION

Your teaching portfolio should be organized in such a way that a potential employer can peruse the document or merely scan it. If the college or university to which you are applying does not provide specific guidelines, you should follow a standard format.

Typically a teaching portfolio includes five sections:

These materials are usually collated in a three-ring binder with each section separated by a tabbed divider. Each section, except for the teaching philosophy and the list of courses that you have taught, should be preceded by a short summary that lists the supporting documentation you have included. Each introductory summary should also provide some context for and explanation of the material presented. (You may organize the material in any order that you like within the guidelines; the components as listed below are in the order in which they appear in most teaching portfolios.)

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

It is particularly important to tailor this portion of the portfolio for each institution to which you are applying. This statement is generally viewed as a guide or cover letter that introduces you, the applicant, as well as the rest of the portfolio. Since it may be the only part of the portfolio that a busy search committee reads, make it memorable. Keep it short (no more than one page) and concrete. Do not waste space on obvious or vapid generalizations. Everyone, for example, thinks it’s important to be a "good" teacher; it’s much more significant and memorable to explain why you would include Tony Morrison’s novels in a the reading list for a course on American slavery or to explain why you feel an introductory Geology class is important for non-majors. You should think of the philosophy statement as a map to the portfolio that follows. The materials that you include in the portfolio should illustrate points that you include in your philosophy. (For more information on writing a teaching philosophy statement, see Chapter 9.)

LIST OF COURSES TAUGHT

The portfolio should include a chronological list of the courses you have taught. Each course should by accompanied by a brief description that states the following: The other material you include in the portfolio may refer to this list as a reference.

SAMPLE COURSE MATERIALS

This section provides the details of the portfolio. Anything that you created to improve or evaluate your students’ performance is fair game, but remember quality not quantity is the key. Do not include the syllabus for every course you have taught; rather, include one or two representative syllabi. You might, for example, include a syllabus from a course that you have taught and one from a course that you would like to teach; or a syllabus that you have used in the past and a revised syllabus for the same course that you have changed based on feedback from your students or colleagues.

Remember that these materials are meaningless without context. The introduction of this section should include a list of the materials included (with page numbers) and should reference the "list of courses taught" that you have prepared. Either as part of the introduction to the collection of course materials, or as a separate cover sheet for each selection, you should explain how the materials relate to your teaching philosophy and learning objectives ("After completing this assignment, students will be able to…."). You might also add an analysis of the materials in which you evaluate how successfully the teaching materials met your learning objectives and what you would do differently in the future. This section is not only a chance to showcase your best teaching materials, it is also an opportunity to document a commitment to improving your teaching. (See Chapters 9 and 10 for more information on learning theory and learning objectives.)

These are some materials that you might want to include:

STUDENT EVALUATIONS

Student evaluations can be either formal or informal. Always take advantage of the formal, end-of-the-semester evaluations offered by the Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching (OMET) at the University of Pittsburgh even if they are not required by your department. However, if you have not had a formal evaluation done in the past and are currently teaching a course, ask your students to participate in an informal and anonymous evaluation. Have students complete a brief questionnaire or ask them to write brief answers to questions about your teaching. Not only will you get important material for your portfolio, but you will also get some valuable feedback on your teaching during that semester. This technique also works well if you are a guest lecturer and will not have the opportunity to participate in a formal evaluation. (For more information on informal and formal student evaluations of teaching, see Chapter 9.)

Once again, context is important. You do not want to include all your evaluations and you do not want to let the evaluations speak for themselves. In the introduction to this section of the portfolio, you should show how your evaluations demonstrate that your teaching is above average for your discipline. That does not mean that you should include only rave reviews: too much praise may make your application seem unrealistic. One way to select evaluations for inclusion is to choose only those evaluations that actually had an impact on how you teach. Obviously you will want to include positive comments—especially those that include specific details about your teaching—but you should also include evaluations that make constructive critiques that you then acted upon. For example, if one of your students complained that "class was boring because the instructor lectured too much," you might include the negative evaluation and then explain how you addressed the criticism by planning more discussions and group activities the next time you taught the class.

OTHER SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Include any additional materials that document your achievements and your commitment to teaching. Some of these materials might include the following:

EVALUATING THE PORTFOLIO

The more feedback that you receive on your portfolio prior to submitting it to a potential employer, the better. Therefore, if you are using the portfolio as part of your job search, it is important to have as many people as possible review it. To start, make an appointment with a CIDDE consultant to review your materials. The consultant can offer feedback on the organization of your portfolio and can make suggestions on what material to include and how best to present your teaching experiences.

In some departments, teaching assistants work together preparing portfolios—whether it is discussing which materials to include or critiquing each other’s portfolios. You should also have your advisor or another senior member from your department, preferably someone who recently served on a faculty search committee, review the contents of the portfolio. Finally, if you have a contact at the college or university you are applying to, you might ask if he or she would review the portfolio (but only if the individual feels that it is appropriate).

Do not despair if you feel that as a beginning instructor you do not have enough material to create a worthwhile portfolio. Even if you have only taught a recitation or two, those classes can be a rich source of documentation for your portfolio. However, if you are concerned about your lack of teaching experience and you want to get more experience, volunteer to serve as a guest lecturer for a friend’s or colleague’s course. Also take advantage of any training that your department or the University offers (such as the New TA Orientation, teaching workshops, or the University Teaching Practicum offered by the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education [CIDDE]). (See Chapter 9 of the resource guide for more information.) A teaching portfolio that documents a great deal of thought about teaching can be just as effective as one that documents a great deal of experience but little critical reflection. You may even include—are encouraged to include—syllabi and other materials for courses that you plan to teach. Considering that the hiring schedules of most universities give new instructors little time to prepare for courses, potential employers may appreciate the fact that you are ready to hit the ground running.

For more information on preparing a teaching portfolio or looking for a job in academia, see these web sites:
 

PORTFOLIOS AND THE JOB SEARCH
For more information about assembling a teaching portfolio (including sample materials), see "The Teaching Portfolio" (from Cornell University’s Teaching Evaluation Handbook)

http://www.clt.cornell.edu/resources/teh/ch2.html
For more information on writing a teaching philosophy (including examples), see "Articulating Your Philosophy of Teaching" (from the University of Texas)

http://www.utep.edu/~cetal/portfoli/writetps.htm
For general information on teaching portfolios, see the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning at the University of Texas

http://www.utep.edu/~cetal/portfoli/index.htm
For a University of Pittsburgh perspective on the "Job Search, " see John Hiskey’s contribution in Grad Guide 1999-2000 at

http://www.fcas.pitt.edu/gradguide/chapnine.htm#9h

 
Chapter 10 . Chapter 12
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