Promotion applications typically ask you to outline your teaching philosophy as part of your teaching portfolio. While this sounds daunting it is asking about your approach to teaching and what drives you as an educator. By clearly outlining your teaching philosophy, you can then link your teaching methods to it making your case coherent. You will also need to evidence how your approach impacts student learning with clear measures. Spending time on your teaching philosophy is important as this helps to define who you are as an educator.
I’d recommend spending some time thinking about this part of your portfolio and how your body of work reflects your philosophy. It is important that your portfolio is coherent so ensure that you start working on articulating your philosophy early and allow sufficient time to seek feedback, reflect and edit it prior to submission. All too often this part is not well constructed leaving promotion panels unsure about the candidate’s approach to teaching.
For example, your philosophy could be to create an inclusive learning experience if you have a diverse student cohort. This could be demonstrated by your teaching methods, such as team-based learning techniques. You may also have adopted universal design for learning (UDL) in designing your curricula.
There are some excellent examples to be found online that can give you an idea of the type of approach others have taken however your teaching approach has to be unique to you, your discipline, and your experiences.
Selected resources can be found here:
https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/resources/sample-teaching-philosophy-statements
https://cei.umn.edu/teaching-resources/writing-your-teaching-philosophy
Susan Smith 