The Teaching Portfolio
for Ph.D Candidacy Examinations
Anne Hanley
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of History
Northern Illinois University
The Portolio’s purpose
 Planning and course design (the formative portfolio)
 Why this design?
What is being taught?
 Who is being taught?
 What are your goals for the class?
 How do you meet your goals?
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 Course reflection (the summative portfolio)
 Which elements worked? Which did not?
 How should the course design and requirements be modified for
future teaching?
 Documenting teaching for peer review
 Keep the purpose and your audience in mind when writing up the
summative elements
The Portfolio Contents
 Statement of teaching philosophy
 Syllabus for one lower division and one upper
division course
 Sample materials
 Readings vis course goals
 Assignments vis course goals
 Mentor assessment
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
 Philosophically:
 What do you believe about teaching?
 What do you believe about learning?
 What makes an effective teacher?
 Practically:
 How do these beliefs translate into practice?
classroom environment?
diverse student populations?
techniques for classroom participation and collaboration?
engaged learning opportunities?
relation to your expertise/research?
 How does teaching relate to university mission?
Syllabi
 Sample syllabi for two courses
 One lower division course (large?)
 One upper division course (small?)
 A syllabus typically includes
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Course description
Statement of course goals
Required readings and assignments
Attendance policy
Accommodations statement
Statement of evaluation measures (grading)
Course outline including readings and assignments
Supporting materials
 Annotated Syllabus that describes objectives behind each
element
 Reflective statements by section of syllabus
 Sample paper assignments and examinations with
annotations
 Guidelines handed out to students
 Rubrics to evaluate student writing
 Annotations address the point, “What I am trying to
accomplish here is…”
Final elements
 Faculty Mentor Assessment
 Evaluation of the written portfolio
 Assessment of teaching (for graduate students who teach
independent sections)
 Due dates
 Please submit the portfolio as a three ring tabbed binder OR
electronic file with clearly labeled sections for each type of content
 Submit to all three field examiners along with the field essays
 You must submit all candidacy examination materials one month
before the scheduled oral candidacy exam
Resources on Teaching Portfolios
 Chronicle of Higher Education
 http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Write a Statement-of/45133
 Professional Organizations (AHA)
 www.historians.org/teaching
 www.crlt.umich.edu
 http:ucat.osu.edu/portfolio