tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post4881235784929419398..comments2024-03-14T04:16:20.472-07:00Comments on In Socrates' Wake: On Teaching StatementsMichael Cholbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-54708149438287986932010-02-26T10:48:11.480-08:002010-02-26T10:48:11.480-08:00Regarding cynicism, I agree, as many professors wh...Regarding cynicism, I agree, as many professors who are at research-oriented schools still are conscientious and seek to excel in the classroom. And I am in agreement with much of what he says as well. The teaching philosophy/statement that is a part of job dossiers is much more interesting and helpful if it contains practical specifics, rather than abstract and idealistic generalizations.Mike Austinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02489700864050607425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-25161607713891155142010-02-25T17:02:17.983-08:002010-02-25T17:02:17.983-08:00Haggerty certainly seems cynical about how academi...Haggerty certainly seems cynical about how academics approach teaching, but I have to say that I'm mostly in agreement with his view that, as tools for evaluating prospective teaching quality or performance, teaching statements are not useful. As he states elsewhere in the piece:<br /><br />"Teaching philosophies are a performance, a ritualized symbolic moment in which professors are expected to articulate the university's proclaimed values in its preferred rhetoric."<br /><br />That's been my observation as well — that most every statement of teaching philosophy echoes certain tropes. Teaching statements usually end up being mostly about uncontroversial or banal goals, with a smattering of broad statements about techniques. But of course anyone can profess allegiance to goals while still utterly failing in helping students to meet those goals! A long way of saying that good teaching is mostly about means rather than ends. Better, as he puts it, to have people talk teaching specifics than expound a general "teaching philosophy."Michael Cholbihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.com