What Goes in A Teaching Statement When Experience is Limited

What Goes in A Teaching Statement When Experience is Limited

anon (guest) 14 Oct 2010 17:17

I have not taught a class yet, having been fortunate enough to have full funding for research oriented activities throughout graduate school and during my post-doc. I'm curious as to what suggestions people may have for writing a teaching statement without any actual teaching experience or student evaluations. I'm applying only to R1/R2 schools. Is anyone else in the same boat?

another-anon (guest) 14 Oct 2010 17:28

You can certainly talk about your teaching philosophy and your experiences as a student and mentee - e.g., what types of good/bad teaching you've seen. Also, have you supervised or mentored students in a research capacity, e.g. directed R.A.s or worked with students on a poster or paper? Have you given any guest lectures or been on panels giving advice to undergrads or grad students? If any of the above, I would talk about those experiences. For a research-oriented program, being able to mentor grad students is just as important as teaching, so you could really talk about any direct experience you've had working with undergrads or more junior-level grad students.