14 Part A.iii – Executive Summary

Description of Teaching Practice (Part A.iii.)

SPS B2 description: “description of teaching practice, including examples of how the approach/philosophy has been realized, or how teaching has been adapted to unusual conditions (one to two pages)”

• Here, you should provide examples of how your teaching philosophy is realized in your day-to-day teaching practice. To represent what it is that you do, you might choose to highlight:
  • Examples demonstrating your key teaching approaches with explanations for why you teach in those ways.
  • Examples of how you have adapted your teaching in different situations.
  • Descriptions of your assessment strategies and their alignment with your goals and teaching methods.
  • Explanations of how you encourage learning outside of the classroom.
  • Connections between your teaching and mentoring approaches to McMaster priorities and/or disciplinary best practices.
  • Examples of risks you took or new methods you tried, even if they did not go as well as you may have hoped. Describing such a scenario, how you responded to it, and what you learned from it demonstrates the strength of your reflective practice and commitment to continuous improvement.
• The level of detail expected in this section is more extensive than the brief, high-level examples you noted in your teaching philosophy statement. Here you should aim to describe a few specific examples of your teaching in detail.
• For each example you provide, aim to explain what you did, how it aligns to your philosophy, the impact of your approach, and what you learned.
• Tip: a common pitfall observed in teaching portfolios is that the author neglects to describe the impact of their teaching practices. Make sure you highlight these important details as they play a key role in convincing reviewers of your effectiveness as an educator!
  • Format: usually about one page, but no more than two pages in length.