No two teaching philosophy statements are exactly alike, or at least they really shouldn't be. Hence, I can't tell you exactly how you should develop your teaching philosophy statement. Still, there are a few things that are generally true enough to serve as good advice for a broad audience. I tried to home in on some of that in this workshop.
First, there are two short readings I send to those who are just starting out on writing their teaching philosophy statement. Here they are: An article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, and a CRLT Occasional Paper from the University of Michigan teaching center. Short, informative, easy to read, and definitely helpful. Start there.
Next, there are some things to avoid. A lot of this is redundant with the readings above, but it's important, so I'm going to list it again and do so in all caps. Sure, it looks like I'm yelling at you, but I'm comfortable yelling the following:
DON'T COVER ALL THE STUFF IN YOUR CV (You've already covered this. It's in your CV.)
DON'T OFFER MERE PLATITUDES (Everyone cares about critical thinking. You are not special for caring about critical thinking. You might be special by having a particularly great way to provoke critical thinking on the part of your students. If so, tell us how you do that instead of just claiming you care about critical thinking.)
DON'T LIE (Also don't exaggerate, pad your experience, use weasel words, etc. The people reading your statement are pretty sharp. They are academics, so they distinguish meaningful from vacuous statements for a living.)
Here's what I think belongs in a teaching philosophy statement: A statement of principles, followed by concrete, vivid examples of how you put those principles into practice. Space permitting, an indication of how you assess students that is congruent with the the principles and practices. If possible, some evidence that your principles are sound and your practices effective. Plus, anything the job announcement specifically says to include, perhaps a list of courses you are prepared to teach.
We spent some time in the workshop getting started on identifying teaching principles, finding relevant examples to include, and talking in general about the process.
Want my slides? Here are my slides, though they probably make limited sense if you haven't attended my workshop.
Want examples? It is easy to Google and find all kinds of stuff for inspiration. Also, here are some statements that I like, all from people who were graduate students at Illinois at the time of writing.
Math Example
Science Example
Biology Example - author now has a faculty position
Engineering Example - sent to an R1 school, author now on faculty
Another Good Engineering Example
Media and Cinema Studies Example
Once you develop a draft of your statement, I strongly encourage you to get feedback on it. Develop multiple, ever-improving drafts, just like any other scholarly work. You know what? We at CITL will read a draft of your statement and provide feedback. It's something we do! This link takes you to our consult request form (you'll have to put in your netID and AD password). Also try to get feedback from faculty in your discipline, for that insider perspective CITL may not be able to provide.