Teaching Philosophy

The fall semester is starting in just a few short weeks and I'm slowly updating my syllabus. It'll be the 12th time I've taught this particular class, so I'm always looking for ways to keep it interesting for me and my students. At the same time a friend was putting together a promotion dossier and was looking for examples of teaching philosophies. This made me realize that although I feel very strongly about how and what and why I teach, I haven't ever written a formal teaching philosophy.

To my friend who was looking for guidance or examples, I pointed them to Vanderbilt's resource guide and the Teaching Perspectives website, both of which have been recommended by other instructors and librarians.

So instead of a long, 1-3 page narrative, I thought I'd jot down a bullet list of my thoughts/approaches:

• I believe pointed, meaningful interaction across the curriculum reinforces and builds skills at appropriate, relevant times -- so I don't teach "library stuff" for the sake of it, and I make the goals of the class transparent to everyone involved. This is also why I think a combination of scaffolded, vertical points of information literacy should be coupled with on-demand library instruction sessions (which might be horizontal or vertical).  
• I believe information literacy is critical for becoming an informed citizen, especially as it relates to a liberal arts degree, which is why I pushed for it to be a graduation requirement, and why I pull case studies from news and pop culture to point out when and where information literacy skills are happening. 
• At the same time, I believe subversive integration can be as effective as explicit, formal integration: it's important that information literacy is part of the university plan and goals, but you can also create info lit opportunities without explicitly saying it.
• I believe student-centered learning, problem-based learning, and active learning are effective teaching methods, so I use them as often as I can: I get students to reflect and discuss ahead of time, and also give them the space where I model and we practice certain skills and applications before I ask them to perform. 
• I believe critical information literacy is vital for my own self-reflection, and to expose students to ways of questioning power structures that exist within the ways we find, access, evaluate and use information. I don't have all the answers, and I try to situate myself in the classroom as someone that is also learning, instead of the "sage on the stage." I do this by again, being transparent, letting them know when I am wrong, and how I go about solving a question or problem. 
• I believe reflective practice leads to continuous improvement. I'm still thinking about the best way to output that reflection when it's programmatic or department-based. 
• I believe just-in-time is better than just-in-case, but when I teach, I make sure to make explicit connections with other experiences a student has had so they see how one skill or answer they need right now relates to problems or questions they might have had in the past, or might anticipate in the future. I see that helping people at their point of need and leading them to develop skills creates positive goodwill, and leads a foundation for them to help themselves. 

If I was going to write my teaching philosophy longform, I'd pull out specific examples to highlight each point, and explain my reasoning a little better. After jotting this list down, I do realize it's similar to my self-assessment document in my promotion and permanent status dossiers, although those documents tend to be broader in scope. My teaching philosophy also shifts (which I think should be normal for anyone that reads and practices in their field) as I learn more about pedagogy and learning theories.