University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
437-426/626 Methods of Teaching English

Submit a draft of your philosophy statement by November 1. In most cases, the statement should be between ½ page and 1¼ pages long. The following guidelines may be helpful.

Developing a Philosophy Statement

Here is a suggested strategy for approaching the draft of your philosophy statement.

1. Reflect on your readings and discussions from class. By now, you should have gained many insights about teaching and learning from your methods text, Developmental Reading, other methods classes, Theories of Composition, English Journal, and other authoritative sources.
2. Reflect on your experience. Reconsider your own experience of schooling in light of the experiences you have had in O&P, field study, and (if applicable) student teaching.
3. In your reflections think about the following categories:

• Axiology: What are the ultimate purposes of your work as a teacher? What do you want to accomplish? What is most important for your students to learn?

• Epistemology: What does it mean to know something? What does it mean for a person to learn something truly?

• Pedagogy: What are the best ways to teach so that your students will truly learn what's important?

4. Rather than answer a series of stock questions, start writing from scratch. This way, the writing is more likely to reflect your own opinions and personality, and will therefore give the reader more information about the kind of teacher you will be.
5. Try some form of free writing, brainstorming, or clustering to get started. Write as much as you can for a set time, and then set aside the draft for a day or two. Then look at the draft and revise it to make the patterns in your thought clearer and more obvious.
6. Contextualize your statement, but do not be over-specific. It is probably a good idea to make your statement specific to English or language arts, but make sure someone who is not an expert in the subject can understand what you mean. Use concrete examples judiciously.
7. Confer with others about your statement. Get feedback from more than one source if possible.

• Source: Based on categories in Fulkerson, R. (1979), Four philosophies of composition. College composition and communication, 30, 343-348, and Fulkerson, R. (1990), Composition theory in the eighties: Axiological consensus and paradigmatic diversity. College composition and communication, 41, 409-429.