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Your teaching philosophy should have at least two parts or paragraphs. In the first part or paragraph, I recommend you identify what your theory of education is. Why does education matter to you? Why do you want to teach? How are you qualified to do so? In the second paragraph, my recommendation is to explain how a Dean or faculty reviewer would see evidence of your philosophy in the classroom. How do you engage students? How do you put into practice what you believe and how would someone else see it? Take some time to think through this and write it thoroughly and elaborately. Try to keep it to 2 to 3 paragraphs.

If you choose to have a separate, longer version of your teaching philosophy statement, you may wish elaborate a bit. A good thing to ask yourself is, "if someone came to me asking if they should pursue an education, how would I answer and why?" Remember you should be writing this in first person and do not feel as though you have to leave emotion out of it. Showing passion for education is good in my opinion and I have seen it positively correlated with getting teaching jobs. Next, if you are comfortable, I suggest explaining a bit about why and how education has played a role in your own life. Personal stories and examples can help convey the meaning and value of education to you. You should also elaborate on what you find most important to students. Is it engagement? Is it retention? Is it leading by example? Feel free to explain as many of these elements as you feel comfortable doing. Finally, you should wrap it up with a paragraph identifying how a dean, should he or she visit your online classroom, would see evidence of your philosophy carried out into the class. Essentially the first element is theory, the second is practice and the third is application.

I highly recommend integrating the teaching philosophy statement into your CV as the very first thing after your contact information. Not only does this show that you "get" education and the requirements today, but it will help you convey a message to deans or human resources professionals as soon as they review your CV. It will also bump up the keywords for searching in HR systems, which is important (particularly so when there is a job pool where thousands of candidates may apply and you want to stand out among them).

South Korea has dramatically improved its education system over the past several decades and now routinely outperforms the U.S.

South Korean 15-year-olds rank No. 2 in the world in reading

14 things that are obsolete in 21st century schools

1. Computer Rooms

2. Isolated classrooms

I am thankful to Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay for this evocative name for a vital part of online collaboration.