The Syllabus: Documenting Individual Teaching Competency 

Since the syllabus acts as an extension of the instructor, we want to begin to capture the values and teaching style of its author. Hopefully, this will convey one’s identity as an educator as well as their approach to learning.
 

A brief description of your approach to teaching.

• Be sure to include:
  • How you plan to organize/deliver your course content.
  • The type of learning environment you hope to create in the classroom.
  • The connection between your philosophy of education and your approach to instruction.
     

• Is your teaching style explained in a singular location or woven throughout the entire syllabus?
• Do you feel the grading rubric/items are representative of your teaching philosophy?
• How accessible is the course content for students?
  • Is that intentional?
• How do you plan to develop your desired learning environment?
  • Should any of that be included in the syllabus itself?
     

Look through your syllabus and decide if it reflects your values as an educator. I realize that this step requires an inherent sense of reflection, i.e., “What are your teaching values?”

Teaching values are the core beliefs and principles that guide a teacher’s decisions and actions for their class. To this end, this entire portion, as it pertains to the syllabus, should be thought of as a reflective activity:

• Are your core values as an educator ever stated in the syllabus?
• If so, are they supported by the content of the syllabus:
  • Grade items, rubrics, point distribution, etc.
  • Classroom structure, student expectations, etc.
• Does the syllabus accurately convey your attitude towards students?
  • Do you want students to address you more formally or casually?
  • Do you want students to interact with one another?
  • How often do you want students to interact with you, and in what scenarios?

How the syllabus can reflect you as an educator is endless. While this guide could write out dozens of reflective questions in this section alone, it is going to be an ongoing process throughout your time as an educator.

One common suggestion I’ve been given as a teacher is to give out a pre-course survey to students, asking them to outline the information found in the syllabus. The design of this activity is to engage students with its contents and make sure they are familiar with the scaffolding you’ve developed for the class. I recommend taking this one step further and asking students some of these reflective questions:

• What do you think are the core teaching values of the instructor?
• Describe what you believe is the instructor’s teaching style.
• How do you feel this instructor feels about you?
• Do you feel as though the grade of this course is fair for you?

These types of questions may be hard to handle at first, but over time will provide you with exceptional feedback you can use to develop your future syllabi.

Once you feel you’ve adequately captured both your teaching style and core values, I firmly believe you have a functional first draft of a course syllabus. All the details for the class are laid out, and you’ve gotten the bulk of the purpose of the course communicated to its readers. While we’ve already begun to do some of this through our reflection, we’re going to push our exploration of the syllabus further and consider its other main purposes as a tool for learning and as a tool for future educators.