What I did. This section is typically a list with a brief explanation of the faculty member’s teaching responsibilities. In essence it describes “What I did.” with supportive narrative as to the content, level, size, special circumstances, or other relevant details about the courses. For example, the faculty member would list courses taught by title, term it was taught, number of students enrolled, whether a lecture or a seminar, etc. Also, any independent study courses, honors courses, or dissertation mentoring would be included here.

Sample Teaching Responsibilities

Professor René Descartes, Rutgers University

Since 2007 I have taught in the Philosophical Classics Department at Rutgers University. I have developed three classes:

Phil 101: Principles of Philosophy (2007-Present). This course is the main introductory philosophy course at our university. It is a large lecture course that attracts about 200 students each semester and is held in one of the active learning classrooms. I lead the lecture and oversee four teaching assistants who lead recitation sections. As an introductory course, it is not extremely challenging, but many students are unfamiliar with philosophical concepts, and they sometimes struggle. These students will go on to major in many different subjects, and I consider it my job to excite them about the discipline and leave some lasting knowledge that will allow them to lead a good and moral life, with the intellectual curiosity to think about philosophical problems.

Phil 220: Mathematics and Philosophy (2009, 2011, 2013). In this class, students who are considering majoring in philosophy learn about the application of mathematics and logic to difficult philosophical problems. This is one of the most difficult courses in our discipline and is often considered a “weeder” course in which students who cannot understand logic are not allowed to continue into the major.  As such, many students from a variety of backgrounds enroll, but not as many pass the final exam. Each class has about 50 students.

Phil 450: Cogito Ergo Sum (2008-Present). This course is the upper level seminar in which I share my expertise on one of the most important proofs in all of philosophy.  The course I capped at 15 students, most of whom are philosophy majors of great potential. We cover one book each week, focusing mainly on my most influential pieces. It is an extremely rigorous examination, but most students end up doing well in the class as they are self-selected, motivated, and have already completed a number of philosophy courses.