1. Lori M. Bruns
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
From the beginning of my teaching career in gateway English courses in 2006, and
expanding to include first year seminar courses in University College in 2009/2010 and a
semester in the University Writing Center in 2012, my teaching philosophy has both emerged
and evolved. With each semester, I grow as an instructor and adapt to the new experiences that
each student brings to my classroom. The myriad of cultures, languages, expectations, and skills
that I encounter challenges me to constantly adjust my teaching methods and materials in order
to present my students with a thought-provoking and rewarding educational experience. My
goals for my courses each semester are as follows:
1. Relevance
2. Repetition
3. Respect
4. Responsibility
Relevance
It is my firm belief that students who are intrinsically motivated will be more successful
in their courses than those who are not. Often, students are reluctant to become actively engaged
in courses that do not, in their opinions, relate directly to their chosen majors. Therefore, I stress
the relevance of the materials that we study by relating them both to other courses and also real-
life experiences. This can be as simple as connecting the Writer’s Statements that we complete
in the writing classes to the essay questions that students would answer in a chemistry class, or as
complex as correlating critical thinking skills with on-the-job management demands. As an
example, I ask the students at the end of the semester to create, in groups, a short list of ways to
use the skills they have learned in our course outside of the classroom. Then, we share each
group’s list with the rest of the class to compile a master list. Often, these lists can be quite
surprising to my students, particularly those who were certain that the course offered nothing
more than a means to an end. When my students can make the association of relevance for our
tasks, they are more motivated to accomplish them and more open-minded to retain what they
have learned.
Repetition
Repetition in my classroom exceeds the demands of completing the same task over-and-
over. Repetition, in this case, is the idea that once a skill is learned, it is not forgotten but is
instead repeated in distinct ways on projects throughout the semester. Students learn a skill and
then through various tasks, use this skill to expand upon their knowledge about the English
language. For example, students in my W130 classes learn the process of writing an effective
paragraph at the beginning of the semester. Rather than completing this task and moving on to
other, unrelated activities, they repeat the skills they learned in writing paragraphs, expand upon
them, and learn to write effective essays. As another example, in my W131 courses, I build upon
each of the previous assignments by using similar worksheets for all of the writing projects, yet
change them slightly to show how the same skills can be adapted to fit diverse situations. In this

2. way, students are more apt to remember the concepts and adapt their learning to fit their
individual circumstances in the future.
Respect
It is impossible to engage students in effective learning without a mutual sense of respect
among those in the classroom. Learning to respect those with differing opinions, while still
maintaining a productive environment, is a challenging skill for students to acquire in a college
classroom. In a room with multiple religions, traditions, and ideals, this is particularly crucial. It
is imperative that I, as the instructor, insist upon a learning environment which is respectful of
each of my students. I use day-to-day interaction between the students and myself both to show
them my regard for their backgrounds and also to teach them how it is possible to disagree with
someone, but still value them for their opinions. This is often accomplished in part by class
discussion, but even more so in group work. Often, students have little or no previous
experience in working with others to complete a common academic goal. I believe that my
teaching methods also evoke respect for learning and broaden their world views by incorporating
ideas from diverse cultures into our lessons. An example of this is the discussion which occurs
each semester in both W130 and W131 while working through the response essays. Although
we begin the discussion of the topic through the eyes of a “typical” American, we analyze its
intricacies using experiences from all of the students, concentrating on how the situation would
be construed within each student’s own traditions. By building upon commonalities, students are
often open to learning about their classmates, thus eventually fostering a respect for their
opinions, even when they differ from their own.
Responsibility
My students enter my classroom with various feelings of responsibility for their
coursework. While most feel extremely accountable for their learning, a few must be coerced
into accepting this responsibility. I begin this process in my courses by introducing my
expectations for attendance and punctuality, followed by homework completion and
communication. I make sure that each syllabus is detailed and that students receive a schedule of
assignments for the entire semester on the first day of class. Time management is an important
aspect of responsibility; however, I am aware that occasionally there are life situations beyond a
student’s control which make it difficult to remain on our standard course schedule, so I work
with those particular students to keep them on task and moving forward. At the same time that I
expect my students to be responsible in their learning, I also realize that I am responsible for
classroom management, and thus, must have lesson plans, grading, course materials,
conferences, communication, and online information completed in a timely fashion. This mutual
sense of responsibility also encourages respect for everyone in the classroom.
The use of technology has transformed the traditional classroom into a complex, media-
rich environment that offers students the opportunity to investigate topics through numerous
outlets. Beginning with my extensive use of Oncourse, which evolved into Canvas in Fall 2015,
along with PowerPoint presentations of my lectures, I have expanded my lessons to include
media such as online news articles and discussions, topical videos, writing resources (usually
from the IUPUI University Writing Center), and even the occasional music video, which I use to

3. introduce my W131 students to the image analysis essay. Students who are increasingly
dependent on technology are more engaged when allowed to use their technical skills to
manipulate the new information they receive in my courses and, in turn, learn to use those skills
for more than simply social networking.
Adapting my feedback to students’ writing has been a lesson in trial-and-error. While I
firmly believe that students need feedback from their writing instructors on their writing, it is
often difficult to balance my comments so that I do not give them too much advice, where I am
all but writing their essays for them, or too little information, where my comments are so vague
that they are confusing and misunderstood. I have settled on a system of drafts for each essay,
culminating in one complete draft which receives my comments, along with online conferences
through Oncourse/Canvas to discuss my comments and any remaining questions, before the final
submission of their essays. I use this system for both my W130 and W131 classes, although with
my W131 students, I tend to comment less throughout the complete draft and, instead, refer them
to previous similar comments, class lectures, or other resources that would be relevant to their
editing process. I find that this encourages them to learn how to edit their own writing and, if
necessary, to seek out additional resources such as the University Writing Center, which will
benefit them in other courses, as well. In other words, I help them to help themselves.
With experience, my teaching philosophy has transformed and grown. I continue to
restructure my courses according to successes and failures from semester-to-semester, and fully
believe that my students benefit from my flexibility. I also learned, very quickly, that being a
good teacher does not mean maintaining absolute control over the learning environment, never
deviating from a PowerPoint presentation or planned class discussion. In fact, I would assert that
some of my best “teachable moments” came from technology failure or a student’s random
thoughts. Adapting to different skill levels, varied expectations, and complex motivations are all
required of the writing instructor in a college classroom. Students in a writing classroom are a
diverse group of needs, and it is my responsibility not only to present the information at hand,
but to make sure the students are engaged and moving forward in their learning – an often
tedious but nonetheless rewarding position to be in.