Halfway to the finish

Can anyone else inform me where the month of February went? Or, for that matter, where the first two months of 2013 have gone? I cannot believe that my externship is almost half over, with Mid-terms and Spring Break just around the corner. Time flies when you are busy all the time!
This prompts me to remember that aside from my teaching responsibilities, I also need to get moving on my PFF GRAD 606 requirements, which include putting together a teaching portfolio and writing my Teaching Philosophy statement. Now, I know that we’ve discussed the Philosophy statement in some of my courses, but its one thing to hear about what it should include and another to actually write one. In my mind, I know what drives my passion to teach- I know the reasons why I want to making teaching a part of my career. However, I’m a little apprehensive about transferring that information to paper in a way that conveys exactly how I feel, without sounding like every other teaching statement out there. I’ve been looking around on a few websites, and here are a few links that I find to be helpful:
Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement- Iowa State University
Writing Your Teaching Philosophy- University of Minnesota
How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy- The Chronicle of Higher Education (my favorite article on this topic)
Based on this last article, my key points to focus on will be: Articulating my thoughts on what makes a good learning experience, not re-hashing my teaching history (the CV will cover that), making thoughtful and insightful statements, being concise, grounding my philosophy in my discipline, making sure that it is grammatically sound, keep my focus on the students, remaining humble in my statements, focusing on my teaching without downplaying my research, seeking outside thoughts on how my statement reads, and most importantly- avoiding a “cookie cutter” statement by just being myself. Readers beware: this is your warning that a draft of my philosophy statement may be forthcoming in a future blog!

Going back to the reality of Mid-terms… I am faced with a new challenge in that the deadline for withdrawals for this semester is looming, and I have a few students who probably should withdraw from my course. After talking with my co-teaching partner, he said it is a delicate topic that many professors tip-toe around. The college strives for retention of students, to keep them in classes and see them through their degree to graduation. Therefore, as professors, we cannot tell a student outright that they should withdraw from a course. We should give them the benefit of a doubt that they can do better and turn their grade around in the second half of the semester. We can give them their current grades, and point out that they will likely fail if they continue on this path of bad habits (skipping class, sleeping/not paying attention in class, not studying for tests, not handing in assignments). We should paint the picture so that they can come to their own decision that they should withdraw. …I am not sure entirely how I feel about that. I can certainly understand the college’s position of not wanting to push students to withdraw, but at the same time, the ones that should probably withdraw are often the ones who seem to simply not care. If they don’t care, they probably will not worry about failing and having to take the class again. They may need to be told to withdraw, because otherwise they will continue to float along in their careening spiral out of control. (That is, if you can find them or reach them… most of these academically troubled students rarely show up to class, or show up late and leave the second class is finished. Reaching out to them through email is as useless as talking to a wall.) My co-teaching partner suggested making a blanket statement to the class after one of the lectures, to simply say that if their grades are not up to par at the halfway point of the semester, they should reconsider taking the course again next year. However, that message will likely not reach the ears it is intended for. Does anyone else have any thoughts on how to tactfully/sensitively approach a student about withdrawing from your course?