I hadn’t written a statement of teaching philosophy since graduate school, when I did it as a professional exercise for a Composition & Rhetoric class. (I was already teaching my first classes at that time.) I recently applied for an adjunct instructor position that required such a statement, so I dug through boxes until I found the battered jump drive with all of my old course materials on it. I was thrilled that I wouldn’t have to spend hours writing one of these things. Then I read it. My god, did I really believe that stuff? And I was allowed to teach people? I am still stunned at how much my ideas about teaching have evolved in the intervening years. My old teaching statement…