Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Often committees request a statement of your teaching philosophy. Certainly, the subject of your teaching will be discussed in an interview; so preparing to talk about it will at the very least assist you with that. With the increased emphasis on undergraduate teaching at universities as well as colleges, the selection committees would like to know about your teaching experience, values, and philosophies.
Your statement should be a concise description (no more than one page) of the central ideas behind what and especially how you teach. The committee is looking for specific examples of how you have impacted students' learning, how you have been successful in enhancing students' understanding or exploration of ideas. If you taught a specific course, and were told by students that the way in which you taught them helped them to understand the information, mention that. Give a context for your ideas about how students learn. If you encountered problems, and addressed them successfully, identify the issues and successes.
As a future teacher you will be looked upon to tackle and successfully solve problems that arise in teaching in your field. The committee will be looking to your statement, or your explanation in the interview, to evaluate your awareness of issues they confront in the classroom. Their issues may be your issues, and they are looking to your experience as a Princeton teacher to see how transferable your ideas and skills are to their department.
Sometimes the committee requests additional materials such as sample syllabi for courses you will be required to teach, or those you have created for courses you have taught at Princeton. They are looking for how you will structure the course. Other times the committee will request course evaluations. Keep copies of all of your evaluations (and summaries of the evaluations). You can report some of the students' comments about your teaching.
Sometimes a short videotape of you actually teaching is requested. You could prepare one just in case, or have short segments of several classes combined on one tape.