June 23rd Readings

Carmean and Christie: Article on E-Portfolios
Portfolios are a crucial piece of authentic learning taking place both in and out of the classroom. Portfolios can be used for a variety of reasons. Carmean and Christie state that "ePortfolio to assess student learning, document the learner progress and provide the graduate with a functional tool for selecting and presenting their achievements and records". Electronic or ePortfolios are the future for recording evidence. Portfolios get the students motivated and involved in their learning, because they have the opportunity to choose work that reflects their understanding of a concept and puts them in the driver's seat of learning. Teacher directed instruction is a wave of the past! Learning has moved from the teacher's hand to the students. Today's learners are taking on a more independent role in their learning.

Electronic Teaching Portfolios
When I was in college, we had to create a portfolio during our Methods/ Student Teaching semester to act as a reflective guide when actively pursuing a job. The portfolio creation process is time consuming, but is well worth it. My only frustration with the whole process was most administrators I met with for interviews barely took the time to look over my portfolio. This article talked more of transforming the notebook portfolio into an electronic teaching portfolio. The document now can house many different forms of assessment and reflections (both in PDF and in audio).

The Professional Portfolio
This article describes the different sections of a portfolio that educators should have documented to demonstrate competency levels in all areas. The main section of the portfolio that should take the most energy is the Teaching Artifacts and Reflections Documenting and Extended Teaching Activity. This section is the "heart" of the portfolio.

Preparing a Teaching Portfolio
When preparing a teaching portfolio, much time and dedication should go into this process. I see it as an on-going process (collecting data and material) rather than putting it together all at the same time. Each piece that will eventually be placed in the portfolio should have a reflection piece as well as illustrated samples that demonstrate student achievement and teacher knowledge.