I think that when used appropriately, portfolios can be extremely effective. They are a great way for students to get involved. I clearly remember being in elementary school and having my teacher make us pick out stories we've written for our writing portfolio. Naturally, I made sure to pick out my "best" work! I can still remember the amount of pride I felt in having control over what was going to be shown at parent/teacher conferences. I just KNEW my parents would be blown away by my creative writing pieces! (And they were, of course!)
Looking back, I can't really remember any teachers that didn't use some sort of portfolio during the year. If I remember correctly, there was a portfolio that followed me from 1st grade to 5th. It was a compilation of all stories I'd written over the years, and in 5th grade, we were allowed to take them home. It was great to see how much I had progressed over the years!
Portfolios are helpful to the teachers as well. They are a way to organize the students work, making it easier to track progression. I agree with the concept of having the student and teacher work together to put assignments into their portfolio. It's important to have them work together to make it a fair evaluation of their progress.
PS- Dr. Luongo, I totally love the idea of using pizza boxes or something more creative as their portfolio, rather than just the plain folder!
2 comments:
The pizza box idea is a great one. It allows for hands-on collections.
Here is a link to some more tips:
http://pdonline.ascd.org/pd_online/portfolio/1997danielson/ch5.html
I will also post this on the main page!
Potfolios are important for the student as well as the teacher. They offer self reflection, can be used as tools for improvement and assesses the student's progress throughout the year. I like the pizza box idea as well as the cereal boxes. This site got me thinking. Thanks for sharing.
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