A Personal Review of Your Own Strengths Weaknesses and Goals Is Called a _____
Portfolios
What is a Portfolio?
- Are Portfolios Authentic Assessments?
- Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?
- Audience: For what audience(s) will the portfolio be created?
- Content: What samples of educatee work will be included?
- Process: What processes will be engaged in during the development of the portfolio?
- Choice of Contents
- Reflection on Samples of Piece of work
- Conferencing on Student Work and Processes
- Management: How will time and materials be managed in the development of the portfolio?
- Communication: How and when will the portfolio be shared with pertinent audiences?
Evaluation: If the portfolio is to be used for evaluation, how and when should it be evaluated?
Portfolio: A collection of a student'due south work specifically selected to tell a item story about the educatee
What is a Portfolio?
Annotation: My focus volition be on portfolios of student work rather than teacher portfolios or other types.
Student portfolios take many forms, every bit discussed below, so it is not like shooting fish in a barrel to describe them. A portfolio is non the pile of pupil work that accumulates over a semester or yr. Rather, a portfolio contains a purposefully selected subset of educatee piece of work. "Purposefully" selecting educatee work means deciding what blazon of story you want the portfolio to tell. For example, do you desire information technology to highlight or celebrate the progress a pupil has made? Then, the portfolio might contain samples of earlier and later work, often with the pupil commenting upon or assessing the growth. Do you want the portfolio to capture the procedure of learning and growth? So, the student and/or instructor might select items that illustrate the development of one or more skills with reflection upon the process that led to that development. Or, do you want the portfolio to showcase the terminal products or best work of a student? In that case, the portfolio would likely comprise samples that best exemplify the student's current ability to use relevant noesis and skills. All decisions near a portfolio consignment begin with the type of story or purpose for the portfolio. The item purpose(s) served, the number and type of items included, the procedure for selecting the items to be included, how and whether students respond to the items selected, and other decisions vary from portfolio to portfolio and serve to define what each portfolio looks like. I will describe many of the purposes and characteristics in the sections beneath.
Are Portfolios Authentic Assessments?
Some suggest that portfolios are not really assessments at all because they are just collections of previously completed assessments. But, if we consider assessing equally gathering of information most someone or something for a purpose, then a portfolio is a blazon of assessment. Sometimes the portfolio is likewise evaluated or graded, but that is non necessary to be considered an assessment.
Are portfolios authentic assessments? Student portfolios have nigh commonly been associated with collections of artwork and, to a lesser extent, collections of writing. Students in these disciplines are performing authentic tasks which capture meaningful application of knowledge and skills. Their portfolios often tell compelling stories of the growth of the students' talents and showcase their skills through a collection of accurate performances. Educators are expanding this story-telling to other disciplines such as physical education, mathematics and the social sciences to capture the variety of demonstrations of meaningful awarding from students within these disciplines.
Furthermore, in the more than thoughtful portfolio assignments, students are asked to reflect on their piece of work, to engage in cocky-assessment and goal-setting. Those are 2 of the most authentic skills students need to develop to successfully manage in the real world. Research has found that students in classes that emphasize comeback, progress, effort and the process of learning rather than grades and normative performance are more probable to utilize a diverseness of learning strategies and have a more positive attitude toward learning. Yet in pedagogy we have shortchanged the process of learning in favor of the products of learning. Students are not regularly asked to examine how they succeeded or failed or improved on a task or to fix goals for future piece of work; the final production and evaluation of it receives the bulk of the attention in many classrooms. Consequently, students are non developing the metacognitive skills that volition enable them to reflect upon and make adjustments in their learning in schoolhouse and beyond.
Portfolios provide an excellent vehicle for consideration of process and the development of related skills. And then, portfolios are ofttimes included with other types of accurate assessments because they move abroad from telling a student'south story though examination scores and, instead, focus on a meaningful drove of pupil performance and meaningful reflection and evaluation of that work.
Why utilise Portfolios?
The previous section identifies several valuable goals that make portfolios attractive in instruction. The sections that follow emphasize that identifying specific goals or purposes for assigning a portfolio is the outset and most critical step in creating such an assignment. Just every bit identifying a standard guides the remainder of the steps of developing an authentic assessment, identifying the purpose(s) for a portfolio influences all the other decisions involved in producing a portfolio assignment. I will list several of the about mutual purposes hither, and and then I volition elaborate on how each purpose affects the other decisions in the section below.
Purposes
Why might you use a portfolio assignment? Portfolios typically are created for 1 of the post-obit 3 purposes: to show growth, to showcase current abilities, and to evaluate cumulative achievement. Some examples of such purposes include
1. Growth Portfolios
a. to show growth or change over time
b. to help develop process skills such as self-evaluation and goal-setting
c. to identify strengths and weaknesses
d. to runway the development of 1 more products/performances
2. Showcase Portfolios
a. to showcase stop-of-year/semester accomplishments
b. to prepare a sample of best piece of work for employment or college admission
c. to showcase student perceptions of favorite, all-time or most important work
d. to communicate a student's current aptitudes to time to come teachers
3. Evaluation Portfolios
a. to document achievement for grading purposes
b. to certificate progress towards standards
c. to place students appropriately
The growth portfolio emphasizes the process of learning whereas the showcase portfolio emphasizes the products of learning. Of course, a portfolio may tell more one story, including more ane category above. For example, a showcase portfolio might also be used for evaluation purposes, and a growth portfolio might besides showcase "last" performances or products. What is disquisitional is that the purpose(s) is clear throughout the procedure to student, teacher and any other pertinent audition. To elaborate on how the purpose affects the portfolio consignment let me answer the question...
How do you Create a Portfolio Assignment?
I recall of nigh tasks every bit issues to exist solved, or questions to exist answered. So, I observe it useful to approach how to practise something by thinking of it as a series of questions to be answered. Thus, I volition attempt to offer a possible answer to the question above past answering a serial of questions that need to exist addressed when considering the design of a portfolio assignment. Those questions are:
1. Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?
2. Audience: For what audience(south) will the portfolio be created?
3. Content: What samples of student work will be included?
4. Process: What processes (eastward.g., pick of piece of work to be included, reflection on piece of work, conferencing) will be engaged in during the development of the portfolio?
5. Management: How will time and materials exist managed in the development of the portfolio?
half-dozen. Advice: How and when volition the portfolio exist shared with pertinent audiences?
7. Evaluation: If the portfolio is to be used for evaluation, when and how should it be evaluated?
Purpose: What is the purpose(due south) of the portfolio?
Every bit mentioned above, before you tin can design the portfolio assignment and earlier your students can brainstorm constructing their portfolios you and your students need to be clear most the story the portfolio will exist telling. Certainly, you should non assign a portfolio unless you take a compelling reason to do and so. Portfolios accept piece of work to create, manage and assess. They tin hands feel like busywork and a burden to you and your students if they only become folders filled with student papers. You and your students need to believe that the selection of and reflection upon their work serves one or more meaningful purposes.
Audition: For what audition(s) will the portfolio be created?
Selecting relevant audiences for a portfolio goes hand-in-hand with identifying your purposes. Who should see the show of a student'south growth? The educatee, teacher and parents are practiced audiences to follow the story of a student'southward progress on a certain project or in the development of certain skills. Who should run into a student's best or final work? Again, the student, teacher and parents might be skillful audiences for such a drove, but other natural audiences come to mind such every bit course or schoolmates, external audiences such every bit employers or colleges, the local community or school lath. As the teacher, you can dictate what audiences will be considered or y'all tin can let students have some pick in the conclusion.
But as the purposes for the portfolio should guide the evolution of it, the selection of audiences should shape its construction. For example, for audiences outside the classroom it is helpful to include a comprehend folio or table of contents that helps someone unfamiliar with the assignment to navigate through the portfolio and provide context for what is constitute within. Students need to go along their audiences in mind as they continue through each stride of developing their portfolios. A good method for checking whether a portfolio serves the anticipated audiences is to imagine unlike members of those audiences viewing the portfolio. Tin can each of them tell why you created the portfolio? Are they able to make sense of the story you wanted to tell them? Can they navigate around and through the portfolio? Do they know why you included what you did? Have y'all used language suitable for those audiences?
Content: What samples of student work will be included?
Equally you can imagine, the respond to the question of content is dependent on the answers to the questions of purpose and audition. What should be included? Well, what story do you lot want to tell? Before I consider what types of items might be appropriate for different purposes, allow me make a more than general indicate. Get-go, hypothetically, in that location is no limit equally to what tin can be included in a portfolio. Paper products such every bit essays, homework, letters, projects, etc. are most mutual. But more and more other types of media are being included in portfolios. Audio and videotapes, cd-roms, two- and three-dimensional pieces of art, posters and annihilation else that can reflect the purposes identified can be included. Some schools are putting all the artifacts onto a cd-rom by videotaping performances, scanning paper products, and digitizing sound. All of those files are so copied onto a student'south cd-rom for a semester or a twelvemonth or to follow the student beyond grades as a cumulative record. Realistically, you have to decide what is manageable. But if the most meaningful evidence of the portfolio's goals cannot be captured on paper, then you may consider including other types of media.
Plainly, there are a considerable number and variety of types of student work that tin be selected every bit samples for a portfolio. Using the purposes given above for each type of portfolio, I have listed just a few such possible samples of work in the following tables that could be included in each blazon of portfolio.
| Growth Portfolios: What samples might be included? | |
| Purpose | Some possible inclusions |
| a. to bear witness growth or modify over time |
|
| b. to assistance develop process skills |
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| c. to identify strengths/weaknesses |
|
| d. to runway development of ane or more than products or performances |
|
| Showcase Portfolios: What samples might be included? | |
| Purpose | Some possible inclusions |
| a. to showcase end-of-year/semester accomplishments |
|
| b. to prepare a sample of best work for employment or college access |
|
| c. to showcase pupil perceptions of favorite, best or most of import |
|
| d. to communicate a educatee's current aptitude |
|
| Evaluation Portfolios: What samples might exist included? | |
| Purpose | Some possible inclusions |
| a. to document achievement for grading |
|
| b. to document progress towards standards |
|
| c. to place students accordingly |
|
Other Content
In addition to samples of student piece of work and reflection upon that piece of work, a portfolio might besides include a table of contents or a cover letter of the alphabet (both typically composed by the student) to assist a reader in making sense of the purposes, processes and contents of the portfolio. This can be particularly useful if the portfolio is to exist shared with external audiences unfamiliar with the coursework such equally parents, other educators and community members.
Process: What processes will be engaged in during the evolution of the portfolio?
One of the greatest attributes of the portfolio is its potential for focusing on the processes of learning. Too ofttimes in pedagogy we emphasize the products students create or the outcomes they achieve. But we do non give sufficient attention to the processes required to create those products or outcomes, the processes involved in cocky-diagnosis and self-improvement, or the metacognitive processes of thinking. Every bit a result, the products or outcomes are not as good as nosotros or the students would like because they are frequently unsure how to go started, how to self-diagnose or self-correct or how to decide when a slice of piece of work is "finished."
Although a variety of processes can be developed or explored through portfolios, I will focus on three of the most common:
- selection of contents of the portfolio;
- reflection on the samples of work and processes;
- conferencing almost the contents and processes.
Choice of Contents
Over again, identifying the purpose(s) for the portfolio should drive the selection process. Every bit listed in the tables above, unlike samples of student work will likely be selected for dissimilar purposes. Additionally, how samples are selected might also differ depending on the purpose. For instance, for an evaluation portfolio, the instructor might decide which samples demand to be included to evaluate educatee progress. On the other mitt, including the student in the controlling process of determining appropriate types of samples for inclusion might be more than critical for a growth portfolio to promote meaningful reflection. Finally, a showcase portfolio might exist designed to include significant input from the educatee on which samples best highlight accomplishment and progress, or the teacher might primarily make those decisions.
Furthermore, audiences across the teacher and student might have input into the content of the porfolio, from team or section members, principals and district committees to external agencies to parents and customs members. External audiences are virtually likely to play a office for evaluation portfolios. Still, it is of import to remember there are no hard rules about portfolios. Annihilation can be included in a portfolio. Anyone can be involved in the processes of pick, reflection and evaluation of a portfolio. Flexibility applies to portfolios as it does to whatever authentic assessment. That is, you should be true to your purpose(s), just you should feel no constraints on how you meet them with a portfolio assignment.
How might the choice have place?
What I will depict below are only a few of the many possible avenues for selecting which samples will be included in a portfolio. Simply these examples should requite you a skillful sense of some of the choices and some of the decisions involved.
When?
- when a sample of piece of work is completed -- at the point a piece of work is gear up to be turned in (or one time the piece of work has been returned past the teacher) the student or teacher identifies that piece of work for inclusion in the portfolio;
- at periodic intervals -- instead of selecting samples when they are completed, the samples tin be stored so that choice might occur every ii (three, six or nine) weeks or in one case (twice or iii times) every quarter (trimester or semester);
- at the terminate of the ... unit of measurement, quarter, semester, yr, etc.
By whom?
- by the pupil -- students are the most common selectors, especially for portfolios that ask them to reflect on the work selected. Which work students select depends on the criteria used to cull each piece (see below).
- by the instructor -- teachers may be the selector, peculiarly when identifying best pieces of work to showcase a educatee's strengths or accomplishments.
- by the student and teacher -- sometimes portfolio option is a joint process involving conversation and collaboration.
- by peers -- a student might be assigned a "portfolio partner" or "portfolio buddy" who assists the pupil in selecting appropriate pieces of work frequently as function of a joint process involving conversation and collaboration. A peer might also provide some reflection on a piece of work to be included in the portfolio.
- by parents -- parents might also exist asked to select a piece or two for inclusion that they particularly found impressive, surprising, reflective of comeback, etc.
Based on what criteria?
- best work -- pick for showcase portfolios will typically focus on samples of work that illustrate students' all-time performance in designated areas or the culmination of progress made
- evidence of growth -- selection for growth portfolios will focus on identifying samples of work and work processes (e.g., drafts, notes) that best capture progress shown on designated tasks, processes or conquering of knowledge and skills. For instance, students might be asked to cull
- samples of earlier and later work highlighting some skill or content area
- samples of rough drafts and concluding drafts
- piece of work that traces the development of a particular product or performance
- samples of work reflecting specifically identified strengths and weaknesses
- evidence of achievement -- specially for showcase and evaluation portfolios, selection might focus on samples of work that illustrate current levels of competence in designated areas or detail exemplars of quality work
- show of standards met -- similarly, option could focus on samples of work that illustrate how successfully students have met sure standards
- favorite/almost important piece -- to help develop recognition of the value of the piece of work completed and to foster pride in that work, selection might focus on samples to which students or parents or others discover a connection or with which they are particularly enamored
- 1 or more of the higher up -- a portfolio can include samples of work for multiple reasons and, thus, more than than one of the in a higher place criteria (or others) could exist used for selecting samples to be included
Reflection on Samples of Piece of work
Many educators who piece of work with portfolios consider the reflection component the most critical chemical element of a good portfolio. Simply selecting samples of work as described above can produce meaningful stories most students, and others can benefit from "reading" these stories. Just the students themselves are missing significant benefits of the portfolio process if they are non asked to reflect upon the quality and growth of their work. Every bit Paulson, Paulson and Meyer (1991) stated, "The portfolio is something that is done by the educatee, non to the student." Most importantly, it is something washed for the student. The student needs to be direct involved in each phase of the portfolio development to larn the virtually from it, and the reflection phase holds the well-nigh promise for promoting student growth.
In the reflection phase students are typically asked to
- comment on why specific samples were selected or
- comment on what they liked and did not similar in the samples or
- comment on or place the processes involved in developing specific products or performances or
- depict and point to examples of how specific skills or knowledge improved (or did not) or
- identify strengths and weaknesses in samples of work or
- set goals for themselves corresponding to the strengths and weaknesses or
- identify strategies for reaching those goals or
- appraise their past and current self-efficacy for a job or skill or
- consummate a checklist or survey well-nigh their work or
- some combination of the above
Reflection sheets
Probably the almost common portfolio reflection task is the completion of a sail to exist attached to the sample (or samples) of piece of work which the reflection is addressing. The possibilities for reflection questions or prompts are endless, but some examples I have seen include
Selection questions/prompts
- Why did you select this piece?
- Why should this sample be included in your portfolio?
- How does this sample meet the criteria for selection for your portfolio?
- I chose this slice because ....
Growth questions/prompts
- What are the strengths of this work? Weaknesses?
- What would you work on more if you had boosted time?
- How has your ______ (e.g., writing) changed since concluding year?
- What exercise yous know about ______ (e.grand., the scientific method) that you did not know at the start of the year (or semester, etc.)?
- Looking at (or thinking about) an earlier slice of similar piece of work, how does this new piece of piece of work compare? How is it better or worse? Where can you see progress or comeback?
- How did you get "stuck" working on this task? How did you get "unstuck"?
- One skill I could not perform very well merely now I can is ....
- From reviewing this piece I learned ....
Goal-setting questions/prompts
- What is one thing you can improve upon in this slice?
- What is a realistic goal for the cease of the quarter (semester, year)?
- What is one style yous will try to better your ____ (e.1000., writing)?
- I thing I still demand to work on is ....
- I volition work toward my goal past ....
Evaluation questions/prompts
- If you were a teacher and grading your piece of work, what form would yous requite it and why?
- Using the appropriate rubric, give yourself a score and justify it with specific traits from the rubric.
- What do y'all similar or not similar about this piece of work?
- I like this piece of piece of work because ....
Endeavour questions/prompts
- How much fourth dimension did you spend on this product/functioning?
- The work would accept been better if I had spent more time on ....
- I am pleased that I put significant effort into ....
Overall portfolio questions/prompts
- What would yous like your _____ (e.k., parents) to know about or meet in your portfolio?
- What does the portfolio equally a whole reveal about you as a learner (author, thinker, etc.)?
- A characteristic of this portfolio I particularly like is ....
- In this portfolio I run into prove of ....
As mentioned above, students (or others) can answer to such questions or prompts when a slice of work is completed, while a work is in progress or at periodic intervals after the work has been collected. Furthermore, these questions or prompts tin can be answered by the student, the teacher, parents, peers or anyone else in any combination that all-time serves the purposes of the portfolio.
Other reflection methods
In addition to reflection sheets, teachers take devised a myriad of means of inducing reflection from students and others about the collection of piece of work included in the portfolio. For example, those engaging in reflection tin
- write a alphabetic character to a specific audience about the story the portfolio communicates
- write a "biography" of a piece of work tracing its development and the learning that resulted
- write periodic journal entries almost the progress of the portfolio
- compose an imaginary new "chapter" that picks up where the story of the portfolio leaves off
- orally share reflections on any of the above questions/prompts
Reflection every bit a process skill
Good skill development requires 4 steps:
- Didactics and modeling of the skill;
- Practice of the skill;
- Feedback on one'due south practice;
- Reflection on the exercise and feedback.
Reflection itself is a skill that enhances the procedure of skill development and virtually all learning in innumerable settings. Those of us who are educators, for instance, need to continually reverberate upon what is working or non working in our teaching, how we tin can improve what we are doing, how we can help our students make connections to what they are learning, and much, much more. Thus, it is disquisitional for students to learn to finer reverberate upon their learning and growth.
As a skill, reflection is not something that can be mastered in 1 or two attempts. Developing good reflective skills requires pedagogy and modeling, lots of practise, feedback and reflection. As many of you accept probably encountered, when students are outset asked to reply to prompts such as "I selected this piece because..." they may answer with "I think it is prissy." Okay, that's a start. But nosotros would similar them to elaborate on that response. The fact that they did non initially elaborate is probably not just a outcome of resistance or reluctance. Students need to acquire how to reply to such prompts. They need to acquire how to effectively place strengths and weaknesses, to set realistic goals for themselves and their work, and to develop meaningful strategies to accost those goals. Students often have become dependent upon adults, particularly teachers, to evaluate their work. They need to learn self-cess.
So, the reflection phase of the portfolio procedure should be ongoing throughout the portfolio development. Students demand to appoint in multiple cogitating activities. Those instances of reflection become particularly focused if goal-setting is part of their reflection. Simply every bit instruction and assessment are more appropriately targeted if they are tied to specific standards or goals, student identification of and reflection upon strengths and weaknesses, examples of progress, and strategies for improvement will exist more than meaningful and purposeful if they are directed toward specific goals, particularly cocky-chosen goals.
Once opportunities for reflection (practice) accept place, feedback to and farther reflection upon student observations tin can be provided by conversations with others. Conferencing is one tool to promote such feedback and reflection.
Conferencing on Student Work and Processes
With 20 or thirty or more students in a classroom, i-on-one conversations betwixt the instructor and educatee are difficult to regularly arrange. That is unfortunate because the give and have of contiguous interaction can provide the teacher with valuable information virtually the student's thinking and progress and provide the student with meaningful feedback. Such feedback is also more likely to be processed by the student than comments written on paper.
Conferencing typically takes several forms:
- teacher/student -- sometimes teachers are able to informally come across with a few students, one at a time, equally the other students work on some task in grade. Other times, teachers use class fourth dimension to schedule one-on-i conferences during "conference days." Some teachers are able to schedule conferences outside of class time. Typically such conferences take only a few minutes, but they give the instructor and the pupil time to recap progress, enquire questions, and consider suggestions or strategies for improvement.
- teacher/modest grouping -- other teachers, oft in composition classes, run across with a few students at a time to talk over problems and questions that are raised, sharing common problems and reflections across students.
- student/student -- to conserve time as well as to give students the opportunity to learn how to provide feedback along with receiving it, teachers sometimes structure peer-to-peer conferencing. The focus might exist instructor-directed (eastward.yard., "share with each other a sample of work you recently selected for your portfolio") or student-directed (eastward.thou., students use the time to get feedback on some work for a purpose they determine).
As appealing as the process of students developing a portfolio can be, the physical and fourth dimension constraints of such a process can be daunting. Where practice you proceed all the stuff? How practice you proceed rail of it? Who gets access to it and when? Should you manage paper or create an electronic portfolio? Does some piece of work go sent home before it is put in the portfolio? Will it come back? When volition you detect the fourth dimension for students to participate, to reverberate, to conference? What most students who join your class in the eye of the semester or year?
There is one answer to all these questions that can brand the chore less daunting: kickoff modest! That is good advice for many endeavors, merely particularly for portfolios because at that place are so many factors to consider, develop and manage over a long menstruation of fourth dimension. In the concluding section of this affiliate (Tin I do portfolios without all the fuss?) I will elaborate on how yous can get your feet wet with portfolios and avoid drowning in the many decisions described below.
How you answer the many management questions below depends, in part, on how you answered earlier questions almost your purpose, audience, content and process. Return to those answers to help y'all address the following decisions:
| Direction Decisions | Possible Solutions |
| Should the portfolio building process expect until the end or should it occur equally you go? |
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| Volition the portfolios be composed of newspaper or stored electronically (or both)? |
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| Where will the work samples and reflections exist kept? | Plainly, the answer to this question depends on your answer to the previous question about storage format. The possible solutions I depict below will assume that you have chosen an choice that includes at least some paper products.
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| Who will be responsible for saving/storing them? |
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| Who will accept access to it, and when? | Who? Over again, that depends on the purposes for the portfolio.
When?
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| How will portfolio progress exist tracked? |
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| What volition the last product look similar? | Once once more, this depends on the purposes and audiences for the portfolio, as well as the type of contents to exist included.
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| What if students join your class in the middle of the process? |
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Why share the portfolio?
By the nature of the purposes of portfolios -- to show growth, to bear witnessinstance excellence -- portfolios are meant to be shared. The samples, reflections and other contents allow or invite others to observe and celebrate students' progress and accomplishments. A portfolio should tell a story, and that story should be told.
Students should primarily be the ones telling their stories. Every bit students reflect on the balance of their work over some period of time, there is often a great sense of pride at the growth and the accomplishment. By telling their own stories students can take ownership of the process that led to the growth and achievement. Assessment is no longer something done to them; the students are playing an agile role through cocky-assessment.
Furthermore, others will be able to recognize and celebrate in the growth and accomplishment of the students if their work is communicated across the borders of the classroom. A portfolio provides a unique vehicle for capturing and communicating student learning. Parents tend to learn more than nigh their children'southward abilities and propensities through a portfolio than they practice through the odd assignment that makes it home and into the parents' easily. Moreover, other interested members of the school and local community tin can recognize and celebrate the achievement.
Finally, the portfolio can provide an splendid tool for accountability. Parents, educators and customs members tin learn a great bargain about what is happening in a classroom or school or district by viewing and hearing about the contents of these stories. Perhaps more than importantly, the pupil and teacher tin uncover a brilliant film of where the student was, where she has traveled to, how she got there and what she accomplished along the manner -- a fascinating and enlightening story.
Considering the audience
Of course, deciding how to tell the story will be influenced by the intended audience. For case, presenting a drove of work to a instructor who is already familiar with much of the content will likely require a different approach than presenting that work as part of a college awarding.
Audiences inside the classroom
In some classrooms, a portfolio is used much like other assignments as evidence of progress towards or completion of course or grade level goals and standards. In such cases, the only audience might be the teacher who evaluates all the student work. To finer communicate with the teacher about a trunk of work, the student may exist asked to write a brief introduction or overview capturing her perceptions of the progress (for a growth portfolio) or accomplishments (for a showcase portfolio) reflected in the drove of work. Teachers who assign portfolios non only want to encounter student work only want to see students reflect upon it.
Equally a classroom assessor, the instructor also has the benefit of communicating contiguous with each student. Such conferences have a variety of forms and vary in their frequency. For instance,
- A instructor might review a portfolio at one or more intervals, and then prepare questions for the face up-to-face conversation with each pupil;
- A student might run the conference by taking the teacher through her portfolio, highlighting elements consistent with the purpose of the portfolio;
- A "pre-conference" might occur in which teacher and student hash out how the portfolio should be constructed to best showcase it or all-time prepare it for evaluation.
Additionally, classmates can serve as an audience for a portfolio. Particulary for older students, some teachers require or encourage students to present their portfolios to each other for feedback, dialogue and modeling. For example,
- Pairs of students can review each other's piece of work to provide feedback, identify strengths and weaknesses, and advise future goals;
- Sharing with each other also provides an opportunity to tell a story or just brag;
- Students tin can always benefit from seeing good (or poor) models of work too as models of meaningful reflection and goal-setting.
Equally students hear themselves tell each other near the value and significant of their piece of work information technology will become more valuable and meaningful to them.
Audiences within the family unit and school community
Every bit many of the states have experienced with our own children, parents sometimes only receive a small, fragmented picture of their children's school piece of work. Some work never makes it home, some is lost, some is hidden, etc. It can exist even harder for parents to construct a coherent picture show out of that work to get a real sense of educatee growth or accomplishment or progress toward a ready of standards.
Portfolios provide an opportunity to give parents a fuller glimpse of the processes and products and progress of their children's learning. Many teachers intentionally involve the parents in the evolution of the portfolio or make parents an audition or both.
For instance, to involve parents in the process,
- teachers make sure parents view virtually pupil work on a consistent basis; for instance,
- some teachers require students to get much of their piece of work signed by parents to be returned to schoolhouse;
- some teachers send work home in a two-pocket folder in which ane pocket contains work that can stay home and the other pocket contains work that can be viewed past parents but should be returned to school, each pocket carefully labeled as such;
- some teachers use a iii-pocket binder in which the 3rd pocket is a identify parents can pass forth notes or comments or questions;
- teachers also invite parents to provide feedback or ask questions about student piece of work; for example,
- a reflection sheet, maybe like to the ones students consummate, can exist attached to some of the pieces of piece of work sent habitation inviting parents to make comments, inquire questions or provide evaluation;
- parents might be invited to provide a summary reflection of work they have seen so far;
- or simply place ane or two pieces of work or aspects of their children'southward work that they about like or are most surprised about.
To share the portfolio with parents,
- many schools host Portfolio Nights, at which students ofttimes guide their parent or parents through the story of their work. Having the Night at school allows the student to more hands share the variety of 2- and three-dimensional piece of work they have created.
- later on instructor evaluation of the portfolio (if that is done), the consummate portfolio might be sent home for the parents to view and possibly respond to. This might occur once at the stop of the process or periodically along the way.
A Portfolio Dark too provides an opportunity for other members of the school or larger community to view educatee portfolios. The portfolios may simply exist on display to be sampled, or students might guide other audiences through their work.
Similarly, during the school twenty-four hours students can share their portfolios with students from other classes or with schoolhouse personnel.
Audiences beyond the classroom, school and family
An external audition for pupil piece of work can serve to motivate students to give more attention to and accept more than seriously their functioning. First, it may give more than legitimacy to assigned piece of work. If the work is to be externally reviewed, it suggests that it is not merely "busy piece of work" that provides a class but that it is something accurate valued outside the walls of the classroom. Second, some students may accept more care in their work when they believe a new, dissimilar, and perhaps expert audience volition exist viewing it.
To extend the audience beyond the classroom, schoolhouse and family unit, teachers have adopted a diversity of approaches, including
- expanding the audience at Portfolio Nights to include a larger community, mayhap fifty-fifty authors, or scientists or other professionals relevant to the work in the portfolio;
- inviting professionals or experts in a detail field to come listen to presentations of the portfolios;
- inviting professionals or experts to serve as 1 of the reviewers or evaluators of the portfolios;
- encourage or require students to share their piece of work with a larger audience through the Spider web or other media. Publishing on the Spider web also allows students to solicit comments or questions.
Preparing the student to share
But every bit we exercise not expect children to write or speak well without considerable instruction and practice, it is not reasonable to expect students to effortlessly and finer share their stories without some aid. Teachers have devised a number of strategies to prepare students to communicate with the target audition. Some such strategies include
- pairing upwardly students in grade ("portfolio partners") to practice presenting their work to each other;
- pairing up the author of the portfolio with an older educatee a few grades above. The younger student would practice presenting her work as if she is presenting it to the intended audience (e.g., parents at a Portfolio Dark). Both students can benefit as the older student provides feedback and encouragement and may increase her own cocky-efficacy for the task through modeling and tutoring the younger pupil.
- providing models. Teachers provide models of good portfolios that illustrate how the production itself can effectively communicate with an audition through the way it is constructed. Teachers tin can also model the process of advice by walking through how he or she would share a portfolio with a specific audition.
Evaluation: If the portfolio is to be used for evaluation, how and when should information technology exist evaluated?
As with all of the elements of portfolios described above, how and when evaluation is addressed varies widely across teachers, schools and districts. Take, for example, …
Evaluation vs. Grading
Evaluation refers to the deed of making a judgment about something. Grading takes that process one step farther by assigning a course to that judgment. Evaluation may exist sufficient for a portfolio assignment. What is (are) the purpose(s) of the portfolio? If the purpose is to demonstrate growth, the instructor could make judgments about the evidence of progress and provide those judgments equally feedback to the student or make annotation of them for her ain records. Similarly, the student could cocky-assess progress shown or not shown, goals met or not met. No form needs to be assigned. On a larger scale, an evaluation of the contents inside the portfolio or of the entire package may be conducted by external bodies (e.g., community members, other educators, state boards) for the purpose of judging completion of sure standards or requirements. Although the evaluation is serious, and graduation might even hinge on information technology, no classroom grade may be assigned.
On the other manus, the work within the portfolio and the process of assembling and reflecting upon the portfolio may incorporate such a significant portion of a student'due south work in a grade or class that the instructor deems information technology appropriate to assign a value to it and incorporate it into the student's terminal grade. Alternatively, some teachers assign grades because they believe without grades there would non exist sufficient incentive for some students to complete the portfolio. Ahh, simply …
What to Class
Nothing. Some teachers choose non to grade the portfolio because they have already assigned grades to the contents selected for inclusion.
The metacognitive and organizational elements. But the portfolio is more than just a collection of student piece of work. Depending on its purpose, students might take also included reflections on growth, on strengths and weaknesses, on goals that were or are to be fix, on why certain samples tell a certain story about them, or on why the contents reverberate sufficient progress to indicate completion of designated standards. Some of the procedure skills may also be part of the teacher'southward or school's or district's standards. So, the portfolio provides some evidence of attainment of those standards. Any or all of these elements can be evaluated and/or graded.
Completion. Some portfolios are graded only on whether or not the portfolio was completed.
Everything. Other teachers evaluate the entire parcel: the selected samples of student work as well equally the reflection, organization and presentation of the portfolio.
How to Form/Evaluate
Most of the portfolio assignments I have seen have been evaluated or graded with a rubric. A groovy deal of personal judgment goes into evaluating a complex product such every bit a portfolio. Thus, applying a rubric, a tool which can provide some clarity and consistency to the evaluation of such products, to the judgment of quality of the story being told and the elements making upward that story makes sense. Moreover, if the portfolio is to be evaluated my multiple judges, application of a rubric increases the likelihood of consistency among the judges.
Examples of Portfolio Rubrics
What might a portfolio rubric await like? If the focus of the grading is primarily on whether the samples of educatee work inside the portfolio demonstrate certain competencies, the criteria within the rubric will target those competencies. For instance,
Evaluating competencies
- Electric and calculator engineering portfolio rubric
Or, Completing requirements
Meeting standards
Evaluating the portfolio as a whole
- Electronic portfolio rubric - very detailed criteria
Who evaluates
The more nosotros can involve students in the assessment process, the more likely they will take ownership of it, exist engaged in it, and find it worthwhile. So, it makes sense to involve students in the evaluation procedure of their portfolios as well. They have likely engaged in some cocky-cess in the reflection or goal-setting components of the portfolio. Additionally, students are capable of evaluating how well their portfolio elements see standards, requirements, or competencies, for their own portfolios or those of their peers. Furthermore, older peers could make excellent judges of the work of younger students. Cross-grade peer tutoring has demonstrated how well the older and younger students respond to such interactions.
Obviously, the classroom instructor, other educators, review board members, community members, etc. can all serve as judges of pupil piece of work. If multiple judges are used, particularly if they are non directly familiar with the pupil work or assignments, training on a rubric should exist provided before evaluation gain. The evaluators should be familiar with and articulate on the criteria and the levels of functioning within the rubric. A calibration session, in which the judges evaluate some sample portfolios and and so share ratings to reach some consensus on what each criteria and level of performance within the rubric means, tin provide a good opportunity for judges to achieve some competence and consistency in applying a rubric.
Oh, what fun would that be! Actually, the answer is a qualified "yes." Portfolios do typically require considerable work, especially if conferencing is involved. But with most anything, including assessment, I recommend that you lot start small.
Hither's a quick, like shooting fish in a barrel way to go started if whatever of the higher up thoughts has either encouraged you or not discouraged you from considering assigning portfolios in your little earth. The following describes simply one possible manner to get started.
Step ane. Depending on the age of your students and other considerations, accept students select two pieces of their work over the course of a quarter (or three or four over a semester). Make up one's mind (with your students or without) upon one or more than criteria by which the selection will be guided (e.thou., their all-time piece of work). To limit management time, don't wait for the end of the quarter for students to brand those selections. Otherwise, all their piece of work will have to exist collected forth the way. Instead, if you lot want to keep it simple, tell your students alee of time that they volition be selecting 2 or more than pieces matching certain criteria, and that you volition enquire them to do it at the bespeak each sample is completed.
Footstep 2. At the time a educatee selects a sample to be included in his portfolio, require the pupil to complete a brief reflection canvas and adhere information technology to the sample.
Step 3. Depending on the age of your students, ask your educatee to salve that sample and the attached reflection sail until the stop of the quarter or semester, or collect it and shop it yourself at that point.
Step 4. At the end of the quarter or semester, ask your students to reflect upon the samples one additional time by describing what they liked best about their work, or by identifying strengths and weaknesses, or by setting one or two goals for the futurity.
At that place, that wasn't too painful. Okay, you ask, that was relatively unproblematic, merely did information technology really accomplish annihilation? Good question. If you don't think so, don't do it. On the other mitt, it could possibly have a few benefits worth the endeavor. Starting time, if nothing else information technology gave you some feel working with portfolios. If y'all want to pursue portfolios in a more than elaborate manner, at least you are now more familiar with some of the bug involved. 2nd, if you think developing cocky-assessment skills in your students is a worthwhile goal, you have also begun that process. Even a little reflection on your students' office may be more than some of them typically requite to their work. Finally, y'all may take opened, even if it is only a little bit, a new avenue for you and your students to communicate with their parents about their performance, their strengths and weaknesses, and their habits. Any of those reasons may be sufficient to effort your hand at portfolios. Adept luck!
Copyright 2018, Jon Mueller. Professor of Psychology, North Central College, Naperville, IL. Comments, questions or suggestions about this website should exist sent to the writer, Jon Mueller, at jfmueller@noctrl.edu.
Source: http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm
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