Week 3 KWL

Formats of Portfolios

Things I know:

• Artist's often use large folio type formats.
• Portfolios can be in binders with dividers and tabs.
• Student portfolios are sometimes in bins or boxes.
  
• Portfolios can be digital or electronic.

Things I want to know:

• How do you put together a paper format portfolio? What is needed?
  
• How do you put together a digital portfolio? What is needed?
  
• What are the advantages and disadvantages to each kind of portfolio?

Things I learned:

• Digital portfolios are more portable and can be shared with multiple people at the same time.
• Digital portfolios can highlight technology skills.
• Digital portfolios are easy to update, especially when things are often created electronically for lesson planning and teaching anyway.
• While presentation style is important, content is the most important component of a portfolio.
• Digital portfolios can be organized more complexly with hyper linking.
• The multi media aspect of a digital portfolio allows the portfolio content to be more complex and more specific to the individual's strengths, creativity and personality.
• Electronic portfolio development can be more time consuming and more expensive.
• Digital portfolios can be created using templates at commercial sites or using HTML at personal websites.
  

Week 2 KWL

Using portfolios throughout a teaching career:

Things I know

• As a pre-service teacher, portfolios can be used to demonstrate knowledge of the profession and best practices.
• Pre-service teachers can use a portfolio to reflect on interest in teaching and skills/traits beneficial to a teacher.
• In-service teacher uses for professional development.
• In-service teacher uses to show growth and change.
• In-service teacher uses for reflection of teaching.

Things I want to know

• How to put together and manage a portfolio as years go on and teaching experience grows.
• What are the components of a pre-service teaching portfolio?
• What are the components of an in-service teaching portfolio? What things should be saved and documented?
• What other uses are there for pre-service and in-service teaching portfolios?

Things I learned

• Portfolios are becoming and important aspect of the hiring process for teachers.
• Portfolios are beneficial during the interview process as they provide documentation and reference for interview questions.
  
• Portfolios should include a reflective aspect, an explanation of what experiences and knowledge mean to the individual.
• Portfolios can offer a more holistic view of a teacher, his/her experiences and teaching philosophies.
  
• Portfolios are an effective method for organizing and sharing components of teaching, including professional development, professional accomplishments, student work, student accomplishments and self reflection.
• Portfolios can also be a valuable tool in the classroom for documenting student work and student growth and offering a tool for student self reflection.
  

K-W-L Chart

Things I know about portfolios:

• collection of items
• used by artists, photographers and designers to highlight their body of work
• organization of someone's body of work and accomplishments
  
• used for finances and investments
• sometimes used to judge, grade or evaluate a person's work

Things I want to know:

• how it is used for education purposes
• how to do it electronically
• how to put together a comprehensive portfolio
• necessary components of a portfolio

Things I learned from this week's readings:

• professional portfolios are compilations of a person's work and progression in his/her field
• there are two types: working portfolios and presentation portfolios. Working portfolios contain collections of past work and work in progress. Presentation portfolios contain work samples and items that have been carefully selected to highlight specific areas or skills
• teaching portfolios contain materials and artifacts from teaching such as curriculum units, notes to parents, syllabus, writing samples, evaluations, classroom videos and student samples
  
• digital or electronic portfolios contain the same things as a paper portfolio, but in digital format
• digital portfolios are easy and inexpensive to reproduce, demonstrate knowledge and use of technology, allow creativity and are easy to share
• creating and maintaining a teaching portfolio should be an ongoing process, with careful selection and editing criteria and a good organization system