Saturday, April 11, 2009

Portfolios

"A portfolio is a limited collection of a student's work used either to present the student's best work or to demonstrate the student's educational growth over a given time, on one or a set of learning targets. Items included in a portfolio are carefully selected so the collection as a whole accomplishes its purpose. The two kinds of portfolios are best works portfolios and growth and learning-progress portfolios.

During my sophomore field experience, I observed a teacher who was in the middle of helping her students with their goal sheets, the students assess their own work and write down what they believe needs to improve. The teacher then puts the students' goal sheets in their portfolios. Each portfolio has a goal sheet.

The week that I observed the class, they were learning how to write a letter properly, the letters were to President Obama. The students had the opportunity to revise the letters twice as they continued to review their grammar and spelling. All three versions of the letter were put into their portfolios. The teacher explained to me that the point of the assignment was for the students to self-assess their work.

The portfolios also contain the students' work in other subjects, the students are able to see how much they have progressed in each area.

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