Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practices for Students
Portfolios are increasingly becoming the means of demonstrating the skills, experiences, and accomplishments of teachers. The portfolio strategy is an assessment tool that allows the gathering of multiple measures during the teacher preparation program. Student teachers were provided rubrics for designing a web site and for developing portfolio tasks based on national and state new teacher standards.
During the winter, 2004 semester, New England College and Rivier College collaborated with the South Central Manchester Professional Development Center using a portion of the PT3 Grant in creating web-based digital portfolios.
Southern New Hampshire University
The TIP Grant Program brought together SNHU faculty and teachers from the Manchester School District to improve education in all areas from kindergarten to high school by appropriately integrating technology in all curricula.
Under the leadership of Dr. Debra Nitschke-Shaw, students at New England College created working portfolios using the Learning Central PLP program. David Gibson worked directly with the college to make the portfolio program fit their needs. Students in Debra's courses learned what pieces they should be collecting, how to align their artifacts with teaching certification standards, and reflected on each piece of work in light of the standards that were selected. Below are links to three students' published portfolios:
From the Learning Central site: "Personal Learning Portal (PLP), which we also call the Personal Learning Planner, and Professional Learning Portfolio. The PLP is designed to help you or your team be the center of a conversation about your learning. Advisors and your friends advise and help you to reflect on your knowledge and skills, set goals, and produce high quality work. The PLP is a work space as well as an electronic portfolio."
Rivier College
At Rivier College, students learned how to create portfolios in Dr. Fiona McDonnell's classes. An example of this fine work is shown here for graduate student, Ms. Debbie Bell. Although her portfolio is much more extensive, we have selected pieces to go with some of the ED 610 standards to show others how they might proceed.
- Ed 610 Portfolio Standards
- Debbie's Philosophy of Education
ED 610.02 (a)
The teacher believes that each student can achieve at the highest level possible for that student, shows respect for student's varied talents and perspectives, and persists in helping all students achieve success;
This lesson was done on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We began the lesson by reading The Important Book. which describes important attributes about different objects. After we read the book we discussed attributes and contributions that Dr. King made while he was alive. The students and I collaborated on an Important Poem about Dr. King and were then asked to write one about them. The student whose work is presented here has been identified with reading and writing issues. He was the first one in the class to complete his poem and I had him read it aloud for others to hear. He was very proud to have shared it with the class.
All the shared pieces of this portfolio may be downloaded by clicking on the link. Images may be seen by clicking on the image and then clicking back to return to this page.
The Important Book
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ED61O.02 (c)
The teacher creates meaningful learning experiences based upon knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject matter, the students, the community, local curricula, and state curriculum frameworks;
This unit was created to teach the students about their own community. Students were given a book created by me to use in pIace of their basals for the week. The students were also assigned a building or place in the community that they were to write a riddle about, discuss and paint on our town map. I was amazed at the enthusiasm they all had for this unit. They all really developed a great interest in our community helpers in Derry, the town's history and the town's future.
The Book about Derry
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Student town map
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Places in the town
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ED61O.02 (d)
The teacher understands how students learn and develop and provides opportunities that support their cognitive, linguistic, creative, social, moral emotional and physical development.
One activity we did while studying our community was to create our own unique communities. After reading the story Roxaboxen. the students created their version of Roxaboxen in their computer class. (Roxaboxen was a fictitious community created by children years ago in Arizona.) After they designed the community on the computer we went outside in the school yard and they created it themselves, just as the children in Roxaboxen had the opportunity to do.
Student's Roxaboxen
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Students create create their own on the playground. |
ED 610.02 (g)
The teacher creates a challenging, dynamic, and safe classroom and school community that:
- Is sensitive to the full range of student diversity;
- Encourages openness, tolerance, respect, caring, collaboration, and self motivation;
- Emphasizes both individual and collective responsibility; and
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Fosters a concern for social justice;
During a mini-unit we did on rocks, we read the story Evervbody Needs A Rock. In this story the author lists ten rules to finding your own perfect rock. After reading the story the students were taken out to the playground to apply the rules they had just heard, and find their perfect rock. Students were then given a Rock Journal. Individually they needed to record what rules they applied to finding their rock, after they were done we shared the different strategies they used. During our study of rocks there were also times when they had to work in cooperative groups to study their rocks. They had to observe them with magnifying glasses. They also needed to weigh and measure the rocks.
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Students make rock journals
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ED6l0.02 (h)
The teacher demonstrates proficient oral, written, and nonverbal communication - and promotes the development of these skills in students;
As part of our unit on Families, I had the students create Family Scrapbooks. The students were asked to bring in pictures on themselves and their families. Each day the students used their writing block to write about a picture for their books. Before each student began his or her writing, I modeled my own writing piece for my scrapbook.
A Student portrait
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Student Scrapbooks
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ED6l0.02 (m)
The teacher evaluates and uses a variety of current technologies to enhance instruction and to advance students' technological literacy.
As a wrap up to our mini-unit on rocks the students made pet rocks. They took their pet rocks to computer skills and were asked to create stories about their pets.
My Pet Rock |
Student at the Computer
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Please click here to download a copy of Stephanie A. Cournoyer's portfolio. Pictures were not included because they were not allowed on the web by the participating school.
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