General: Practice

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You Are Here: Pedagogy>Portfolio>General Practice> Practice

Organizing a Portfolio Learning Environment
How to Get Organized - practical suggestions
Parents and Portfolio - sample letters
Parents and Portfolio - frequently asked questions
Portfolio organizers for early readers and writers

Organizing a portfolio Learning Environment

When you decide to embark on the Portfolio journey, your whole way of thinking begins to change... You begin to see your students differently as well as teaching itself. In order to facilitate this process in your classroom, you will want to make your space as portfolio friendly as possible.

The following are some suggestions to help you organize yourself and your students & create a portfolio world of your own!

Learning Plan

Since the portfolio process has the students choosing their best best pieces from a collection of, they will work best if they have a regular, routine for their activities. This may mean that the students are used to completing 10 minutes of journal writing each day, or completing a response to a start each week.
It is also very helpful if the students know the criteria for their portfolio ahead of time. Just like us, they work better when they know what the expectations are. This could be in the form of a checklist indicating each piece that should be included in the portfolio.
A checklist is very helpful for the parents too, especially if portfolio is new to their children. (see example bellow)

Sample checklist for portfolio in Sec. Cycle 1
Before you hand in your portfolio, please make sure that each of the following is complete.Check each item off as you go along: You have completed all the writing pieces for your term plan (minimum of 5 pieces). All of the pieces in your writing folder (not your portfolio) are paper clipped (with all rough work) and in the order that you have completed them. Your portfolio folder is decorated to reflect you as an individual and as an English Language Arts .learner. You have completed the first part of your digital portfolio (personal information section). You have chosen the three pieces that you are most proud of and/or that you have learned the most from. You have conferenced with the teacher and have a record of it in your portfolio. You have conferenced with a parent or guardian and have placed this record in your portfolio. You have edited and peer-edited each piece in your portfolio. You have improved it since your last submission, and proofread it with a magnifying glass. Each portfolio piece is typed and saved on your class disk. You have completed a self-evaluation for each piece.

Sample checklist for portfolio in Sec. Cycle 1

Before you hand in your portfolio, please make sure that each of the following is complete.Check each item off as you go along: You have completed all the writing pieces for your term plan (minimum of 5 pieces).

All of the pieces in your writing folder (not your portfolio) are paper clipped (with all rough work) and in the order that you have completed them.
Your portfolio folder is decorated to reflect you as an individual and as an English Language Arts .learner.
You have completed the first part of your digital portfolio (personal information section).
You have chosen the three pieces that you are most proud of and/or that you have learned the most from.
You have conferenced with the teacher and have a record of it in your portfolio.
You have conferenced with a parent or guardian and have placed this record in your portfolio.
You have edited and peer-edited each piece in your portfolio. You have improved it since your last submission, and proofread it with a magnifying glass.
Each portfolio piece is typed and saved on your class disk.
You have completed a self-evaluation for each piece.

Classroom Layout

Since a portfolio classroom involves things like collaboration, peer conferencing and sharing, it is best if the set up of the area fosters these activities. Here are some suggestions to promote this type of learning: Move the teacher's desk to a good place for observation & conferencing. Create centers for peer conferencing & revising. Create resource centers where students can find materials (extra paper) and important books (dictionaries, thesauruses, rhyming dictionaries...) Group the students' desks in order to promote collaboration. Display model student work wherever you can.

A floor plan is often helpful when trying a new layout.

Hint:

This can become an integrated Math activity where students explore while building the environment.

How to get organized

What is Needed:	What this may look like:
Portfolio location in the classroom or Class Portfolio containers	bookshelf, milk crates, boxes, computer
Individual student portfolio containers	binder, duo tang, folder, box, scrapbook, envelope, disk, server space
Portfolio definitions and vocabulary of collection, selection, reflection, self-evaluation, conference, goals	class brainstorm, model portfolios, class statement, personal dictionaries.
Personalize individual portfolios	collage, drawings, painting, computer
Devise a class portfolio system	criteria for submissions, what will go in the portfolio, when, deadlines, need for dates, pen? pencil? computer?
Set Goals...	post it notes, handout, should be in some written form, for later reference
Collection	class assignments & activities, homework, artefacts
Selection	based on predetermined criteria known by all students
Reflection	verbal, audio, video, written, drawn
Conference (teacher, parent, peer)	conference note sheets, conference procedure, trial run
Evaluation	feedback, checklists, continuum
Celebration	food, certificates for all, video camera

Parents and Portfolio

Below you will find various tools to help you to integrate parents into the portfolio process. These tools include:

sample letters to parents to help explain new approaches and ways of doing things

Letter to Parents 1

3 Sample Letters

Questions Parents Ask and Possible Responses : A role-play for a team of teachers - featuring questions that parents often ask about portfolio process as well as about curricular reforms. These questions are accompanied by some ways of answering parental queries. Click here for a webpage featuring both the questions and their possible answers.
Questions Parents Ask Possible Responses

How to...

Print out both attachments and cut each page in half.
Half the staff receives the Parent questions and the other half receives the responses.
The first parent question is posed to the group and each teacher is encouraged to take a turn at responding.
At the end, the person with the card can read the information provided.

Goal...

Learn from one another on how to respond to certain questions and to be prepared for common questions parents ask.

Portfolio Organization
My Portfolio Contents A portfolio organizer for early writers. My Portfolio Contents A clear portfolio organizer for early and developping writers.	My Portfolio Contents 2 A portfolio organizer sheet organized by school "subject" , allowing the teacher to list the key features of the competencies of her choice.