Include the Basis for Evaluating the Work E.g.:required Readings, Frequency of Meetings
Portfolios
What is a Portfolio?
- Are Portfolios Authentic Assessments?
- Purpose: What is the purpose(due south) of the portfolio?
- Audience: For what audience(s) volition the portfolio be created?
- Content: What samples of student work will be included?
- Procedure: What processes volition be engaged in during the development of the portfolio?
- Selection of Contents
- Reflection on Samples of Work
- Conferencing on Student Work and Processes
- Direction: How will fourth dimension 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's work specifically selected to tell a particular story most the pupil
What is a Portfolio?
Note: My focus will be on portfolios of student work rather than teacher portfolios or other types.
Student portfolios accept many forms, equally discussed below, and then it is not easy to describe them. A portfolio is not the pile of educatee work that accumulates over a semester or twelvemonth. Rather, a portfolio contains a purposefully selected subset of pupil work. "Purposefully" selecting educatee work ways deciding what type of story you want the portfolio to tell. For example, do you lot want it to highlight or celebrate the progress a student has made? Then, the portfolio might contain samples of earlier and after work, oft with the educatee commenting upon or assessing the growth. Practise you lot want the portfolio to capture the process of learning and growth? Then, the educatee and/or teacher 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 final products or best work of a student? In that instance, the portfolio would likely contain samples that best exemplify the pupil's current ability to employ relevant knowledge and skills. All decisions well-nigh a portfolio assignment brainstorm with the type of story or purpose for the portfolio. The item purpose(due south) served, the number and blazon of items included, the process 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 similar. I volition describe many of the purposes and characteristics in the sections below.
Are Portfolios Authentic Assessments?
Some propose that portfolios are not actually assessments at all considering they are merely collections of previously completed assessments. Only, if nosotros consider assessing as gathering of information near someone or something for a purpose, then a portfolio is a type of assessment. Sometimes the portfolio is also evaluated or graded, just that is not necessary to be considered an assessment.
Are portfolios accurate assessments? Student portfolios have most 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 awarding 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 authentic performances. Educators are expanding this story-telling to other disciplines such as concrete education, mathematics and the social sciences to capture the diversity of demonstrations of meaningful awarding from students inside these disciplines.
Furthermore, in the more thoughtful portfolio assignments, students are asked to reflect on their work, to engage in self-assessment and goal-setting. Those are two of the nearly authentic skills students demand to develop to successfully manage in the real world. Enquiry has found that students in classes that emphasize improvement, progress, effort and the process of learning rather than grades and normative performance are more likely to use a multifariousness of learning strategies and take a more positive mental attitude toward learning. Even so in education 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 set goals for hereafter work; the concluding product and evaluation of information technology receives the bulk of the attention in many classrooms. Consequently, students are non developing the metacognitive skills that will enable them to reflect upon and make adjustments in their learning in school and across.
Portfolios provide an first-class vehicle for consideration of procedure and the development of related skills. So, portfolios are often included with other types of authentic assessments considering they move away from telling a student'due south story though examination scores and, instead, focus on a meaningful collection of pupil performance and meaningful reflection and evaluation of that work.
Why utilise Portfolios?
The previous department identifies several valuable goals that make portfolios bonny in education. The sections that follow emphasize that identifying specific goals or purposes for assigning a portfolio is the first and most critical step in creating such an assignment. Just as identifying a standard guides the rest of the steps of developing an authentic assessment, identifying the purpose(southward) for a portfolio influences all the other decisions involved in producing a portfolio assignment. I volition list several of the most common purposes here, and and then I will elaborate on how each purpose affects the other decisions in the section below.
Purposes
Why might you apply a portfolio assignment? Portfolios typically are created for one of the following three purposes: to show growth, to showcase current abilities, and to evaluate cumulative accomplishment. Some examples of such purposes include
1. Growth Portfolios
a. to show growth or alter over time
b. to aid develop process skills such every bit self-evaluation and goal-setting
c. to identify strengths and weaknesses
d. to track the development of one more products/performances
2. Showcase Portfolios
a. to showcase end-of-year/semester accomplishments
b. to ready a sample of best piece of work for employment or college admission
c. to showcase student perceptions of favorite, best or nigh important work
d. to communicate a student's current aptitudes to future teachers
3. Evaluation Portfolios
a. to document achievement for grading purposes
b. to document progress towards standards
c. to place students accordingly
The growth portfolio emphasizes the procedure of learning whereas the showcase portfolio emphasizes the products of learning. Of course, a portfolio may tell more one story, including more than 1 category above. For example, a showcase portfolio might also exist used for evaluation purposes, and a growth portfolio might too showcase "final" performances or products. What is critical is that the purpose(s) is articulate throughout the process to pupil, teacher and whatsoever other pertinent audience. To elaborate on how the purpose affects the portfolio assignment let me answer the question...
How do yous Create a Portfolio Consignment?
I think of most tasks equally problems to be solved, or questions to exist answered. And so, I detect it useful to approach how to do something by thinking of it as a serial of questions to be answered. Thus, I will try to offer a possible answer to the question higher up past answering a series of questions that need to exist addressed when because the pattern of a portfolio consignment. Those questions are:
one. Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?
2. Audience: For what audience(s) volition the portfolio be created?
iii. Content: What samples of student piece of work will be included?
4. Process: What processes (e.g., selection of work to exist included, reflection on 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?
vi. Communication: How and when will the portfolio be shared with pertinent audiences?
7. Evaluation: If the portfolio is to exist used for evaluation, when and how should it be evaluated?
Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?
Equally mentioned above, before you can blueprint the portfolio assignment and before your students can begin constructing their portfolios y'all and your students need to be clear about the story the portfolio will be telling. Certainly, you should not assign a portfolio unless you lot have a compelling reason to do then. Portfolios take work to create, manage and assess. They can easily experience similar busywork and a brunt to you and your students if they just become folders filled with pupil papers. You and your students need to believe that the selection of and reflection upon their work serves one or more meaningful purposes.
Audience: For what audience(s) will the portfolio be created?
Selecting relevant audiences for a portfolio goes paw-in-hand with identifying your purposes. Who should see the show of a student's growth? The pupil, teacher and parents are good audiences to follow the story of a student'south progress on a certain project or in the evolution of certain skills. Who should run across a student's best or final work? Once more, the student, teacher and parents might exist good audiences for such a drove, but other natural audiences come up to mind such as class or schoolmates, external audiences such as employers or colleges, the local customs or schoolhouse board. Every bit the teacher, you can dictate what audiences volition exist considered or you can allow students accept some choice in the decision.
Just as the purposes for the portfolio should guide the development of it, the selection of audiences should shape its structure. For example, for audiences exterior the classroom information technology is helpful to include a cover folio or tabular array of contents that helps someone unfamiliar with the assignment to navigate through the portfolio and provide context for what is found inside. Students need to go on their audiences in mind as they keep through each stride of developing their portfolios. A good method for checking whether a portfolio serves the predictable audiences is to imagine unlike members of those audiences viewing the portfolio. Can each of them tell why you lot created the portfolio? Are they able to make sense of the story you lot wanted to tell them? Can they navigate around and through the portfolio? Do they know why you lot included what y'all did? Have y'all used linguistic communication suitable for those audiences?
Content: What samples of pupil piece of work will be included?
Every bit you tin imagine, the reply to the question of content is dependent on the answers to the questions of purpose and audience. What should be included? Well, what story do y'all desire to tell? Before I consider what types of items might be advisable for different purposes, let me make a more full general point. First, hypothetically, there is no limit as to what can be included in a portfolio. Paper products such equally essays, homework, messages, projects, etc. are most common. Just more and more than other types of media are being included in portfolios. Sound and videotapes, cd-roms, two- and three-dimensional pieces of fine 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 newspaper products, and digitizing audio. All of those files are then copied onto a pupil'southward cd-rom for a semester or a year or to follow the student across grades as a cumulative tape. Realistically, you accept to make up one's mind what is manageable. Simply if the most meaningful evidence of the portfolio's goals cannot be captured on paper, and then you may consider including other types of media.
Patently, there are a considerable number and variety of types of student work that can be selected every bit samples for a portfolio. Using the purposes given above for each type of portfolio, I have listed simply a few such possible samples of work in the following tables that could be included in each type of portfolio.
| Growth Portfolios: What samples might be included? | |
| Purpose | Some possible inclusions |
| a. to show growth or modify over time |
|
| b. to help develop process skills |
|
| c. to identify strengths/weaknesses |
|
| d. to rails development of one or more than products or performances |
|
| Showcase Portfolios: What samples might exist included? | |
| Purpose | Some possible inclusions |
| a. to showcase cease-of-twelvemonth/semester accomplishments |
|
| b. to set a sample of best work for employment or college admission |
|
| c. to showcase student perceptions of favorite, best or most of import |
|
| d. to communicate a student's current aptitude |
|
| Evaluation Portfolios: What samples might be included? | |
| Purpose | Some possible inclusions |
| a. to document accomplishment for grading |
|
| b. to document progress towards standards |
|
| c. to place students accordingly |
|
Other Content
In add-on to samples of student work and reflection upon that work, a portfolio might likewise include a tabular array of contents or a cover letter of the alphabet (both typically composed past the student) to aid a reader in making sense of the purposes, processes and contents of the portfolio. This can be especially useful if the portfolio is to be shared with external audiences unfamiliar with the coursework such equally parents, other educators and customs members.
Procedure: What processes will exist engaged in during the development of the portfolio?
1 of the greatest attributes of the portfolio is its potential for focusing on the processes of learning. Also frequently in education we emphasize the products students create or the outcomes they achieve. But we do not give sufficient attention to the processes required to create those products or outcomes, the processes involved in self-diagnosis and self-improvement, or the metacognitive processes of thinking. As a result, the products or outcomes are non equally expert as we or the students would like because they are often unsure how to get started, how to cocky-diagnose or cocky-right or how to determine when a work is "finished."
Although a variety of processes can be developed or explored through portfolios, I volition focus on three of the most mutual:
- selection of contents of the portfolio;
- reflection on the samples of work and processes;
- conferencing about the contents and processes.
Selection of Contents
Once more, identifying the purpose(due south) for the portfolio should drive the choice process. As listed in the tables above, different samples of student work volition probable exist selected for different purposes. Additionally, how samples are selected might too differ depending on the purpose. For example, for an evaluation portfolio, the teacher might decide which samples need to be included to evaluate student progress. On the other hand, including the pupil in the conclusion-making process of determining appropriate types of samples for inclusion might be more critical for a growth portfolio to promote meaningful reflection. Finally, a showcase portfolio might be designed to include significant input from the pupil on which samples best highlight achievement 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 community members. External audiences are most likely to play a part for evaluation portfolios. Even so, information technology is important to call up there are no difficult rules about portfolios. Anything can be included in a portfolio. Anyone can be involved in the processes of selection, reflection and evaluation of a portfolio. Flexibility applies to portfolios as it does to any accurate cess. That is, you should be true to your purpose(s), only you should feel no constraints on how you meet them with a portfolio assignment.
How might the selection accept 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. Only these examples should requite y'all a good 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 slice of work is ready to be turned in (or once 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 can be stored so that choice might occur every ii (iii, half-dozen or nine) weeks or in one case (twice or iii times) every quarter (trimester or semester);
- at the terminate of the ... unit, quarter, semester, year, etc.
Past whom?
- past the pupil -- students are the most mutual selectors, particularly for portfolios that ask them to reverberate on the work selected. Which piece of work students select depends on the criteria used to choose each piece (meet below).
- by the teacher -- teachers may exist the selector, especially when identifying best pieces of piece of work to showcase a student'southward strengths or accomplishments.
- past the student and teacher -- sometimes portfolio pick is a joint process involving conversation and collaboration.
- by peers -- a student might be assigned a "portfolio partner" or "portfolio buddy" who assists the educatee in selecting advisable pieces of work often equally part of a articulation process involving conversation and collaboration. A peer might too provide some reflection on a piece of work to exist included in the portfolio.
- past parents -- parents might as well be asked to select a slice or two for inclusion that they particularly found impressive, surprising, reflective of improvement, etc.
Based on what criteria?
- best work -- option for showcase portfolios volition typically focus on samples of work that illustrate students' best performance in designated areas or the culmination of progress fabricated
- evidence of growth -- choice for growth portfolios volition focus on identifying samples of work and piece of work processes (e.k., drafts, notes) that best capture progress shown on designated tasks, processes or acquisition of knowledge and skills. For example, students might exist asked to cull
- samples of earlier and later work highlighting some skill or content expanse
- samples of rough drafts and final drafts
- work that traces the development of a detail product or performance
- samples of piece of work reflecting specifically identified strengths and weaknesses
- testify of achievement -- particularly for showcase and evaluation portfolios, selection might focus on samples of work that illustrate electric current levels of competence in designated areas or particular exemplars of quality work
- show of standards met -- similarly, choice could focus on samples of work that illustrate how successfully students have met certain standards
- favorite/nigh of import slice -- to assist develop recognition of the value of the work completed and to foster pride in that work, choice might focus on samples to which students or parents or others find a connection or with which they are peculiarly enamored
- one or more than of the above -- a portfolio can include samples of work for multiple reasons and, thus, more than one of the higher up criteria (or others) could be used for selecting samples to be included
Reflection on Samples of Work
Many educators who work with portfolios consider the reflection component the most critical element of a good portfolio. Simply selecting samples of work as described above tin produce meaningful stories about students, and others tin can benefit from "reading" these stories. But the students themselves are missing meaning benefits of the portfolio process if they are non asked to reflect upon the quality and growth of their work. As Paulson, Paulson and Meyer (1991) stated, "The portfolio is something that is done by the student, not to the student." Nearly importantly, it is something done for the student. The educatee needs to be directly involved in each phase of the portfolio development to learn the about from it, and the reflection phase holds the most promise for promoting student growth.
In the reflection stage students are typically asked to
- comment on why specific samples were selected or
- comment on what they liked and did not like in the samples or
- annotate on or identify the processes involved in developing specific products or performances or
- describe and indicate to examples of how specific skills or knowledge improved (or did non) or
- identify strengths and weaknesses in samples of work or
- ready goals for themselves corresponding to the strengths and weaknesses or
- identify strategies for reaching those goals or
- assess their past and current self-efficacy for a task 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 sheet to exist attached to the sample (or samples) of work which the reflection is addressing. The possibilities for reflection questions or prompts are endless, merely 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 run across the criteria for selection for your portfolio?
- I chose this piece because ....
Growth questions/prompts
- What are the strengths of this work? Weaknesses?
- What would y'all piece of work on more if yous had additional time?
- How has your ______ (east.g., writing) inverse since last year?
- What do y'all know about ______ (e.one thousand., the scientific method) that you did not know at the starting time of the yr (or semester, etc.)?
- Looking at (or thinking about) an before piece of similar work, how does this new piece of work compare? How is it better or worse? Where can yous 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 simply now I can is ....
- From reviewing this piece I learned ....
Goal-setting questions/prompts
- What is one matter you can ameliorate upon in this piece?
- What is a realistic goal for the stop of the quarter (semester, twelvemonth)?
- What is ane way you will try to improve your ____ (e.g., writing)?
- I thing I even so demand to piece of work on is ....
- I will piece of work toward my goal by ....
Evaluation questions/prompts
- If y'all were a teacher and grading your work, what grade would you give it and why?
- Using the appropriate rubric, give yourself a score and justify it with specific traits from the rubric.
- What do you lot like or not like nearly this piece of piece of work?
- I similar this piece of work because ....
Endeavor questions/prompts
- How much time did you spend on this product/performance?
- The work would have been ameliorate if I had spent more time on ....
- I am pleased that I put pregnant effort into ....
Overall portfolio questions/prompts
- What would you like your _____ (e.g., parents) to know about or run across in your portfolio?
- What does the portfolio equally a whole reveal nigh you every bit a learner (writer, thinker, etc.)?
- A feature of this portfolio I especially like is ....
- In this portfolio I run into evidence of ....
As mentioned in a higher place, students (or others) tin respond to such questions or prompts when a piece of work is completed, while a work is in progress or at periodic intervals after the work has been nerveless. Furthermore, these questions or prompts 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 have devised a myriad of means of inducing reflection from students and others about the collection of work included in the portfolio. For example, those engaging in reflection can
- write a letter 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 periodical entries about 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 as a process skill
Good skill development requires four steps:
- Instruction and modeling of the skill;
- Exercise of the skill;
- Feedback on ane's practice;
- Reflection on the practice and feedback.
Reflection itself is a skill that enhances the procedure of skill development and about all learning in innumerable settings. Those of us who are educators, for case, need to continually reflect upon what is working or non working in our didactics, how we can improve what we are doing, how nosotros can help our students make connections to what they are learning, and much, much more. Thus, it is critical for students to learn to effectively reflect upon their learning and growth.
As a skill, reflection is not something that tin be mastered in one or ii attempts. Developing skillful reflective skills requires instruction and modeling, lots of practice, feedback and reflection. Equally many of you have probably encountered, when students are first asked to respond to prompts such every bit "I selected this piece because..." they may respond with "I recollect it is nice." Okay, that's a start. But we would like them to elaborate on that response. The fact that they did not initially elaborate is probably not just a result of resistance or reluctance. Students need to learn how to reply to such prompts. They need to learn how to effectively identify strengths and weaknesses, to set realistic goals for themselves and their work, and to develop meaningful strategies to address those goals. Students ofttimes take get dependent upon adults, particularly teachers, to evaluate their piece of work. They need to acquire cocky-assessment.
And so, the reflection phase of the portfolio process should exist ongoing throughout the portfolio development. Students need to engage in multiple reflective activities. Those instances of reflection become particularly focused if goal-setting is function of their reflection. Just as teaching 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 comeback will be more than meaningful and purposeful if they are directed toward specific goals, specially cocky-chosen goals.
In one case opportunities for reflection (practice) accept place, feedback to and further reflection upon student observations can be provided by conversations with others. Conferencing is one tool to promote such feedback and reflection.
Conferencing on Educatee Work and Processes
With twenty or xxx or more than students in a classroom, one-on-one conversations betwixt the teacher and pupil are difficult to regularly arrange. That is unfortunate because the give and take of contiguous interaction tin provide the teacher with valuable information nearly the student'southward 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/educatee -- sometimes teachers are able to informally see with a few students, one at a time, equally the other students work on some job in class. Other times, teachers use form time to schedule one-on-1 conferences during "conference days." Some teachers are able to schedule conferences outside of grade time. Typically such conferences accept only a few minutes, but they requite the teacher and the student time to epitomize progress, ask questions, and consider suggestions or strategies for improvement.
- instructor/pocket-size grouping -- other teachers, ofttimes in limerick classes, meet with a few students at a fourth dimension to talk over issues and questions that are raised, sharing common problems and reflections beyond students.
- educatee/student -- to conserve time besides as to requite students the opportunity to learn how to provide feedback along with receiving it, teachers sometimes structure peer-to-peer conferencing. The focus might be teacher-directed (east.g., "share with each other a sample of piece of work y'all recently selected for your portfolio") or pupil-directed (e.g., students use the time to get feedback on some work for a purpose they determine).
Every bit appealing as the process of students developing a portfolio can exist, the concrete and fourth dimension constraints of such a process can be daunting. Where do y'all keep all the stuff? How practice you go along track of it? Who gets admission to it and when? Should y'all manage newspaper or create an electronic portfolio? Does some piece of work get sent home earlier it is put in the portfolio? Will it come back? When will y'all notice the time for students to participate, to reflect, to conference? What about students who join your grade in the middle of the semester or yr?
There is ane reply to all these questions that can make the job less daunting: start small! That is good advice for many endeavors, simply particularly for portfolios considering there are so many factors to consider, develop and manage over a long period of fourth dimension. In the final section of this chapter (Can I do portfolios without all the fuss?) I volition elaborate on how you can get your feet wet with portfolios and avert drowning in the many decisions described beneath.
How y'all answer the many direction questions below depends, in part, on how you answered earlier questions about your purpose, audience, content and process. Return to those answers to assist you address the post-obit decisions:
| Direction Decisions | Possible Solutions |
| Should the portfolio building process wait until the end or should it occur as you go? |
|
| Will the portfolios be composed of paper or stored electronically (or both)? |
|
| Where will the work samples and reflections exist kept? | Apparently, the answer to this question depends on your respond to the previous question about storage format. The possible solutions I draw below volition presume that you lot take chosen an option that includes at least some newspaper products.
|
| Who will be responsible for saving/storing them? |
|
| Who will have admission to information technology, and when? | Who? Once again, that depends on the purposes for the portfolio.
When?
|
| How will portfolio progress be tracked? |
|
| What will the final product wait similar? | Once again, this depends on the purposes and audiences for the portfolio, every bit well every bit the type of contents to be included.
|
| What if students join your class in the middle of the process? |
|
Why share the portfolio?
By the nature of the purposes of portfolios -- to show growth, to evidenceinstance excellence -- portfolios are meant to be shared. The samples, reflections and other contents allow or invite others to discover and celebrate students' progress and accomplishments. A portfolio should tell a story, and that story should be told.
Students should primarily exist the ones telling their stories. As students reflect on the balance of their piece of work over some flow of fourth dimension, there is frequently a dandy sense of pride at the growth and the accomplishment. By telling their ain stories students can have ownership of the process that led to the growth and achievement. Assessment is no longer something done to them; the students are playing an active function through self-cess.
Furthermore, others will exist able to recognize and celebrate in the growth and accomplishment of the students if their piece of work is communicated beyond the borders of the classroom. A portfolio provides a unique vehicle for capturing and communicating student learning. Parents tend to learn more about their children's abilities and propensities through a portfolio than they do through the odd assignment that makes it home and into the parents' hands. Moreover, other interested members of the school and local community can recognize and celebrate the accomplishment.
Finally, the portfolio tin provide an excellent tool for accountability. Parents, educators and community members can learn a great deal nearly what is happening in a classroom or school or district by viewing and hearing near the contents of these stories. Perhaps more chiefly, the educatee and instructor can uncover a bright motion picture of where the student was, where she has traveled to, how she got there and what she accomplished along the way -- a fascinating and enlightening story.
Considering the audience
Of course, deciding how to tell the story will be influenced by the intended audition. For case, presenting a drove of work to a instructor who is already familiar with much of the content will likely require a different arroyo than presenting that work as role of a college application.
Audiences within the classroom
In some classrooms, a portfolio is used much similar other assignments every bit evidence of progress towards or completion of class or form level goals and standards. In such cases, the merely audition might be the teacher who evaluates all the student piece of work. To effectively communicate with the teacher about a body of work, the student may be 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 collection of work. Teachers who assign portfolios not merely desire to see pupil work but want to meet students reflect upon it.
As a classroom assessor, the teacher also has the do good of communicating face-to-face with each student. Such conferences take a variety of forms and vary in their frequency. For instance,
- A teacher might review a portfolio at one or more intervals, and then prepare questions for the face-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 discuss how the portfolio should be constructed to best showcase it or best prepare it for evaluation.
Additionally, classmates can serve equally an audience for a portfolio. Particulary for older students, some teachers crave or encourage students to present their portfolios to each other for feedback, dialogue and modeling. For example,
- Pairs of students can review each other'southward work to provide feedback, identify strengths and weaknesses, and suggest future goals;
- Sharing with each other also provides an opportunity to tell a story or but brag;
- Students tin always do good from seeing adept (or poor) models of work as well as models of meaningful reflection and goal-setting.
Equally students hear themselves tell each other virtually the value and significant of their work it will become more valuable and meaningful to them.
Audiences within the family unit and school community
As many of us have experienced with our own children, parents sometimes but receive a minor, fragmented pic of their children'south schoolhouse work. Some work never makes it habitation, some is lost, some is hidden, etc. It can be even harder for parents to construct a coherent picture out of that work to get a real sense of student growth or achievement or progress toward a prepare of standards.
Portfolios provide an opportunity to give parents a fuller glimpse of the processes and products and progress of their children'due south learning. Many teachers intentionally involve the parents in the development of the portfolio or make parents an audience or both.
For case, to involve parents in the process,
- teachers make sure parents view most student piece of work on a consistent basis; for case,
- some teachers crave students to get much of their piece of work signed by parents to exist returned to schoolhouse;
- some teachers send piece of work habitation in a two-pocket folder in which 1 pocket contains piece of work that can stay home and the other pocket contains work that tin be viewed past parents but should be returned to school, each pocket carefully labeled as such;
- some teachers use a 3-pocket folder in which the third pocket is a place parents tin pass along notes or comments or questions;
- teachers besides invite parents to provide feedback or enquire questions about pupil piece of work; for example,
- a reflection sheet, maybe similar to the ones students complete, can be attached to some of the pieces of work sent home inviting parents to make comments, enquire questions or provide evaluation;
- parents might be invited to provide a summary reflection of piece of work they have seen and so far;
- or just place i or ii pieces of piece of work or aspects of their children's work that they most like or are virtually surprised near.
To share the portfolio with parents,
- many schools host Portfolio Nights, at which students often guide their parent or parents through the story of their work. Having the Night at school allows the educatee to more easily share the diversity of two- and three-dimensional work they have created.
- after teacher evaluation of the portfolio (if that is done), the consummate portfolio might be sent domicile for the parents to view and possibly respond to. This might occur once at the end of the process or periodically forth the way.
A Portfolio Night as well provides an opportunity for other members of the school or larger community to view student portfolios. The portfolios may just be on brandish to exist sampled, or students might guide other audiences through their work.
Similarly, during the school day students can share their portfolios with students from other classes or with school personnel.
Audiences beyond the classroom, schoolhouse and family
An external audience for student work tin can serve to motivate students to requite more attention to and take more seriously their operation. First, information technology may give more legitimacy to assigned work. If the work is to exist externally reviewed, information technology suggests that it is non simply "busy piece of work" that provides a grade but that it is something authentic valued outside the walls of the classroom. Second, some students may take more intendance in their work when they believe a new, different, and perhaps expert audition will exist viewing it.
To extend the audience beyond the classroom, schoolhouse and family, teachers have adopted a variety of approaches, including
- expanding the audition at Portfolio Nights to include a larger customs, peradventure even authors, or scientists or other professionals relevant to the work in the portfolio;
- inviting professionals or experts in a particular field to come heed to presentations of the portfolios;
- inviting professionals or experts to serve every bit one of the reviewers or evaluators of the portfolios;
- encourage or crave students to share their piece of work with a larger audience through the Web or other media. Publishing on the Web as well allows students to solicit comments or questions.
Preparing the student to share
Just as nosotros practice non expect children to write or speak well without considerable instruction and practise, it is not reasonable to expect students to effortlessly and effectively share their stories without some assistance. Teachers have devised a number of strategies to prepare students to communicate with the target audience. Some such strategies include
- pairing upward students in class ("portfolio partners") to practice presenting their work to each other;
- pairing up the writer of the portfolio with an older student a few grades above. The younger student would practice presenting her work every bit if she is presenting it to the intended audience (e.g., parents at a Portfolio Night). Both students can do good every bit the older student provides feedback and encouragement and may increment her own self-efficacy for the task through modeling and tutoring the younger student.
- providing models. Teachers provide models of good portfolios that illustrate how the production itself can effectively communicate with an audition through the way information technology is constructed. Teachers can also model the process of communication by walking through how he or she would share a portfolio with a specific audience.
Evaluation: If the portfolio is to exist used for evaluation, how and when should it be evaluated?
As with all of the elements of portfolios described above, how and when evaluation is addressed varies widely beyond teachers, schools and districts. Have, for example, …
Evaluation vs. Grading
Evaluation refers to the human action of making a judgment about something. Grading takes that process one stride farther by assigning a course to that judgment. Evaluation may be sufficient for a portfolio consignment. 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 as feedback to the student or make notation of them for her own 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 within the portfolio or of the entire package may be conducted by external bodies (e.g., customs members, other educators, land boards) for the purpose of judging completion of certain standards or requirements. Although the evaluation is serious, and graduation might fifty-fifty hinge on it, no classroom grade may be assigned.
On the other hand, the work within the portfolio and the process of assembling and reflecting upon the portfolio may comprise such a significant portion of a pupil'due south work in a grade or grade that the teacher deems information technology appropriate to assign a value to it and incorporate it into the student's final course. Alternatively, some teachers assign grades because they believe without grades there would not exist sufficient incentive for some students to complete the portfolio. Ahh, merely …
What to Grade
Nothing. Some teachers choose not to grade the portfolio considering they have already assigned grades to the contents selected for inclusion.
The metacognitive and organizational elements. But the portfolio is more than simply a collection of educatee work. Depending on its purpose, students might accept as well 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 almost them, or on why the contents reflect sufficient progress to indicate completion of designated standards. Some of the procedure skills may likewise exist role of the teacher'due south 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 exist evaluated and/or graded.
Completion. Some portfolios are graded simply on whether or not the portfolio was completed.
Everything. Other teachers evaluate the entire package: the selected samples of student work also as the reflection, organization and presentation of the portfolio.
How to Grade/Evaluate
Most of the portfolio assignments I have seen accept been evaluated or graded with a rubric. A keen deal of personal judgment goes into evaluating a complex production such as a portfolio. Thus, applying a rubric, a tool which tin 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 upwardly that story makes sense. Moreover, if the portfolio is to exist evaluated my multiple judges, application of a rubric increases the likelihood of consistency amongst the judges.
Examples of Portfolio Rubrics
What might a portfolio rubric look like? If the focus of the grading is primarily on whether the samples of pupil work within the portfolio demonstrate sure competencies, the criteria within the rubric volition target those competencies. For case,
Evaluating competencies
- Electric and estimator engineering portfolio rubric
Or, Completing requirements
Meeting standards
Evaluating the portfolio as a whole
- Electronic portfolio rubric - very detailed criteria
Who evaluates
The more we can involve students in the assessment process, the more probable they will take ownership of it, be engaged in it, and observe it worthwhile. And so, information technology makes sense to involve students in the evaluation process of their portfolios too. They accept likely engaged in some self-assessment in the reflection or goal-setting components of the portfolio. Additionally, students are capable of evaluating how well their portfolio elements meet standards, requirements, or competencies, for their ain 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 reply to such interactions.
Obviously, the classroom instructor, other educators, review board members, customs members, etc. can all serve as judges of student work. If multiple judges are used, peculiarly if they are not straight familiar with the student piece of work or assignments, training on a rubric should exist provided before evaluation proceeds. The evaluators should exist familiar with and clear on the criteria and the levels of functioning within the rubric. A calibration session, in which the judges evaluate some sample portfolios and so share ratings to reach some consensus on what each criteria and level of functioning within the rubric means, can provide a good opportunity for judges to achieve some competence and consistency in applying a rubric.
Oh, what fun would that exist! Actually, the respond is a qualified "yes." Portfolios do typically require considerable work, specially if conferencing is involved. Merely with most anything, including assessment, I recommend that you starting time small.
Here'southward a quick, easy way to get started if whatever of the above thoughts has either encouraged you or not discouraged you from considering assigning portfolios in your little world. The following describes just one possible way to get started.
Stride 1. Depending on the age of your students and other considerations, have students select 2 pieces of their work over the course of a quarter (or iii or four over a semester). Decide (with your students or without) upon one or more criteria by which the selection will exist guided (e.g., their best work). To limit management fourth dimension, don't look for the end of the quarter for students to make those selections. Otherwise, all their work will have to be collected along the way. Instead, if you desire to proceed it simple, tell your students ahead of fourth dimension that they will be selecting two or more pieces matching certain criteria, and that you will ask them to practice it at the point each sample is completed.
Step two. At the time a student selects a sample to be included in his portfolio, crave the pupil to complete a brief reflection sheet and attach it to the sample.
Pace iii. Depending on the age of your students, enquire your pupil to save that sample and the attached reflection sheet until the end of the quarter or semester, or collect it and shop information technology yourself at that bespeak.
Pace 4. At the end of the quarter or semester, ask your students to reflect upon the samples ane additional time by describing what they liked best nigh their work, or past identifying strengths and weaknesses, or past setting 1 or 2 goals for the future.
There, that wasn't also painful. Okay, you enquire, that was relatively uncomplicated, but did it really achieve anything? Good question. If y'all don't think so, don't do information technology. On the other hand, it could mayhap have a few benefits worth the effort. Showtime, if nothing else information technology gave y'all some experience working with portfolios. If yous want to pursue portfolios in a more elaborate manner, at least yous are now more familiar with some of the problems involved. 2nd, if yous recall developing self-cess skills in your students is a worthwhile goal, yous have also begun that process. Even a trivial reflection on your students' function may be more than some of them typically give to their work. Finally, yous may have opened, even if it is just a piffling fleck, a new avenue for you lot 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 try your hand at portfolios. Good luck!
Copyright 2018, Jon Mueller. Professor of Psychology, North Central College, Naperville, IL. Comments, questions or suggestions about this website should be sent to the author, Jon Mueller, at jfmueller@noctrl.edu.
attawayaturneve69.blogspot.com
Source: http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm
0 Response to "Include the Basis for Evaluating the Work E.g.:required Readings, Frequency of Meetings"
Post a Comment