Portfolios

What can i say? I LOVE portfolios! I think portfolios are a great way for students to showcase their work to their parents, classmates, as well as themselves. A portfolio is an excellant way for a student to visually see how much progress they have made throughout the year.

In high school, my English teacher gave us folders to use as our portfolios and we were able to choose our best writing to be filed in it. This made the class actually WANT to write better since we knew that administrators were going to look through them or that they might be submitted for a contest. Since I do not have my own classroom yet, I would say that I am unsure of how I would utilize portfolios in my classroom. I am still undecided as to whether the students should have a choice about what particular work goes into the portfolio or if the teacher should assign students specific writing pieces and projects.

For example, here at St. Peter's, anyone that is an Education major receives a syllabus with assignments on it that will be included in their E-portfolio. I think the idea is great, however I do not like the fact that we cannot choose our favorite lesson or best paper we have done. From a student's perspective I feel having the choice is way more exciting! Who knows what I will think when I have a class of my own one day :)