Teacher Portfolios- Real Student Success or Faked Success?

Individually, I talked  to two teachers who had to present teacher portfolios and had received back  comments on their portfolio.  One teacher had glowing feedback.  He told me how he had only put student material in the portfolio that demonstrated above proficient work. He explained that usually only one or two students in all of his classes had reached that level for each standard and so he included that  work.

The other teacher had put in student work at all levels of proficiency.  Her feedback focused on how she had to help students to be successful. She had included the percent of  students  at each level of proficiency; she had even included a graph for the proficiency rates on  the four major standards. She indicated some strategies she had tried and whether each strategy succeed or did not succeed with these students.

The administrators were looking for measures of the teachers’ success in helping students to learn. They did not discern the difference between  a staged or fake representation of success for a teacher and a teacher’s  full disclosure about classroom learning.

How can your teacher portfolio show your growing success in reaching more and more students?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.

Portfolio -Real Reflections or Surface Ones?

I’m still thinking about the conversation with a person about portfolios at her college. She says that the students are helped in their reflections since the college provides a worksheet. When she showed me the worksheet which was in thin columns – it asked for the evidence, what they thought was good and what improvements they can think of.

I realized that students have to have very small ideas to fit in the columns. Students were not asked what they had learned about the standard from their college experiences. They were encouraged to think of changes but without identifying what they had learned, I do not know how they could tell what they still needed to learn or change. They did not have the standard in front of them to identify which parts that have had success with and which parts they still needed to work on.

Do your students’ portfolio reflections represent in-depth thinking or surface comments?

Portfolio Orientation – Get Real!

I was talking to an instructor who was explaining the portfolio process at her college. She said that they had a portfolio day to introduce the portfolio  to all students.  They took the students through a series of exercises; however, never did the students actually see a real portfolio nor  did they look at their own material which might go in the portfolio. Instead they did a series of “cute” exercises.

My only thought was “Get real”.  If I had been in charge, I would start out with the purpose of the portfolio, show them the standards/proficiencies they have to demonstrate, show them a portfolio from the previous semester,  have them examine some possible material for a portfolio and decide which best demonstrates the standard, and have them examine a reflection on the standard to evaluate how well it explains what the student has learned and has yet to learn.  The more we replicate the real experience, the better our students understand the process and can be successful in it.

Final Portfolio Still Formative Feedback

Last week I went over my students’ portfolios before they handed them in. The portfolio served as the final in the course. The review gave me one last chance to give them formative feedback. As we went over each section, I asked the students what they did well and what they can do to improve. Their most common learning gap was that some students forget to relate what they had done back to the standard. For some students I had to give them the phrase “I showed (this part of the standard) by ……” or “When I wrote ……, I demonstrated the essential characteristics of …..”.

For several students, it was hard making the leap from what we did in class to the standard (even though for each part of the standard, I had labeled the essential characteristics as we had done them in the class. Students tend to get caught up in the activity without thinking about its real purpose.

How do you constantly remind your students of the bigger purpose for each activity they do? How do you keep your students focused on the standards?

Portfolio Requirements-Teacher Does It and Improves Standard Demonstration

In my business writing course I’ve assigned a portfolio as the final. The students are to show that they can write each type of business letter. They are to show the changes in their business letters from their first attempts to their arriving at proficiency.

I wrote up the outline of their portfolio. I decided to give them a checklist to guide them through the portfolio process. I made sure that each portfolio requirement had all of its parts listed.

Then I decided to do a model portfolio for them. I deliberately selected a business communication that they had not done. I went through and began doing each part required in the portfolio. As I did, I realized that my wording was vague or did not allow them to focus on the aspects of each business letter. I realized that some parts needed to be moved around. I omitted some aspects that now seem non-productive rather than demonstrating the type of writing. It was not until I did the portfolio that I learned how to make it a better demonstration of the students’ learning. I am sure that when I assess their portfolios, I will look at them different than if I had not done the portfolio myself! I will have to change my rubric to reflect those changes.

Have you actually done your own portfolio? Your own final?

The aha moment in the third revision

I’ve mentioned that my students can revise their final. One student was on her third revision; I asked her how she would react to getting the letter she had just written and she responded that she would not do what the letter asked. I could see the light bulb finally go off. She said, “I changed my whole letter, I really had not followed the persuasion format. To get my manager’s attention, I mentioned how long-valued waiters were leaving due to our lack of a tipping policy..” She went on to describe how she had implemented each part of a persuasion letter; she gave her examples. She finally had gotten it; her letter was one of the best of the whole class. If I had just given her her final grade on her portfolio, she never would have reached her understanding of the outcomes required in the course. Once that light bulb went off, she tackled other letters she had not been proficient in. She finally understood using WIIFM (What’s in it for me- the reader) and the tone of her letters changed from demanding an action to showing the tangible benefits of the action for the reader. She easily modified the other letters and their reflections. Her final score went from a C to an A. More important, she is now proficient in those types of letters.

So how much revision do you permit on your final?

Portfolio Feedback:Still learning

I do not view a final as the end of the students’ learning. I’ve turned their portfolio into a formative experience since I’ve given students’ email, personal communication, etc. with their areas for improvement. My goal is for them to learn even it involves them resubmitting their final.

Is your final the end or a step stone to greater learning?

Student Learning or Verbal Gymnastics in a Portfolio

A student handed in her portfolio and she parroted back to me the feedback I gave her. “I realized that I needed to start with a buffer statement.” However, she did not make the changes in her revised letter. Either she did not understand my feedback which was based on a model we used repeatedly in class, she did not know how to make the change once she had the feedback or she understood but did not make the changes. I think that she did not know how to make the changes. I could have had the class identify buffer and other parts of a negative message letter in real letters. I could have scaffolded it more in class with having them write several examples of each part of the letter such as the buffer. She needed more structure than other students. She was not successful. My next semester’s students will have the scaffolding so hopefully all of them can be successful.

How do you scaffold for student success?

A Speech Final/Portfolio

I’m doing a portfolio in my Speech/Oral Presentations class. The students are redoing three of the speeches from during the semester. I specify the categories (outcomes) and they select which ones speeches within those categories. For each of the major categories they have done two speeches such as two informational speeches. I did ask  students which of their persuasion speeches they would use and why.  Their reasoning demonstrated that they understand what makes a good speech and that they know how to improve.  They will give an improved version of each speech. They will print out the original speech, the revision speech, and reflect on their changes. It is my expectation that their speeches will be stellar.  They have noted their areas of self-improvements throughout the semester. We have done peer-review of the speeches and suggested techniques to improve them. The students  can add these speeches to their final portfolio for the college.  I plan  on recording some to use as exemplars next semester.

What type final are you giving in your course and how does it show the students’ depth of learning?

Portfolios Think Alouds

I was listening to my students as they decided what to put in their end of the semester portfolio. I had given them the outcomes (standards) and they could select from any of the work they had done within each outcome. I listened as one student thought through her five previously done “bad news” letters. She decided that one was too simple (That’s just an job refusal; I used the book’s pattern.) She explained that another was a letter that gave the results of overspending so it was a list of procedures to reduce costs. She settled on the letter that was the most challenging for her to write, a person giving the bad news that he could not speak at a certain event. She looked at her original letter that I had put plus signs (+) to indicate a part was done well and minus “–” or comments for improvements. She looked back at the book description of “bad news” letters. She carefully revised her letter to incorporate my feedback and to produce an exemplary letter. (I never said I won’t do it, I snuck around it.). While listening to her, I learned more about the learning experiences I had given and about her thinking.

EPortfolios as Signs of Student Growth in the Standards

As my college students are focusing on end of the course (a month away), I’m reminding them of their end of the semester portfolio.

The growth portfolio is based on the major goals we have covered in the course. It is based on work that the students have already done. The students will select, for each of the major goals, their own evidence from what they have done in the class.  For example, under the goal of  direct request letters, they have written six different letters; they will select which one best shows their success in writing a direct request letter. They will show me the original assignment, how they improved the letter after receiving feedback (teacher, peer or self), and explain their growth in each major goal through a reflection. They will use the same rubric/checklist that we used in class to assess each of their own evidence (chosen letters) and I will use the same rubric/checklist.

The portfolio is the final in the course.

I look forward to seeing their growth in the portfolio.