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3 - Ways to think about portfolios with elementary school students

·   An assessment tool teachers’ can use to better plan their lessons

·   A way to keep parents informed and engaged with the activities done in the classroom

·   A resource students can use to reflect on their own growth and keep track of their work

2 - Ideas that you now have about implementing portfolios

·   ELL students could use a portfolio to practice using new vocabulary, verb tenses, etc., they’ve learned by writing short stories about any given topic twice a month. The teacher can view these entries to modify lessons and better suit the students’ abilities. Additionally, students can reread their stories at the end of the year and reflect on their own growth.

·   A portfolio could be used when implementing “The Project Approach” as it would allow students to document the work they’ve done in each phase of the project. The portfolio would then be a great resource for the students to use the next time they embark on another project as they’ll be able to identify what approaches and ideas worked and which didn’t.

1 - Question you have for the group about portfolios

·   How would you determine whether to use a portfolio as an integral component of a project/unit or just as a supplement to the project where students only reflect on their work and experiences?

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3 Ways To Think About Portfolios
1. A way for teachers to obtain data for instructional purposes
2. A way for teachers to obtain data on a student's developmental progress
3. A way for students to reflect upon their own work and their own progress through something tangible
2 Ideas To Implement Portfolios
1. Work Samples: A compilation of students work throughout the year, including work from all diffferent areas of study such as writing, math, art and more.
2. A compilation of teachers observations on a child, specifically related to predetermined objectives
1 Question
How do you address a situation in which a portfolio is showing signs that the student is not progressing, or even regressing?

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3. Ways to think about portfolios
1. Demonstrates the learning and progress of a specific student
2. An effective assessment tool; portfolios can be used as as a project that can span over the entirety of the school year which thoroughly displays the knowledge gained for a student
3. They can be used as a reflective piece for students; they could reflect every Friday on the week and see their growth throughout the quarters and the year in a whole
2. Ideas to implement portfolios
1. A portfolio could be very useful in a language arts class. Whenever students write different assignments, this can be a part of the portfolio. This would be useful to display the progress of a child's writing throughout the school year
2. In a science class, students could use a portfolio. Whenever students conduct an experiment, their work could go in the portfolio and students could see all their different experiments throughout the year and what specifically they accomplished in their science class.
1. Question
Is there any class in school that the use of a portfolio would not be ideal?

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3. Ways to Think About Portfolios
- Student progress can be tracked either through one small project or throughout the year.
- Student ownership to self-assess their own work &see their own growth.
- Authentic assessment to document student progress thats beneficial to the child, teacher, family, and administrators.
2. Ideas I Have About Implementing Portfolios
- I created a Fables Unit portfolio with my second grade students last semester. We learned what a fable was, listed the characteristics of a fable, and created a Fable portfolio. In the portfolio was their Fable Storyboard, a first draft of their story, a final draft of their story, and their character puppets of their story. I used it to document if a student could create a story with a moral/lesson at the end.
- In ELA, students could have a journal that will last them the beginning of the year to the end of the year where they write whatever they want without worrying about spelling or criticism of what they wrote, similar to a diary. The teacher uses it to keep track of writing mechanics, grammar, and ability to get any ideas across. For upper elementary, teacher can write back to the students. This shows student writing progress throughout a whole year.
1. Question I Have
- Is it okay to name it a "portfolio" for students or should we give it a safe word name so it doesn't intimidate a student?

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Ways to think about portfolios
-Not only does it "increase student ownership" as suggested in the article about how to use portfolios with STEAM, but it is also very effective for "differentiated learning" - children don't have to feel like they all have to fit into the same box with this assessment!
-This allows so much wonderful room for creativity. The sky's the limit!
-This is truly an “authentic learning” assessment - assessing what the students have actually done and learned rather than a contrived testing setting which produces anxiety for many kids.
Ideas for Implementing Portfolios
-At the end of a unit or the end of the year children may select from their math assignments or daily journals those which they are most proud of to "showcase" in their portfolio.
-Early childhood students could do a drawing to show comprehension after reading a series of storybooks aloud together as a class and then place each drawing in the portfolio.
Question
Do you think it would also make sense to use the "portfolio" idea for behavioral charts? Though it is not strictly academic, could it help to reinforce that they should be proud of their "good" days?

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Ways to think about portfolios
-a way to track students progress over time
- a way to assess students
-a way for students to show their work and thought skills for a project that is more thought driven
Ideas
-have students write each Friday about what they are most excited for the weekend. That way you have the same prompt to view the students progress over time
-have students narrate stories over time to show fluency progression
- have students create their own portfolio for an individual project using a folder and prompt pages
Question
How do you measure motor skills or communication skills?

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3 ways to think about portfolios:
-a really good story of a child's progress
-an authentic assessment tool
-can be a simple collection of the best work of a student chosen by the teacher, or a more complex collection of work chosen by the students based on standards that are set by the teacher.

2 ideas of implementing portfolios:
- In an art class, a teacher could keep a portfolio of each students art work throughout the school year/semester.
-In a history class, students could write a journal entry after each time period that is covered in the class.  The portfolio could consist of each journal entry.  At the end of the school year, the students would have a portfolio that contains information from each different time period that you cover in class.

1 Question:
-What are some disadvantages of using a portfolio compared to other assessment strategies?

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Think of portfolios as:
1. an opportunity for students to reflect on their work (over a unit or period of time)
2. an opportunity to be creative and "show" what they've learned in a way that helps them make  connections
3. an opportunity to seek out resources and other tools to aid in putting the portfolio together

Ideas on implementing portfolios:
1. In a poetry or writing unit. Have students write a final reflection or poem throughout the unit (as they are learning different aspects or styles of writing or poetry) that they will add to their portfolio and turn in at the end of the unit.
2. In a science unit. Have students create a booklet of a process they are learning in science. For example, they may design and carryout an experiment and document their work continuously and make it all into a portfolio at the end of the unit. If students are younger and/or have difficulty writing, have them draw pictures of the process.

Question: What are some other ideas (besides drawings) that younger students (who can not write) can do in a portfolio?