E-Portfolio Dreaming

Reflective Teacher 30 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 20
Image: flickr.com

"How do you curate student work--or help them do it themselves."

This is such a great question and is perfect for learning in the digital age since there are so many tools available to do this well.  Having come out of the classroom a couple of years ago now, I honestly didn't do much more than use the more colorful work as classroom "art" to impress visitors.  However, if I were to have the opportunity to go back into the classroom even part-time I would have my students create a digital portfolio (also known as e-portfolio) of their work.  This method is so popular, you can find numerous LiveBinders on the topic and Cybaryman has a page dedicated to e-portfolios.

As a history teacher, their assessments would take many forms so I would envision something along the lines of a website created by the student where they would have writing samples, pictures of more creative pieces, and scanned copies of more traditional tests/quizzes along with the assignment, the rubric and a reflection by the student of why they selected that piece, what they learned from it and what they would do differently if they had the opportunity to complete that assessment again.  The goal being that over the course of the year their work would improve as they became stronger historians, and their reflections would demonstrate a deeper understanding of themselves as life-long learners as they progressed through the class.

Since I am not officially in the classroom, the creation of e-portfolios is an initiative that I am hoping to gain buy-in from the teachers on because this is such a powerful tool for the students to track their own learning and become reflective practitioners long before they hit their careers.  If we can instill in them now the practice of being reflective learners then they will strengthen any community that they belong to.

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