Portfolio 101: A Professional Teaching Portfolio Robin Rush
Boggs, M.Ed.
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What is a professional teaching portfolio? Like other
professionals, instructors need evidence of their growth and
achievement over time. The professional portfolio is a mechanism
that allows for them to collect and present that evidence. In
reality, a professional portfolio is just the collection of what
instructors already do.
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Characteristics of an Effective Portfolio
StructuredRepresentative A structured portfolio should be
organized, complete, and creative in its presentation. Questions to
ask: Is my portfolio neat? Are the contents displayed in an
organized fashion? Are the contents representative for the purpose
that it is intended? A portfolio should also be comprehensive. The
documentation should represent the scope of your work. It should be
representative across courses and time. Questions to ask: Does my
portfolio portray the types and levels of courses that I have
taught? Does my portfolio display a cross section of my work in
teaching?
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Characteristics of an Effective Portfolio Selective The natural
tendency for anyone preparing a portfolio is wanting to document
everything. However, if a portfolio is being used either for
summative or formative purposes, careful attention should be given
to conciseness and selectivity in order to appropriately document
ones work. Instructors should consider limiting the contents of a
portfolio to ten pages.
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What are some specific purposes of a teaching portfolio? Job
applicants for faculty positions can use teaching portfolios to
document their teaching effectiveness. Full-time and Adjunct
Instructors can use teaching portfolios to document their teaching
effectiveness for promotion or tenure purposes reflect on and
refine their teaching skills and philosophies. to invite comments
from their peers and to share teaching successes so that their
peers can build on them.
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"Portfolios have much to offer the teaching profession," writes
Dr. Kenneth Wolf, of the University of Colorado. "When teachers
carefully examine their own practices, those practices are likely
to improve. The examples of accomplished practice that portfolios
provide also can be studied and adapted for use in other
classrooms."
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Portfolios: The Historical Perspective
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Fine Arts Historically, portfolios were utilized by those in
the Fine Arts; artists and musicians would collect their best
"samples and examples" into a professional portfolio for when they
attended exhibitions... These days, artists tend to use the web to
showcase their work.
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Architecture Architects also used portfolios to showcase their
best work. The Yale School of Architecture encourages their
students to post portfolios on online sites such as Pinterest and
Tumbler.
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Education Education majors have used portfolios to show that
they have mastered specific state requirements. For instance,
Florida has the FEAPS, Florida Education Accomplished Practices, a
list of twelve core practices and expectations specifically geared
to those in the teaching profession and teacher education programs.
Teacher Education colleges and universities may require portfolios
in their programs. An illustration would be the University of
Central Florida's Teaching and Learning Center's web site that
devotes a web page for portfolio development.
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Nursing Colleges and universities all over the nation have
implemented portfolios in their undergraduate and/or graduate
nursing programs. These portfolios provide "a means of documenting
skills, professional development, and goal achievement." A
portfolio enables registered nurses returning to school to describe
their achievements and earn credits for their experiences.
Currently, many colleges use an online program to help their
students develop professional portfolios.
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Engineering Graduates of engineering programs, especially in
the computer programming areas, are encouraged to create portfolios
as best practices for their own future job search. Portfolios help
them "stand out" when they are in completion for specific jobs.
Recommendations are made for what should be considered in building
a portfolio.
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Creating a Teaching Portfolio
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Guidelines Start now! Many of the possible components of a
teaching portfolio are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain
after the course(s) are finished. Collecting these components
during the term will make assembling the final portfolio much
easier. Give a fair and accurate presentation. No one is the
perfect instructor. Be sure to highlight the positive, bur show the
reflective process whenever a lesson does go AND doesnt go quite as
planned. The reflective process is essential to good teaching. Be
selective in which materials you choose to include; be sure to
represent a cross-section of your teaching and not just one aspect
of it. A relatively small set of well-chosen documents is more
effective than a large, unfiltered collection of all your teaching
documents. Make your organization explicit to the reader. Use a
table of contents at the beginning and tabs to separate the various
components of your portfolio.
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Essentials to Include in a Professional Teaching Portfolio
Background Information Resume Background information on teacher and
teaching context educational philosophy statement and teaching
goals Professional Information list of professional activities 2-4
letters of recommendation formal evaluations Teaching Artifacts and
Reflections Documenting an Extended Teaching Activity overview of
unit goals and instructional plan list of resources used in lessons
two consecutive lesson plans videotape of teaching student work
examples evaluation of student work reflective commentary by the
instructor additional units/lessons/student work as
appropriate
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Background Information Resume Instructors should take care with
their resume that important "first impression" to those viewing
your portfolio is as good as it can be. Background information on
teacher and teaching context which may include A list of courses
taught with enrollments and a description of your responsibilities\
Syllabi Course descriptions with details of content, objectives,
methods, and procedures for evaluating student learning Assignments
Exams and quizzes, graded and ungraded (Remember FERPA) Handouts,
problem sets, lecture outlines Descriptions and examples of visual
materials used Descriptions of uses of computers and other
technology in teaching Videotapes of your teaching Educational
philosophy statement and teaching goals
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Educational Philosophy Statement
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An Educational Philosophy Statement clarifies Why do you teach?
What do you teach? How do you teach? How do you measure your
effectiveness?
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Whats Your Teaching Orientation?
http://www.authenticeducating.com/education-philosophy-inventory/
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Consider These Questions What are the specific subjects and
courses taught? What are the objectives for student learning? Why
are these objectives important? Do the objectives differ depending
on the type of course or the background of students taught? If so,
how? What should students gain from taking your courses? Examples
include an understanding of foundational concepts in the field
sophistication as critical thinkers the ability to write concise
and well- supported arguments.
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4 Steps to a Memorable Teaching Philosophy4 Steps to a
Memorable Teaching Philosophy from the Chronicle of Higher
Education. The steps: Begin with the end. Make distinctions Be
specific Cite your sources How to Write a Statement of Teaching
PhilosophyHow to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy from the
Chronicle of Higher Education. The steps: Getting Started Do Some
Research Don't Rehash Your Vita Don't Make Empty Statements Keep It
Short Ground Your Teaching Philosophy in Your Discipline Make Sure
It's Well-Written Adopt a Tone of Humility Remember That Teaching
Is About the Students Don't Ignore Your Research Get a Second
Opinion Just Be Yourself Articles to contemplate Samples and
Examples of Educational Philosophy Statements:
http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tstpumhttp://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tstpum
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Practice Take inventory and practice writing your educational
philosophy statement.
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Professional Information
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List of professional activities Instructors may have
responsibilities in addition to their teaching duties. Some
instructors are involved in college-wide, discipline, and/or campus
based committees; advisory committees; and community-based
organizations.. 1-3 letters of recommendation Instructors may
include recommendations from other faculty, students, and/or
administrators Formal Evaluations
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Artifacts Collection and Reflection
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Although portfolios vary in form and content, depending upon
their purpose, most contain some combination of teaching artifacts
and written reflections. These are the heart of the portfolio.
Further, the artifacts, whether lesson plans, instructional
modules, or sample student work samples must be accompanied with
written explanations. For example, what is the purpose of a
students project? What did the class learn from the class debate?
Be specific and be reflective. It's the intent and thoughtful
evaluation that the artifacts should reveal. Each artifact be
accompanied by a brief, identifying caption. Include, for example:
title of the artifact date produced description of the context
purpose, evaluation, or other types of comments
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Keep records of everything. Use a jump drive to save documents.
Copy emails to a MS Word document and save them to a jump drive.
Its better to have and not need than to need and not have.
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Contemplate your Artifacts
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Artifacts Direct Performance assessments Projects or work based
assignments Copies of minutes of discipline meetings, action plans,
progress reports Internal and external correspondence Product
evidence (e.g. examples, & samples as appropriate ) Indirect
Achievement in related areas Attendance on courses/training
activities relevant to the learning outcomes Membership of related
committees or outside organizations
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Suitability of evidence Those who review a professional
teaching portfolio will need to be satisfied that the evidence is
sufficient authentic relevant current
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Sufficient Evidence Evidence must cover all aspects of the
assessment criteria for each segment you are seeking to achieve.
Some qualifications require specific evidence and instructors
should check the guidelines to ensure you have whats needed.
Sufficient does not equate mass. It simply means collecting enough
evidence to demonstrate competence.
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Authentic Evidence As you work your way through the portfolio,
the evidence that you include must substantiate that you have met
the objectives. It is important, therefore, to ensure you only
submit evidence relating to your own performance.
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Relevant Evidence Any evidence must relate clearly to the
qualifications you are seeking to achieve. Assessors are only
interested in evidence directly related to the requirements set out
in the units. You should avoid the inclusion of reference
documents, training materials, and other evidence that does not
demonstrate competence.
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Current Evidence You must only include evidence that
demonstrates your compliance with the requirements that has
occurred since your hire date. Including evidence that does not fit
the time frame will disqualify your portfolio.
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Samples and Examples
http://trc.virginia.edu/resources/developing-a-teaching-portfolio/