Portfolios Part 3: Portfolios in the Humanities and Social Studies

   Self reflection is central to learning. We write comments on student papers so hopefully students can look at them can think about the work they did. (By the way, unless you are intentional about making students reflect on their learning, students likely won't. If you don't believe me, ask students if they read comments on papers. More than half  will tell you they don't.) The fancy word for this is meta-cognition, which is basically thinking about one's own thinking. Some suggest that this self-awareness is ultimately what makes us homo sapiens. We should do all we can to activate this in our students. Self-awareness about one's learning leads to better learning. Some studies suggest that this tool is most developed between the ages of 12-15. Thus, this is a the perfect time to teach meta-cognitive skills.

  

 If this age group is the perfect time, the digital portfolio is a nearly perfect tool. As teachers, we will need to model this self-reflection for students. We can't just say, "put in your work" because if we ask them why they chose certain pieces, we might not get more than "I got an A"  or "I like it."  So, instead, a conversation might be, "I know you've been working on writing good paragraphs. I wonder if you have an assignment that shows improvement in this area?" This type of modeling could be done for an entire class.

In the beginning, you should (you really should) set up meetings with students to confer on what should go in the portfolio. In the initial stages, you may help the student pick what goes in the portfolio. 

Beyond picking what content goes into a portfolio, make sure students are given time to reflect. Ask them what they are most proud of, what they can do better, what they would do differently. Ask them to share and write about what they learned. Or, have them record themselves on video explaining their answers to these questions. Ask them to set goals for next time. 

Portfolios have been around for a long time in this discipline. I remember the non-digital portfolios my 7th graders produced back in the early 90's. This is not a new, faddish idea. What tech lets us do is supplement text with digital media (see the infographic from Kathy Schrock) and more importantly in my view, publish to an audience bigger than the teacher. 

For my colleagues in school who wish to know how to assess all of this, I share this link I originally found on Kathy Schrock. 

Portfolios Part 2- Science Class

The sciences seem like natural places for portfolios because so much student learning is already assessed and measured outside of tests. Of course, I think of labs as I write this. This stuff of science is exactly the kind of work that should end up in a portfolio. 

Remember, portfolios show learning over time. Remember, they must allow for student choice, a self- evaluation of what best showcases their learning is central.  Students are to consider their strengths and weaknesses, and how to improve.

This pdf, made by science teachers is a terrific, ready made tool easily adaptable to any portfolio format.

In an Edutopia post, cool cat teacher Vicki Davis (follow her by the way) writes:

How will the portions of your portfolio relate to standards and coursework? Can you use portfolio assignments as advance organizers?
In the Marzano Center’s new book Identifying Critical Content, the authors discuss the importance of effectively cueing critical information. One of the concepts discussed is the advance organization of content, a term coined by psychologist David Ausubel to describe helping students understand the content of a section before it is introduced.
For a science portfolio, you could introduce a unit on water quality by informing students that they will be preparing a section of their portfolio where they'll explain how water quality can be assessed. They can write their opinion beforehand while quoting the data and charts from their learning. In this example, you've told students what will be covered so they can begin with the end in mind. So at the beginning of a unit, you can share what type of evidence they’ll be collecting for their portfolio, and you can relate standards to outcomes more clearly using portfolios as advance organizers.

My colleague +Padraig Barry  could have his students place their Mars projects in their portfolios. Similarly,  +Patricia Zaradic should have her students placed their impressive stream study google sites into their portfolios. I am sure that every teacher can think of something right away that every student could and should add to a portfolio. But a portfolio isn't just a place to house work. It is a place for students to reflect upon work. Otherwise, we rob portfolios of their value.

This article is aimed at the high school teacher, though teachers of younger students will find it useful as well.

By the way, if you want to make your own Keep Calm poster, go here