As I end a week of parent-student-teacher conferences, I am aware of how powerful the showcase portfolio with its data points, student project, pictures, stories, and more is with regard to having a conversation about how we can best support a child.
As a teaching team we gave the portfolios a lot of attention, but next year I even want to give the portfolios more attention. Over the summer, I want to think about the pieces we add to these important books. I also want to add an online website that matches the portfolio--a place where can add students' films and creative projects so that during the meetings we can show both the online and offline efforts.
To make the portfolio powerful, it's important to focus on a good number of quality learning efforts, efforts that provide a good picture of a child's learning experiences, interests, and growth throughout the year. It's also important that the portfolios reflect the whole child and entire teaching/learning program. With this in mind, I'd like to reach out to specialists too so that they can work with students add to add to their showcase portfolio presentations.
I'll think more on this in the weeks to come, but these are a few initial thoughts as I end a week of conferences.
