PORTFOLIO

What is portfolio?

1.      It is a collection of your work and evidence about your work.

2.      It supports your claim in seeking accreditation , by supplementing your practical activities and providing the major means by which assessors and verifiers will be able to assess your performance.

3.      It shows the variety of your experiences and the knowledge that you have gained.

Portfolio is the minister’s record. A student’s portfolio is also the record of what he has done and achieved. It can be the record of a session, semester or year. It should reflect both the process and the product. Daily experiences worth noting can be written, reports of class or school events, personal feelings etc. can be included which will present an overview of what happened in the academic domain of the learner. It can be used as a tool for evaluation, but there will be subjectivity in scoring. A scoring key may be made use of based on certain essential criteria.

Teaching Portfolio

A professional portfolio is an evolving collection of carefully selected or composed professional thoughts, goals and experiences that are threaded with reflection and self-assessment. It represents the who, what, why, where, how etc. of the professional. A student teacher’s portfolio is an evidence of the standard of performance and it serves as a source of review and reflection. It is a systematic, selective collection of student work to demonstrate his motivation, academic growth and level of achievement. When the collection includes the student’s own reflections of the work, it becomes a real representation of student learning.

(a)Contents

The collection of materials in a portfolio can be grouped into five. They are evidences of

(i)     Understanding of subject matter and current developments e.g. Qualifications, courses undergone, comments on the course curriculum; review of a few books, essays or methodology followed, observation report of a colleague.

(ii)   Skills and competencies in teaching e.g. lesson plan, self-evaluation report, examples of student work, video recording of class, report by supervisor, a few teaching materials, notes of appreciation from past students

(iii) Approach to classroom management and organization e.g. a brief description of philosophy of classroom management, observation report of a peer, written comments by a supervisor, students’ account of effectiveness of classroom management

(iv) Commitment to professional development. e.g. a professional development plan, observation report of the peers, details of classroom research, related courses undergone, membership in professional organizations, report of articles.

(v)   Information concerning relationship with colleagues. e.g. details of assistance given to peers, report of friendly relation with peers and institution, help provided to peers for their professional development.

(b)Organization of contents

Introduction

            Overview

            Rationale

            Items

Artifacts

            Philosophy of teaching

            Course outline

            Lesson plan

Explanation

            Explanation of artifacts

Reflection

            Comments/review on artifacts

Conclusion

            Commentary/ review of the meaning of the portfolio

Types of portfolio

Types of portfolio are

(a)    Product portfolio or Show care portfolio – content includes products that are students, best work which exhibits the range and quality of work

(b)   Process or effort portfolio – drafts leading to completed products to show how works evolute.

(c)    Progress or Working portfolio – for comparison of identical work, samples overtime are included to show student improvement.

The student teachers must be informed whether the number of items presented alone is important or that the contents and quality also will be taken into account at the time of assessment. Anyway, portfolio is complete with student work, student reflection on the work, assessment by teachers, parents, social members etc.

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