300 likes | 384 Views
How can students use growth portfolios to better communicate and self-assess their learning? Jamie Utphall.
E N D
How can students use growth portfolios to better communicate and self-assess their learning? Jamie Utphall
My PDP Version How can I research, create and implement a growth portfolio system in my classroom so that students can better communicate and self-assess their learning towards mastering specific grade-level skills and content derived from the Common Core State Standards?
My Goals (Adapted from WI Teacher Standards) • Students will be able to… • select and reflect on how learning experienceswere meaningful and relevant to their lives. • communicate how learning experiences support their development. • better recognize and use metacognitive strategies that work best for them.
My inspiration: Thanks to my mentors at Washington Jr. High Jess Apitz Jill Hendricks Tammy O’Connor Kathy Lemberger
See Think Wonder activity “Carnaval de Saturno” by Ricardo Ponce
Choose 1 and cite specific details from the painting for support… • Describe how this image reminds you of characters, conflicts, + themes from The Crucible (Jill Hendricks) • Create and defend a new title for this painting (Jess Apitz) • Describe how your thinking has changed/deepened after our discussion about the painting (Tammy O’Connor) • What do you need to know to better understand this painting? (Kathy Lemberger)
Jess’s Portfolio Model • Jess’s Portfolio class • Student selects “academic indicators” to prove using artifacts + written reflection • Artifacts come from all subject areas + various points during the year • Student prepares +delivers the defense in May for Jess, parents, current + future teachers, principal, + other students
My journey so far: Portfolio embedded in Accel. E9 Workshop MN’s Portfolio Defense + Discussion (1:30 – 2:10) JA’s Portfolio Defense + Discussion How can I use these discussions to propel students’ deeper reflective writing?
My journey so far: Portfolio Project : Quarter 1 “Event” AT from English 9 Fill in the blanks and sticky note evidence that meets the standard Portfolio Project : Quarter 2 “Event” FL from English 10 – conference audio Pick evidence that demonstrates mastery Compose intro + inclusion paragraphs for portfolio Present orally KR from English 10 – It’s a small world!
My journey so far: Portfolio Project : Quarter 3 “Event” • JT from English 9 Create + Defend an analogy that describes your growth in English class this year so far. Use specific examples of your work to support your analogy. Timed In-class MELCON
After GMWP orientation… • How do students ”know how they know” ? • How can I help students better communicate “how they know they know?” • How can I use the 16 Habits of Mind to give students a “reflective” vocabulary to describe their thinking and learning?
Draw a Square activity How many different ways can you divide the square into 4 parts?
We can decide on what attitude we use to approach a given situation. • We can choose how we act on our existing knowledge and how we create new knowledge.
“The problems the world faces today will not be solved with the same level of thinking that created them.” – Albert Einstein • What does Einstein mean? • To What sort of problems might Einstein be referring? “Albert Einstein” by Debra Hurd
“The problems the world faces today will not be solved with the same level of thinking that created them.” – Albert Einstein • What does Einstein mean? • To what sort of problems might Einstein be referring?
Shawn Achor TEDtalk: The happy secret to better work • What Habits of Mind did Achor describe? • What new Habits of mind might Achor coin?
Choose one of the 16 Habits of Mind and write about a time you demonstrated it. -or- • Create your own Habit of Mind, complete with a definition, symbol and quote/words of wisdom. Write about a time you demonstrated it
My journey so far: Portfolio Project : Quarter 4 Exemplar: AK from English 10 Breaking the mold: HW’s unconventional letter
But why were some students’ portfolios + reflective writing still so superficial and meaningless?
Yancey, Kathleen Blake. "Teachers’ stories: Notes toward a portfolio pedagogy." Portfolios in the writing classroom (1992): 12-19. • not merely a storage folder, but a practice of routine reflection • “A commitment to inquiry means that no one party to the exploration knows the answers definitively or ideally, that all parties work together to negotiate meaning, and that making meaning is the enterprise shared by all” (17) • it’s necessary for students to experience “success and failure and to think about context, which is crucial for development” (17) • a portfolio system does not replace quality writing instruction, but it is a method by which students can take an active role in their own learning
Perks, Kevin. “Dialogue Folders: Creating Space to Engage Students.”Reflective Teaching, Reflective Learning: How to Develop Critically Engaged Readers, Writers, and Speakers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005. 19-31. Print. • Provide weekly + sustained “dialogic” feedback via notebook: “I have come to the realization that if my students are ever going to increase their command of the craft of writing in my classroom, I need to provide a great deal of space for them to write and communicate with them about what they do as writers” (35) • “How is my writing going? What is the next step in my writing? What specific questions do I have that will help me receive feedback about my writing?” (38) • Dialogue folders are motivating for students and increase engagement by citing the “Self-Determination Theory, which “posits that individuals [are] motivated when they feel as if their actions are self-determined” (44)
Other Resources Cramer, Matthew. "Digital Portfolios: Documenting Student Growth." Resources. Coalition of Essential Schools, 2009. Web. 14 July 2014. Ruhana, Judith. "Portfolios That Make a Difference: A Four-Year Journey." The Quarterly 23.4 (2001): n. pag. Web. 6 July 2014. <http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/237>.
What is Reflection? activities • Concept Definition Map • Creating + Publishing Analogy Comics • Shades of Reflection
My Plan • More opportunities for writing for diverse purposes + audiences • Dialogue Journals • More Modeling + Conferencing one-on-one • Process Papers for larger projects • Digital Portfolio + Oral Defenses
TW Write-out Describe your “process” for composing your multi-genre project • What are you most excited about sharing this afternoon? • What is one thing you would change if you had an 45 extra minutes before presenting? • What does your audience need to know about your project in order to understand it fully?