In Glen’s class, Talia and I did a presentation surrounding portfolio assessment and the benefits (and negatives surrounding it). I have decided to take this on as my Inquiry, delving deeper into portfolio assessment, what truly goes into it as a teacher, gaining all the information I can, and then testing it out in my 10-week final practicum.
Portfolio assessment is a collection of student-selected work that demonstrates their learning and personal growth. It can be class-based, project-based, or unique to each student, and could be digital or physical. Portfolio assessment allows the students to choose their best work to submit to their teacher, the work that best exemplifies their understanding, and their learning from the course.
From this point, there are variations the portfolio can take: showcase, working, or progress portfolio. Showcase portfolio demonstrates the students’ best work, the best assignments they feel will give them the best grades. A working portfolio shows the works in progress, where the students and teacher can identify the strengths and the areas for improvement. Finally, a progress portfolio shows a set of similar assessments over a period of time to demonstrate growth and development.
I finally used portfolio assessment in my final practicum and I am very pleased with the results. I taught two English 11 and one English First Peoples 10. For their final poetry project, I had the students make a poetry booklet. Throughout the unit, I had the students practice writing a variety of poems (Haiku, Concrete, Acrostic, etc.). In their booklet, they had to select, out of the poems they had written, the best 8 poems they had written in class. Students did not have to stick to a specific structure or format and had the opportunity to design their projects however they wanted.
The results and feedback I got from students were very informative. Giving students the agency to select their own poems allowed students to be creative and make this project theirs. I saw passion, excitement, and a lot of hard work being done, and the result was excellent. The poems were unique and the projects were all excellent. I will absolutely be incorporating more portfolio assessment into my classes.
