Tales, chpts 3, 4, 5

I found the discussion of student work portfolios to be very interesting. The idea of having students help determine what work should be included in the portfolio seems so "duh" to me, yet I do not see this in my placement.

I think back to the work portfolio that was sent home with me at the end of every school year while I was in elementary school. Everything in that folder was teacher selected. The papers were the same in every students portfolio. The worksheets, paintings, stories, etc. that were in my folder were in Jason's folder, Kristy's folder, Erika's folder, Logan's folder and everyone else's folder. I had no control over what went into that portfolio and neither did the other students.

I am seeing this same process in my placement. The teacher chooses certain math worksheets, certain phonics worksheets, certain social studies/science worksheets, and all journals to include in the students' portfolios. The students do not have any role in determining what goes into their portfolio.

While I do not think that only student selected material should be included, I do think that students should have a role in selecting material to include in their portfolios. Teachers may need to require that some (types of) assignments be placed into the portfolio. For example, I may need to say, "One of your journal entries from this week need to be placed into your portfolio." However, I do not think that I should say, "Put Tuesday's journal entry in your portfolio." Some of my students may not have had as much to connect to Tuesday's journal prompt as they did to another day's prompt. The student can choose which prompt they would rather save.

I also like the idea of putting photgraphs/tapes/videos into the portfolio. This allows the student and me to show development of "smartness" that cannot be put onto paper.