Teacher Portfolios

Creating a Professional Teaching Portfolio can be an asset whether you a searching for a new position or reflecting on your current one. The use of a portfolio can show your growth as an educator over time as well as highlight your successes. In an article on Scholastic online, Dr. Kenneth Wolf, of the University of Colorado write, "Portfolios have much to offer the teaching profession. When teachers carefully examine their own practices, those practices are likely to improve. The examples of accomplished practice that portfolios provide also can be studied and adapted for use in other classrooms."

According to Dr. Wolf, there are some key elements to include when creating your portfolio. He has split these elements into 3 categories:

Background Information

• resume
• background information on teacher and teaching context
• educational philosophy and teaching goals

Teaching Artifacts and Reflections Documenting an Extended Teaching Activity

• overview of unit goals and instructional plan
• list of resources used in unit
• two consecutive lesson plans
• videotape of teaching
• student work examples
• evaluation of student work
• reflective commentary by the teacher
• additional units/lessons/student work as appropriate

Professional Information

• list of professional activities
• letters of recommendation
• formal evaluations

For ultimate effectiveness, Dr. Wolf recommends annotating the artifacts within the portfolio to give understanding and clarity to the items included.

Teacher portfolios have become increasingly valuable for teachers as they apply both for new positions and for license renewal. In fact, many undergraduate programs require their students to begin assembling portfolios as part of their senior project or exit requirement. Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching provides extensive information for building a professional teaching portfolio - for both new and experienced teachers.

Pepper offers a type of portfolios within their coursework that varies from a traditional portfolio. Participating in Pepper courses allows teachers to submit their reflection/journal entries, tasks, and assignments to a their Pepper Portfolio. As this is done a course specific portfolio of key work to share with others is created. This personal portfolio will be a powerful tool for the organization of all a participant's coursework for future reference and allows the user to select portfolio elements that can made available for others to view for feedback and collaboration.

I’ll be talking more about creating and using Pepper Portfolios next time - how they differ from a traditional portfolio and how to use them. In the meantime be sure to keep learning and growing professionally by completing Pepper courses.

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Differentiating Instruction - Meeting the Needs of All Learners

In EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon, Diane Ravitch defines differentiating instruction as instruction that seeks to "maximize each student's growth by recognizing that students have different ways of learning, different interests, and different ways of responding to instruction. What that really means is that teachers need to adapt their teaching strategies to meet the needs of each student in their classroom. Ravitch goes on to explain, "Educators may vary learning activities and materials by difficulty, so as to challenge students at different readiness levels; by topic, in response to students' interests; and by students' preferred ways of learning or expressing themselves".

Differentiated instruction is not a program or package; it is a teaching strategy. Creating something different for each student in your classroom may seem unrealistic, but it is possible to provide a variety of levels as well as different means of delivering content. Additionally, not all students will excel with writing a report to demonstrate their understanding of a topic; however having the option for creating electronic presentations, oral reports, and even artwork will allow for learners of all types to communicate what they have learned effectively.

John McCarthy gives a very practical overview of differentiating instruction in his article, 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do. He recommends focusing on three areas for differentiating: content, process, and product. The differentiation of content could include using varied delivery methods such as video, reading, lectures, or audio. According to McCarthy, “process is how students make sense of the content.” Some strategies he recommends for this are: Think-Pair-Share, Journaling, Partner talk, Save the Last Word, and Literature Circles. Differentiation of product is the most common form of differentiated instruction and is allowing a variety of options for the student to use to demonstrate their understanding. Teachers can provide options or choices for the student and then the student can choose to create a product that appeals to their learning style.

So, as you’re working through your next Pepper course, think about how you can differentiate the content, process, and product for your students. Pepper offers a variety of courses to meet the needs of its learners.

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Teaching Math Modeling for Problem Solving

The National Science Foundation has funded a pilot program to help elementary teachers learn to teach Math Modeling to their students. Elementary students learn from the beginning using modeling and manipulatives. But this concept is something greater. According to a recent article in Education Week, this type of mathematical modeling “is something different and more complex: It's the process of taking an open-ended, multifaceted situation, often from life or the workplace, and using math to solve it.” In keeping with new standards, the goal is help students see the relevance and application of math to everyday life. The focus is on critical thinking and problem solving with the outcome being sometimes “messy” - meaning there may not be one definitive right answer. Students are being taught to work logically through a problem and develop a solution that can be justified. 

This pilot program, the IMMERSION project, is part of ongoing efforts to improve student proficiency and critical thinking in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), project leaders say. The project is designed to provide professional development to teachers from three different districts over three years. According to an article on the project website, “IMMERSION will help K–8 teachers incorporate modeling into their mathematics teaching by providing intensive professional development training during the summer, followed by support and collaboration during the school year as teachers begin to implement mathematical modeling activities in their classrooms—a practice that can have far-reaching effects on how students perceive and use mathematics. The study will focus on increasing the achievement of all students, including special education and advanced students, students with limited English proficiency and economically disadvantaged students.” This focus on differentiating instruction in addition to the math modeling will prepare these teachers to better meet the needs of all students.

You can find a wide variety of professional development options for Math in the Pepper Course Offerings. All of these courses focus on helping teachers teach math in a meaningful and engaging ways. You will also find courses focused on ELL and Special Education.

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