portfolio assessment ch.3

Portfolio Assessment Ch. 3

I realized that I’ve heard of or saw portfolio’s in one form or another since high school and no one was exactly the same. I saw districts who used Xerox boxes for portfolios in schools that had no space to store them in that was also conveniently accessible for those needing access. More recently I see 3 ring binders (of assessments from the last 3 years for documentation, so I’ve been told). I saw “portfolios’’ in one stuffed manila folder held together with a thick rubber band. Now I finally read about them and feel like an ELL student myself in this class and subject. Fortunately, this chapter provided clear and explicit examples for new and old vocabulary and concepts that I desperately needed more of. (I wish I had another SLATEr to practice and play vocabulary card games with- (but of course those can be created on computers) just for this class alone in SLATE.)
I wish you could see all the underlines and notes just for this chapter my book right now and … I’ll just try to share some…
I found that the most amazing thing to read about what a portfolio is and isn’t was when the authors on page 35 shared from sources whom back in 1991 said that a portfolio ain’t a portfolio without a students’ self-assessments and reflections. That piece of information was an “aha!” for me; no wonder I felt like there was a reason I didn’t really do these in a systematic way in the first place and because I didn’t have a clear enough picture of, but this helps, then the other reason may have been that I know the follow-on teacher would not be interested in them if it’s “too much.”
The three different kinds of self-assessments information helped me to remember there’s kinds and types of everything.
The Clearly Stated Criteria section reminded me of the Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) we are working toward as a district, which we are getting more training on as needed. This too has been around as long as portfolios have been it seems.
Anyways, the Getting started with Portfolios section wore me out in a positive way. I am grateful for this stuff to already be written so that I don’t have to do that part at least, (which felt like I would need to do in order to start my own for this class,- which by the way should be part electronic and part paper, just to be on the safe side, you know- always need something tangible. Technology may not always be here. ☺)
Finally, the details provided by the authors make for easier beginnings in this process of portfolio creation, maintenance, and reflection. And last but not least, the list of nine 9 key points for using portfolios with ELLs provided at the end of the chapter was thoughtfully considerate of the authors to include for someone like me to feel more informed to begin to really begin to seriously think about using portfolios correctly.