Reflection on my E-Portfolio

My E-Portfolio has taken up a large portion of my time the last couple months because I viewed this project as an extremely important part of my professional life.  I felt it was of great importance to begin my E-Portfolio with an introduction page with a description of all the other pages so the potential employer can navigate to the links that are of greater importance to him or her.  Although there were some obstacles I had to overcome while creating my E-Portfolio, I found the experience rewarding and I feel my end product is something that I will be able to use in the "real world."

The header on blogger was one obstacle I had to overcome during the creation of my E-Portfolio.  The picture was seen below the words of my title and, therefore, my face was barely visible.  I went on Google and searched for ways to correct this problem and was able to find a way to right-align my picture and create line breaks in my title.  Working with the HTML part of my E-Portfolio was tricky but it helped me to create the product I wanted potential employers to see.  Printing my embedded documents was another obstacle I was able to overcome by editing the settings on my Scribd documents.  I decided to not include my Professional Guide Portfolio on my E-Portfolio because my Internship Final Assessment created a more condensed version of my experience, a product that I thought would be more valuable to potential employers. 

I definitely learned a lot about myself in the process of creating an E-Portfolio.  I knew I was a very task-oriented and driven person but I found during this project to be even more so because of my perception that I can utilize this project in my "real life."  This project created a sense of student engagement that doesn't always exist in other classes.  I plan to use this "real life" student engagement strategy in my classes as a mathematics teacher.  I believe this approach will help students to be more motivated in mathematics and create a desire for more student-driven learning in this field. 

Blogging with Elementary School Students

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was setting up a blog for my 6 year old son so he could detail his trip to Hawaii.  I was able to educate my father on how to set up this blog and my mother helped my son update the blog on an almost daily basis.  My son was able to learn SO much from this process!  It helped with his reading and writing skills and allowed him to remain in contact with his Grade 1 class for the entire month.  

There were some trouble-shooting items with which we had to figure out but for the most part blogging went smoothly.  The main problem was that his school's filter blocked his class from commenting directly on the blog.   His teacher had to email my son the comments made by his classmates and my mom posted those comments along with his responses onto the blog.  My son really appreciated hearing his classmates responses and vice versa.  His teacher has mentioned to me that her class misses the daily blogs and wishes they still had a blog to view.  She also mentioned how her students picked up on a spelling mistake she made on the blog.  I told her that she should say that she was just testing them with that mistake and she was proud that they were able to point out the error. 

Overall, I believe my “experiment” with blogging was a success.  Throughout the process my son increased his reading and writing skills, communicated with his classmates and family, and created an online document that describes his experiences at Hawaii.  His classmates were able to communicate with him, which increased their reading skills so much that they were able to spot an error made by their teacher.  His family members and classmates were able to experience his vacation in real time throughout the blogging experience.  The fact that his classmates miss his blog show the benefits of blogging in a Grade 1 classroom.  Blogging was a great way to increase student engagement in my son's classroom and I encourage elementary school teachers to utilize this tool in their own classrooms with the hope they will experience the same positive response.

Assessment - It's a BIG deal!

Assessment has always been a big issue in education.  We learn about formative and summative assessment in the College of Education.  Formative assessment "is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures employed by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment" while summative assessment "refers to the assessment of the learning and summarizes the development of learners at a particular time."  We are taught that a student created rubric is a great way to ensure accountability and helps with student engagement.  We learn about bias and discover ways on how to avoid bias in our own classroom.  We have experience in the classroom with assessment and discover the time it takes to get an accurate reflection of a student's learning.  Assessment is a big deal and a big part of our lives as teachers.  

During my internship, my co-operating teacher and myself benefited from formative assessment.  We would have daily quizzes and homework that ensured us that the students were understanding the material taught.  The daily formative assessment often kept us aware of the students who were struggling with the material and, therefore, allowed us to recognize those students in need of individual help.  Weekly Friday exams allowed students to have homework-free weekends and allowed us, as teachers, to know whether the material being taught should be reviewed the next week or that the knowledge base of the classroom was secure enough to move on to new material.  The presence of formative assessment allowed us to keep the students progressing at a rate that allowed them to understand the material being taught.  When a weekly exam was summative, I believe the past formative assessments helped the students achieve their best results.  

"Interactive E-Assessment - Practical Approaches to Constructing More Sophisticated Online Tasks" , an article by Geoffrey Crisp, states that "(o)ne of the issues with many current assessment designs is that they foster a dependency in students on the teacher; this dependency is related to students believing they cannot make judgments about their own learning or performance level without input from the teacher.”  I thought a great idea to combat this dependency is student-created rubrics that we have discussed in our education classes.  In that way, the accountability falls on the shoulders of the student instead of the teacher making the students better independent learners.  

Bias is an uncomfortable subject.  Mr. D. on CBS gives a satirical view on teacher bias in the following YouTube clip.  

Although the comedic clip is exaggerated, we, as teachers, have to ensure that we try our best to avoid bias.  During internship, I was advised by my co-operating teacher to mark one section at a time.  This suggestion saved time and helped to avoid bias because I was unaware of whose test I was marking for each section. 

And the decision is.... E-PORTFOLIO!

Why have you chosen to complete an e-portfolio?

My original plan was to develop a Web Quest for my final project to use during a week of subbing that I have already arranged in April.  However, I was persuaded during class to follow a different route due to the fact that I am currently searching for jobs and meeting perspective employers.  I came to the belief that an e-portfolio was the optimal choice for my future because of my current circumstances and I am satisfied with my decision.  I have been creating a blueprint in Blogger for the site and plan to complete the pages soon and then use class time to test the site for the requirements as stated in the rubric. 

What professional uses does an e-portfolio have for you?

 I believe this project has real use in the professional world.  I will be able to refer potential employers to this site and feel confident that it is a true reflection of my capabilities.  I will be encouraged to keep my resume, PGP, lesson plans, teaching philosophy and About Me pages up-to-date to ensure potential employers do receive an accurate reflection of my current state in the teaching profession.  In other words, this e-portfolio could help me get the job I desire by providing my information to employers through a Google search or my own reference to the website. In one of our weekly readings for ETAD 470, it states that "78% of recruiters check search engines to find out more about potential employees."  In my opinion, the more positive information, such as an e-portfolio, available on the world wide web for employers to find about you the better chances of becoming employed, which is the main reason I chose to create an e-portfolio. 

What content do you plan to include?

I plan to include an About me page, my resume, my teaching philosophy, my Final Internship Assessment, my PGP (Professional Guide Portfolio),  lesson plans and assessment examples, reference letters and a link to my blog.  My About me page will include information about myself such as my current employment or student status and a way to contact me.  I will include short and long term goals in this section.  My resume will include a one-page resume (as required by the rubric) that will be imbedded through Scribd.  I will also mention that reference information will be made available upon request and create alternative text for those individuals who are unable to see the imbedded picture.  I may even include a link on the bottom to the Scribd website.  I will ensure the resume is able to be printed by individuals that visit my site.  My teaching philosophy will be a detailed paragraph of what I believe teaching is about and what skills and attributes I believe a master teacher should possess.  I will post the teaching philosophy on the page and find links that support my theories.  My Final Internship Assessment will also be embedded in Scribd and, therefore, I will include alternative text for individuals who will be unable to view it.  My PGP will be embedded through Scribd as well.  I will include alternative text for this picture.  My lesson plans and assessment examples will be embedded through Scribd and Slideshare because they not only include documents but Power Points as well.  Assessment examples will include regular and adapted exams that I created during internship.  Lesson plans will include the original plan and the reflection that took place after the lessons were carried out.  Reference letters will be embedded through Scribd.  I will include alternative text so individuals are aware of the content.  There will be a direct link to my blog as well as a direct link from my blog to the e-portfolio. 

What graphic design considerations have you taken into account for the look of your e-portfolio?
 

I have included a picture of my E-portfolio homepage that I can post updated information for my guests.  I will also include a picture of myself to the left of the Title and Subtitle. 

This is my About me page which includes information about my current student career and updated details such as that I now have a teaching certificate.  I will also include short and long term goals on this page.  

My one page resume is done through Scribd.  I will offer any reference information via email.  

My teaching philosophy will also include links to the five main attributes of an outstanding teacher. (leader, caring, organized, flexible, respectful) These link will include articles that emphasize the importance of that attribute in the teaching profession.  

My Intership Final Assessment, PGP and lesson plans/assessment pages will have documents in Scribd.  

Power Points will be displayed with Slideshare.  

My Reference letters will also use Scribd.  

My blog page on my e-portfolio will have a direct link to my blog. 


What concerns do you have about the process? How do you plan to address these concerns?

I am concerned about the ability of the site to meet all the expectations set out from the rubric which is why I plan to spend the majority of my time in class testing for accuracy rather than posting the material.  Hopefully, I can complete the majority of the project prior to these working classes and spend more time in class asking questions to ensure the site works up to its full potential.