How can students use growth portfolios to better communicate and self-assess their learning?

Jamie Utphall

My PDP Version

How can I research, create and implement a growth portfolio system in my classroom

so that  students can better communicate and self-assess their learning towards mastering

specific grade-level skills and content derived from the Common Core State Standards?

My Goals (Adapted from WI Teacher Standards)

•Students will be able to…

• select and reflect on how learning experiences were meaningful and relevant to their lives.

• communicate how learning experiences support their development.  

• better recognize and use metacognitive strategies that work best for them.

My inspiration: Thanks to my mentors at

Washington Jr. High

Tammy O’Connor

Jess Apitz

Kathy Lemberger

Jill Hendricks

See Think Wonderactivity

“Carnaval de Saturno” by

Ricardo Ponce

Choose 1 and cite specific details from the painting for support…

Describe how this image reminds you of characters, conflicts, + themes from The Crucible (Jill Hendricks)

Create and defend a new title for this painting (Jess Apitz)

Describe how your thinking has changed/deepened after our discussion about the painting (Tammy O’Connor)

What do you need to know to better understand this painting? (Kathy Lemberger)

Jess’s Portfolio Model

Jess’s Portfolio class

Student selects “academic indicators” to prove using artifacts + written reflection

Artifacts come from all subject areas + various points during the year

Student prepares +delivers the defense in May for Jess, parents, current + future teachers, principal, + other students

My journey so far: Portfolio Event in English 9

My journey so far: Portfolio embedded in Accel. E9 Workshop

MN’s Portfolio Defense + Discussion (1:30 – 2:10)

JA’s Portfolio Defense + Discussion

How can I use these discussions to propel students’ deeper reflective writing?

Moving to a “new” school

My journey so far: Portfolio Project : Quarter 1 “Event”

AT from English 9

Fill in the blanks and sticky note evidence that meets the standard

Portfolio Project : Quarter 2 “Event”

FL from English 10 – conference audio

Pick evidence that demonstrates masteryCompose intro + inclusion paragraphs for

portfolioPresent orally

KR from English 10 – It’s a small world!

My journey so far: Portfolio Project : Quarter 3 “Event”

JT from English 9

Create + Defend an analogy that describes your growth in English class this year so far. Use specific examples of your work to support your analogy.

Timed In-class MELCON

After GMWP orientation…

How do students ”know how they know” ?

How can I help students better communicate “how they know they know?”

How can I use the 16 Habits of Mind to give students a “reflective” vocabulary to describe their thinking and learning?

Draw a Square activity

How many different ways can you divide the square into 4 parts?

We can decide on what attitude we use to approach a given situation.

We can choose how we act on our existing knowledge and how we create new knowledge.

“The problems the

world faces today

will not be solved with

the same level of thinking

that created them.” – Albert Einstein

•What does Einstein mean?

•To What sort of problems might Einstein be referring?

“Albert Einstein” by Debra Hurd

“The problems the world faces today will not be solved with the same level of thinking that created them.” – Albert Einstein

•What does Einstein mean?

•To what sort of problems might Einstein be referring?

Shawn Achor TEDtalk: The happy secret to better work

•What Habits of Mind did Achor describe?

•What new Habits of mind might Achor coin?

Choose one of the 16 Habits of Mind and write about a time you demonstrated it.

-or-

Create your own Habit of Mind, complete with a definition, symbol and quote/words of wisdom. Write about a time you demonstrated it

My journey so far: Portfolio Project : Quarter 4

Exemplar: AK from English 10

Breaking the mold: HW’s unconventional letter

But why were some students’ portfolios + reflective writing still so superficial and meaningless?

BECAUSE I NEED TO CHANGE HOW I TEACH WRITERS.

Yancey, Kathleen Blake. "Teachers’ stories: Notes toward a portfolio pedagogy." Portfolios in the writing classroom (1992): 12-19.

not merely a storage folder, but a practice of routine reflection

“A commitment to inquiry means that no one party to the exploration knows the answers definitively or ideally, that all parties work together to negotiate meaning, and that making meaning is the enterprise shared by all” (17)

it’s necessary for students to experience  “success and failure and to think about context, which is crucial for development” (17)

a portfolio system does not replace quality writing instruction, but it is a method by which students can take an active role in their own learning

Perks, Kevin. “Dialogue Folders: Creating Space to Engage Students.”Reflective Teaching, Reflective Learning: How to Develop Critically Engaged Readers, Writers, and Speakers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005. 19-31. Print.

Provide weekly + sustained “dialogic” feedback via notebook: “I have come to the realization that if my students are ever going to increase their command of the craft of writing in my classroom, I need to provide a great deal of space for them to write and communicate with them about what they do as writers” (35)

“How is my writing going? What is the next step in my writing? What specific questions do I have that will help me receive feedback about my writing?” (38)

Dialogue folders are motivating for students and increase engagement by citing the “Self-Determination Theory, which “posits that individuals [are] motivated when they feel as if their actions are self-determined” (44)

Other Resources

Cramer, Matthew. "Digital Portfolios: Documenting Student Growth." Resources. Coalition of Essential Schools, 2009. Web. 14 July 2014.

Ruhana, Judith. "Portfolios That Make a Difference: A Four-Year Journey." The Quarterly 23.4 (2001): n. pag. Web. 6 July 2014. <http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/237>.

What is Reflection? activities

Concept Definition Map

Creating + Publishing Analogy Comics

Shades of Reflection

My Plan

More opportunities for writing for diverse purposes + audiences

Dialogue Journals

More Modeling + Conferencing one-on-one

Process Papers for larger projects

Digital Portfolio + Oral Defenses

TW Write-out

Describe your “process” for composing your multi-genre project

• What are you most excited about sharing this afternoon?

• What is one thing you would change if you had an 45 extra minutes before presenting?

• What does your audience need to know about your project in order to understand it fully?