Web222 Assignment 1
Jennell Venier
I declare that my assessment is wholly my own work in accordance with Seneca Academic Policy. No part of this assessment has been copied manually or electronically from any other source (including web sites) except for the information supplied by the WEB222 instructors and / or made available in this assessment for my use. I also declare that no part of this assignment has been distributed to other students.
One way that I attempt to help make meaning of a year, give students the final word about their learning, and achieve a collective sense of completion is by assigning a portfolio project as the final major assignment of the year.
With or without access to technology, final portfolios are opportunities for students be creative as they reflect on, describe, analyze, and interpret their own work and learning from the year. Instead of being told what they should know, students have an opportunity to articulate their learning and their realities in their own words as they create a product of personal and emotional value.
I want them to read through their work and notice multiple things that they may not have previously realized. For this reason, I don't tell them all the details of the project at the outset. Instead, I ask them first to record at least 15 quotes of interest from their own work. The quotes must be from different assignments and significant to them for some reason. (Maybe one quote contains a powerful idea, another is something they now disagree with, a third is a quote where they appreciate the style of the writing, etc.) By completing this first assignment, they are beginning to develop larger ideas and insights into their learning from the year.
The next day, with their collection of quotes in front of them, I ask them to sit in groups and create a list of General Understandings that begin to summarize their learning from the year. I make it clear that they can think about both whatthey learned and how they learned. I give examples to get them started:
I am intentional about modeling with complex and varied General Understandings. For each General Understanding, I have students take notes about units, assignments, projects, and memories of class activities that can be used to support the statement. During this stage, each student contributes ideas, and group wisdom helps develop individual ideas farther. Ultimately each student will choose his or her own General Understandings based on the wealth of ideas and possibilities that each group has generated on the chart paper hanging in different parts of the room.
The next step is for students to draft and write the portfolio essay, the introduction to their selected body of work from the year. For my high school version of the project, students write 500 words focusing on two to three General Understandings. Each General Understanding must be supported by quotes from their own work throughout the year. By using their own work as sources, students continue to review, acknowledge, and accept the authority, power, and connections in their work from the year, while also identifying where there is room for growth.
If technology is available, portfolios can be created as blog posts. Quotes from student work can link directly to pages with those assignments. I require that students include links to at least five different examples of their collected work.
With or without technology, artwork can be a powerful element in portfolios. I have had students use a word cloud generator to create word art that represents their learning from the year. Students can create many different expressions this way.
Every year, final portfolios give my students a structure for evaluating themselves and articulating the most important aspects of their learning and growth. The day that the portfolios are due, we sit in a circle and hear an excerpt from each student. The range and variety of essays is a poignant reminder of the value of creating individualized learning experiences.
Final portfolios can be a reflective tool not only for students, but also for teachers. Reading portfolios rejuvenates me, helps me realize and understand things that I had not realized about different students and their experiences in my class, and helps me to identify my own areas for growth as I continually work to refine and improve my teaching practice. Creating structure that encourages students to develop individual, insightful voices can provide a powerful reminder of why the work of teaching matters.