Use Portfolios to Wrap Up Your School Year

This school year my “class” consisted of only three students – my own sons aged 4, 7 and 11. This year I stopped teaching in a classroom in exchange for an “alternative lifestyle”. My family bought an RV and we are traveling around the United States and homeschooling our boys in the process. You can learn more about what we’re up to at our family blog – RVing with the Rakis.

Even though I haven’t had a full class, I have had my hands full! However, seeing what my kids learned this year has been worth every minute. We have been working on a “year round schedule”, taking five weeks off at Christmas, three weeks off at Easter and so we have just this week finished for the year. Now we will be taking seven weeks off to relax and enjoy our summer.

During the last few weeks, the older two boys worked on building online portfolios of their growth and learning for this school year. Here are the results of their weeks of work:

Click here to open this binder in a new window.

 

Click here to open this binder in a new window.

 

 

No matter the size of your class or the age of your students, giving your students the chance to reflect on their own learning and growth each year is beneficial to them as students and to you as a teacher.

Getting Ready for Student Portfolio Season

The new year has come and gone.  Many people are getting ready to celebrate the 100th day of school.  Some may even be using my 100th Day Centers to celebrate!  Before we know it, the end of the year will be upon us and we’ll be saying to ourselves – “Oh wait, weren’t we supposed to create portfolios this year?”  Now is the time to sit down and create a plan so that you are able to create those portfolios before it’s too late.

 

Here are the steps I used when creating my online portfolios with my students:

1.) Plan out what information will need to be included in each portfolio.  For example, my students always included on writing piece from each genre of writing (narrative, informational, persuasive, responsive to literature and poetry).  The writing pieces could be blog posts, storybird books, journal entries or essays we wrote in class.

2.) Share this information with your students as early in the year as you can, so that they can start thinking about which pieces and projects will be included in their portfolio.  Stress to them that portfolios showcase the best of their work.  Since they want many pieces to choose from, they should try to complete each project to the best of their ability.

3.)  5 to 7 weeks BEFORE you want portfolios published, let students begin reflecting on the year’s learning.  I had my students reflect on each subject and write out what they had learned and what their favorite part had been of each subject they reflected on.  This writing was the basis of their online portfolio, but it also provided time to truly reflect on the learning and activities that had happened that year.

4.)  3 to 5 weeks BEFORE you want portfolios published, let students begin choosing projects and pieces that they want to include in their portfolio.  Give students any specific guidelines for the pieces they want to include.  Encourage students to decide at this time HOW they will include these pieces and projects in their portfolios.  In the case of an online portfolio, my students uploaded photographs and videos of tangible projects – like dioramas and presentations.  They also included links to online projects – online posters, videos, blog posts, etc.

5.) 2 to 3 weeks BEFORE you want portfolios published, begin conferencing and editing with students.  Talk to students about what you think about their portfolios, what they might add or take away, help them to make this a true presentation of themselves.

6.)  Once students are ready to publish, invite parents in – either in small groups, or as a whole – perhaps in a computer lab if you aren’t in a one to one situation – and allow students to present their portfolios to their parents.  If you are using a student-led conference model, this provides you with a great format for presentation.

Available in my Online Portfolio Starter Kit is: three different levels of planning sheets, step by step technology tutorials for students and step by step directions for teachers. 

What type of portfolios are being done in your school?

    

 

10 Ways to Use Your iPad’s Camera in the Classroom

With all of the amazing apps that can be downloaded onto iPads, I have found that we sometimes forget about the basic capabilities of our iPads, like the camera and video camera.  Adding a camera and a video camera to your classroom can be so powerful.  Kids can immortalize their creations and learning moments with this simple technology.  Here are some ways to use these powerful tools:

1.)  Allow students to take pictures or completed work.  This is especially powerful for creations (blocks, Lego,   patterns etc.) but also works for science experiments, building numbers with base ten blocks, drawings, writing etc.  Kids can also take pictures of the evolution of their work.  These pictures can later be shared with parents or included in an online portfolio.

2.)  Take a photograph of a whole group brainstorming or mini lesson.  These photographs can later be printed and added to Interactive notebooks, or left on the iPad to be brought up again later for reference.  Earlier this week, I did a simple verbs lesson with my students, but didn’t have time for them to finish their independent practice worksheet.  When I told the kids they would have to complete their practice later, I had a student ask me to take a picture of the board so she could reference it the next day.

3.) Let kids video their thinking.  Have students explain their for problem solving, scientific understanding, critical thinking abut reading etc. to the video camera.  Later you can review their thinking with them.

4.)  Have kids interview each other.  Students can learn about their classmates in the beginning of the year, or about the holidays or cultures of their students as the year goes on by interviewing one other student and then presenting all of the interviews to the class.  They could also interview each other about a project or science experiment they created.  Last year, my students created cars and then interviewed a partner about the steps they had taken.

5.)  Send kids on a photo scavenger hunt to find a given topic in your classroom or school.  Younger students can find all the items that begin with the letter of the week, items in groups of 5, or items of a given color.  Older students can take pictures of nouns and verbs, simple machines, or the states of matter.

6.)  Have kids create video summaries of stories they have read.  The summaries don’t have to be long or complex, but can include an acting out of the basics of a book they have read.  Students love to watch books come to life, so why not allow them to be the one who brings their story to life.

7.)  Have kids interview an adult.  Whether you are working on community helpers, or countries of the world.  I am sure that there is an adult at your school who could give your students more information about a topic that interests them.  Have them capture that information in a video interview.

8.)  Let kids document their field trips.  iPads are portable.  Take them with you to the zoo or factory and let kids  document their learning from their perspective – literally.  Since pictures are taken from a child’s height, you can see exactly what they saw through their pictures.

9.)  Document student’s physical growth.  Take each student’s pictures on the first day of each month.  At the end of the year, line up the pictures and have students watch how they have grown or changed, including haircuts, missing teeth etc.

10.)  Create a misbehavior log.  Am I the only one who has ever taken a picture of a misbehaving student to send to a parent?  I hope not!  Nowadays, we can add these pictures into Evernote, e-mail them directly to a parent or administrator, or simply keep a file that documents issues with those problem children.  (Works well for falls and scrapes too!)

 

How do you use your iPad’s camera in the classroom?