Pieces of Me Student Portfolios

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Graphics purchased by Scrappin Doodles

The one thing I wanted to make sure was in place at the start of the new year was the Pieces of Me student portfolios. This portfolio kit serves as a tool that will promote self-evaluation. It will be a collection of student work with an area where students can self reflect. The purpose is for students to be able to host student led parent conferences and discuss what we are doing ini class. The idea came to me after our recent parent conferences. Although I've held traditonal conferences for the last 13 years, I felt that this way of conferring with parents was ineffective and unproductive. This is primarily because, other than sharing their child's current levels and their strengths and weaknesses, their was no real connection with what we were doing in class everyday. The real dialogue should be centered around what the student feels their strengths and weaknesses are. By using these potfolio kits, students will be eager to show their parents what we've done because they will be bright and engaging and, most importantly, they are written by the student. When students have the opportunity to write about what we are doing and go through the process of evaluating themselves, they are more connected to what they are learning and can have a meaningful conversation centering around what they do well and what they must work on.  I feel like there should be more involvement with the parent and the child; the child should be able to explain what we are doing in class. In addition, they should be able to answer most, if not all, questions asked by the parent and/or caregiver. I want more involvement by the students because I believe this will increase student engagement while also increasing personal accountability.

The first step in this process was for me to create forms that could be used by the students to self-reflect after assessments and projects. This will be kept in a two pocket folder with prongs. Everything will be placed in sheet protectors so that it gives the appearance of a book. Creating this portfolio kit is a work in progress. Because this is new for me, I will be feeling my way through. Our next report card ends in December. I will be working on student led prompts that will be used to share their strengths and weaknesses with their parents during our conferences. I will post changes and updates as they come along. In the meantime, this is what I have so far. Feel free to download this portfolio kit for free and/or give me any feedback/suggestions. Have a great new year!

Ms. Wainwright : )