Description: In this assignment, we are going to create portfolio evaluation forms in a subject area. We are also going to describe how the form can provide us with information that can allow us to communicate with other teachers, with parents and most importantly with the students themselves.
This assignment involves two steps. The first step is to design the form with your partner. In this step, you will be asked to develop performance tasks (5-10) that are aligned with standards in a content area; develop contents indicating student progress aligned with the tasks; explain the nature of those contents; and indicate due-dates at logical times during the semester or year.
In the description step, you will explain in about 2 pages how the form is able to communicate specific types of information.
Portfolio Evaluation Form
Instructions: The portfolio assignment involves the following steps:
a. Please review Portfolio Form Rubric (see below) before you proceed.
b. Design a portfolio analysis form aligned to standards for one particular area or subject matter. The form should be a listing of 5-10 performance tasks and contents that illustrate students' progress.
c. Describe, in detail, the nature of contents illustrating student progress (explanation).
Example:
Indiana Academic Standards
Performance Task
Explanation
Contents Illustrating Student Progress
Date
Standard 5
WRITING: Applications (Different Types of Writing and Their Characteristics)
7.5.4 Write persuasive compositions that:
• state a clear position or perspective in support of a proposition or proposal.
• describe the points in support of the proposition, employing well-articulated evidence and effective emotional appeals.
• anticipate and address reader concerns and counter-arguments.
Write a clear and well-supported persuasive letter about a topic of personal relevance.
Students will write a letter to the principal requesting a change in policy at the school level. The type of change is up to them (more time between passing periods, abolishing school uniforms, longer lunch periods, the offering of more electives, etc.). After writing their essay, students will list what they believe to be 3 strengths and 3 areas for improvement in their writing .
Letter to the Principal
Any Pre-writing the Student Initiates on Their Own
List of 3 Strengths and 3 Areas for Improvement from the Student
List of 3 Strengths and 3 Areas for Improvement from the Teacher
Week 1
Standard 7
LISTENING AND SPEAKING: Skills, Strategies, and Applications
• 7.7.1 Ask questions to elicit information, including evidence to support the speaker's claims and conclusions.
• 7.7.2 Determine the speaker's attitude toward the subject.
• 7.7.3 Organize information to achieve particular purposes and to appeal to the background and interests of the audience.
• 7.7.4 Arrange supporting details, reasons, descriptions, and examples effectively.
Identify your own position and the opposing position on an issue. Explain and defend it in an organized and detailed way.
Students will be asked to do a Quick Write (write for 5 minutes) on how they feel about a particular controversial issue (use of the death penalty). They will then be asked to stand on different sides of the room based on their position. For example, those in favor of the death penalty would stand on the right side of the room and those against on the left side. The teacher will then assign them a partner from the opposing side. Partners will meet briefly to explain their respective positions and support them. They will be encouraged to ask follow up questions (“Why do you feel that way?”). They will then break to revise their positions in light of their partner's counter-arguments by outlining and re-writing their Quick Write. They will meet again to present new support and ask if the partner has changed his/her mind about anything. Finally, they will write a brief report (no more than one page) about how their meetings went and what they learned from them.
Quick Write
Revised Quick Write
Report
Rubric from Teacher on Report
Week 4
c. Provide a description (about 2 pages) of how the form can provide the following information: (use the following as headings)
diagnosis and placement- student strengths and needs are examined with regard to major curriculum objectives;
monitoring student progress- growth in learning over the course of the semester or school year can be monitored;
feedback on the effectiveness of instruction- if individual students are not progressing, the instructional approach should be re-evaluated and appropriate adaptations made to meet each student's needs. One possible conclusion is that a student needs instructional support beyond the services provided by the classroom(s) in which the portfolio has been maintained;
communication with other teachers- this includes other members of the portfolio team and those at other schools to which students may transfer;
student feedback- portfolios enable students to comment and reflect on their progress and plan what they would like to do to maintain or change it; and
communication with parents- portfolios provide parents with concrete evidence which supports instructional decisions.
