For the portfolio
effort: this is the short form (longer
explanations of each are in the syllabus)-- I'm assuming that this is
all pretty straight forward- let's hope! I'm also assuming that
you know that you can include anything else you would like, e.g.
pictures, additional lesson plans, descriptions of the professional
meetings you attended, links to your thesis if it seems to complement
the contents and would be something to share with a prospective
employer, and so forth.
*****I encourage you to check out the sample
portfolios on the Educational Studies web page (go to swarthmore.edu,
find education, scroll to the bottom of teacher certification, then
use the magical info re. teach and students). These provide
models of how the whole thing could be pulled together, as well as
examples of how the different assignments might be
approached.
Contents:
1. Your
résumé.
2. Description of the
school in which you are teaching, the department(s) or cohort of
teachers with whom you are working, and the students with whom you are
working.
3. Observations:
a.your cooperating teacher's
classes
b. three classes/topics taught
by someone other than your cooperating teacher
c. one class in a grade level
before and one in a grade level beyond the one in which you are
teaching
d.two classes outside your
subject or grade
e. one student through an
entire day
f. a resource room class
for students at the grade level you are teaching
4. Describe findings from the
Flanders-Amidon analysis you conducted on two of the classes you
observed.
5. A rubric for content you
teach in your classroom.
6. Lesson plans and copies of
any supporting materials from a sequence of three consecutive lessons
you teach in one class. A two-paragraph introduction to the materials
should precede them in the portfolio. This should overview the
students, class content and the school culture briefly.
7. A lesson plan that builds
on materials read in a professional journal/publication in your field
and an explanation of the links/how you adjusted
it.
8. A detailed three-week
lesson plan for your class.
9. Representative
samples of three students' work over the term.
10. Analysis of one lesson in
terms of State and National Standards as these apply.
11. Three narrative reports
for students in the classes you are teaching.
12. Describe the way in which
multiculturalism was addressed in your class. Include in your
statement consideration of how the content and/or process of the class
would need to be adjusted if the racial/ethnic/gender composition of
the class were different.
13. Describe how you could
adjust one of the lessons in your three-week plan to enhance its
appropriateness given the multi-cultural composition and knowledge of
your students.
14. Describe your use of
software or other technologies in your teaching
generally.
15. Describe a lesson you
taught that employed computers and/or a website for students that you
developed, include information about its strengths and
weaknesses.
16. Describe an
interdisciplinary activity found on the web (include its url) and its
adjustment for use in your classroom.
17. A summary of a lesson and
changes made in order to accommodate: (a) a hearing impaired student,
(b) a student in a wheel chair, (c) a student with attention-deficit
disorder (ADHD), (d) a student with an emotional problem, or (e) a
student with a visual-impairment in your class.
18. Write 1-3 essays that address: (These should be included in
your portfolio.)
a. Reflections - A short essay
based on materials in the portfolio in which you re-look at your
working theory of instruction written for Educational
Psychology.
b. Connections - A short essay
based on materials in the portfolio in which you demonstrate
thoughtful connections between the content of the Swarthmore/Haverford
education courses you have taken and your experience
teaching.
c. Applications - A short
essay/analysis of materials in the portfolio in which you analyze the
application of content-specific standards in your discipline to the
curriculum with which you worked as a student teacher. Based on the
standards, make suggestions for the revision of this curriculum the
next time it is taught.