Portfolios & Involving Students in Self-Assessment

I love the idea of having portfolios in the classroom. I think it’s a great way to collect and organize work samples while also giving students the opportunity to be involved in choosing what pieces they would like to put in. A student’s work might include journal entries, story maps, graphic organizers, reading comprehension exercises etc. Students date the items and then place them in their portfolios in chronological order.

Portfolios can serve many purposes.  For teachers, it’s a great way to document a student’s literacy development, assess writing samples and see what assignments each child is particularly proud of.  For parents, portfolios can also show what their child has been working on and how much progress they have made. For students, it’s something they can really be proud of and call their own.

            What really peaked my interest in chapter three was using the portfolios to engage students in self-assessment. Teaching students to learn to reflect on and assess their own reading and writing activities. For example, asking students what they liked the most and least, what they think they need to improve on, what changes they see etc.

As a Montessori teacher, I have my kindergarteners keep portfolios of their work and they really enjoy taking their portfolios out and looking back at all of the work they have completed. Often times I point out differences in their work from the beginning of the year to show them how much progress they’ve made, whether its improvement in their handwriting or pointing out the words they’ve learned to spell correctly. It didn’t really dawn on me to have my students, even as kindergarteners, try to assess their work for themselves. I think it’s a great idea and exercise to try!