PORTFOLIO

Portfolio



Portfolio

Introduction

Teaching portfolios are gaining prominence in teacher education programs within the US. Numerous claims have been made regarding the educative benefits of constructing a teaching portfolio including increased reflection, illumination of theories and assumptions that guide instructional practices, and heightened collaborative dialogs about teaching are some examples represented in the literature. However, the quality and quantity of support provided to pre-service teachers during the development of their teaching portfolios is critical to the successful development of a teaching portfolio and the navigation of the portfolio process. This article reports a qualitative study of nine elementary education students who participated in a year-long teacher learning community focused on offering support during the portfolio development process. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which participation in a portfolio-focused teacher learning community impacts pre-service teachers' understanding and development of a teaching portfolio. Additionally, the author was interested in understanding how, whether, and in what ways pre-service teachers attribute their own professional development to the portfolio's construction.

Teaching portfolios

A teaching portfolio is a collection of evidence in relation to learning that provides evidence of someone's knowledge, skills, and dispositions (Bird, 1990) thus documenting the “evidence of the events of lives in classrooms” (Lyons, 1998b, pp. 117-118). Adapted from professions such as art, photography, fashion, advertising, and architecture, portfolios have historically been comprised of “best practice” samples of professional work (Bird, 1990). The teaching portfolio builds upon the conception of “best practice” and expands the boundaries of this concept when incorporated as a tool to capture the complexity of learning to teach. Influenced by the adoption of a performance-based mode of assessment by US teacher education institutions, teaching portfolios are increasingly being used to assess prospective teachers' readiness to teach (Diez, 1998).

Used at various decision points, teaching portfolios are often a component of a teacher preparation program's admissions process, a requirement for admission to student teaching (Zeichner, 2000), and as a means of evaluating students' knowledge and ability as part of a program's exit requirement (Porter, Youngs, & Odden, 2000). They are used to stimulate greater reflection and analysis by teachers (Lyons, 1998c) as a component of pre-service teacher coursework (Lyons, 1998a; Winsor, 1994), and during fieldwork placements (Borko, Michalec, Timmons, & Siddle, 1997). Moreover, teaching portfolios are central to the process of gaining “master teacher” status via the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and they are often examined by states as part of the teacher re-licensing process (Zeichner & Wray, 2001).

Numerous claims have been made regarding the educative benefits of constructing a teaching portfolio. Increased reflection upon teaching and subject matter content; expanded awareness of the theories and assumptions that guide instructional practices; increased self-confidence; and heightened collaborative dialogs about teaching are some examples of the benefits of portfolio development (Anderson & DeMeulle, 1998; Bartell, Kay, & Morin, 1998; Lyons, 1998a). Wolf (1994) cites three main areas that affect the impact of teaching portfolios on teacher learning and development: (1) the portfolio development process, (2) opportunities for mentoring and ...