Building Portfolios of Learning

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Chances are, on the last day of school, kids come home with a year's worth of classroom work stuffed in backpacks and crammed in folders. Do you try to make room for that unruly accumulation of paper in the closet or wait until dark to shove it into the recycling bin? If neither option sounds attractive, consider developing a student portfolio. It could be a treasured keepsake in years to come, as well as a tool for learning along the way.

Artists have traditionally created portfolios to showcase their accomplishments and favorite works, but now portfolios are gaining in popularity in other disciplines. Some schools have begun using them as a way to demonstrate the student's role in constructing understanding and the teacher's role in promoting understanding. Kalamazoo College even requires students to create a portfolio, starting in freshman year, as a graduation requirement. According to the college's Web site, the portfolio "helps students understand and articulate their educational experiences, see connections between parts of an education, collect significant work in one place, (and) develop long-term goals and plans that give coherence and direction to their education."

The U.S. Department of Education offers three words of advice to teachers when it comes to portfolios: "collect, select, reflect." That's a good strategy for parents too.

Sit with your kids and sift through the work that's been collected over the year. Ask them to select three favorite pieces (or more if you'd like, but don't get carried away)! Then, ask why they chose those particular examples. What makes this something that you want to keep and share with friends and family? What did you learn in completing this assignment? If you had to do it over, would you change anything?

Jot down the answers and attach it to the piece.

For homes with a computer, parents might also consider creating an electronic portfolio, especially if your child enjoys working on the computer. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Technology in Education staff say that electronic portfolios may offer advantages for organizing, managing, and sharing. The spread of digital cameras makes it easier to save and share artifacts. A Web site on electronic portfolios that may be worth a look (www.electronicportfolios.com) is that of Dr. Helen Barnett.

Electronic or scrapbook, doesn't matter. But, before school starts again, try sitting with the kids to take another look at the prior year's work. It's one way to help kids and parents recall what had been learned and produced the prior year, laying the foundation for the year of learning that's ahead.

This column by Rhonda Barton is provided as a public service by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, a nonprofit institution working with schools and communities in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.