As important changes are taking place in education regarding teaching as a complex issue, news ways for evaluating teachers’ practices are being explored to enhance their teaching quality - a sine qua non- condition to make learning come alive for students. Indeed teachers’ development has become the forefront concern of school reforms, policy makers, educators and those in charge of evaluating their performance in the classroom. However, this new interest was challenged, by two main questions:  How can teachers develop?  How can their accomplishments be measured and their efforts evaluated? The answers were found in the fine arts where artists’ work is exhibited in art galleries. Artists display the best of their paintings and drawings, leaving in this way a chance for both amateurs and professionals see what they have accomplished and value their work. Likewise teachers’ efforts and growth can be fleshed out through a teacher portfolio (TP) that documents three key components: their goals, accomplishments and their reflection about their practices.

1. Teacher’s Portfolio: A Genius Tool for Professional Growth
By
Azzeddine Bencherab
&
Abdelkrim Chami
University of Mascara, Algeria
Faculty of Letters
Department of English

2. Outline:
Introduction
Background of the topic
Reflection:
 Definition of reflection
 Reflection: a process
Teaching Portfolio (TP)
 Definition of TP
 Reasons for developing a TP and Guidelines
for developing one
 TP’s Contents
Benefits of using a TP
Conclusion

3. I- Introduction:
New ways are explored to promote teacher’s development (TD)
• Promoting teacher’s development enhances students’ achievements
• Growing interest in TD on the part of educators, researchers and
policy makers was met with two challenges:
 How to promote teachers’ development
 How to acknowledge their efforts and measure their
accomplishments

4. II- Background of the topic:
 Important events are traced back by photos, slides, video
sequences, diaries or small gadgets.
 Keeping traces occurs also in, almost, all professions:
 architects keep records of plans;
 artists exhibit the best of their portraits and paintings;
 lawyers keep files of cases they have defended;
 building designers brag about designs they have sketched out
….. except in teaching whereby teachers’ actions are not tracked
or given the right value.

5. III- Reflection:
1- Definition:
 Reflection is an action undertaken by teachers to consider their
practices (Dewey, 1933).
 For Dewey reflection means exploring and questioning teachers’
and other beliefs.
 Reflection is key component for teacher growth (Richards, 1990)

6. 2- Reflection as a process:
The reflective process is not to limited to questioning and
evaluating but to taking future decisions.
 It involves four main steps:
 Collecting data
 Analyzing data
 Considering how the situation could have been different
 Planning new actions

7. a- Collecting data:
 gathering information from colleagues
 gathering information on what’s happening
 documenting oneself on the explored area
Collecting Data

8. Collecting Data
b- Analyzing Data:
Data collected in step 1 are analyzed through asking:
What happened? What was unexpected? Surprising?
What are the consequences?
Analyzing Data

9. c- Considering how the situation could have been
different:
This step involves alternatives through questions like:
 How would have another teacher acted?
 What about…? What if….?
Collecting Data
Analyzing Data
Considering
alternatives

10. d- Planning new actions:
This step involves:
 linking information in steps 1, 2 and 3 and making changes;
 finding about their impacts and the cycle goes on.
Collecting Data
Analyzing Data
Considering
altenatives
Planning
new actions

11. IV- Teaching Portfolio:
A Professional Tool for Professional Development
1- Definition of TP:
 TP is a narrative, biographical document where teachers’
accomplishments and details of their efforts are organized
(Zubizaretta, 1994);
 Murray (1994) defines TP as a collection of documents that
represent teachers’ practices and provides them with the
occasion to reflect upon their own teaching.

12. 2- Reasons for developing one:
 acknowledge and reward teachers (Wolf, 1998);
 describe teachers’ ability over an extended period of time
(Urbach, 1992);
 promote dialogue between the teacher and himself;
 develop a culture of critical thinking;
 build a sound foundation for changes.

13. 3- Guidelines for developing a TP:
 the audience (peers, supervisor, administrator…);
 the clarity of reasons (personal satisfaction, job offer, professional
growth…)

14. 4- TP’s Contents:
A teaching portfolio should contain at least:
 A table of contents
 Statement of teaching philosophy
 Work samples
 Reflective statement

15. 5-5- Benefits of Using a TPBenefits of Using a TP::
 TP does showcase teachers’ growth over time;
 It is tremendous tool to assess teachers’ actions in the
classroom, reflect upon them and envisage changes.
 It places learning and self evaluation in the hands of teachers,
sets clear teaching objectives
 It informs its author whether his/her objectives have been
attained or not.
 and chief above it heightens teachers’ quality.

16. Problem Solving activity:
What word if used in teaching would make a teacher 100%
effective?
Procedure: Let’s proceed as follows: Each letter of the found
word is assigned its number in the alphabet order and the total
is obtained by adding up all the numbers. For example:
C O M P E T E N C E
3 15 13 16 5 20 5 14 3 5 = 99
H A R D
8 1 18 4 = 31
S A L A R Y
19 1 12 1 18 25 = 96
K I N D
11 9 14 4 = 38

17. A T T I T U D E = 100

18. V- Conclusion:
TP if well implemented enables teachers to question their actions.
 Teaching philosophy and statement of reflection: key elements of
TP.
 Teachers in continuous cyclical movement.

19. References:
• Brown, H. D. 1994. Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to
language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
• Dewey, J. 1933. How we think. In Mental Discipline in Modern Education,
ed. W. Kelesnick. Madison, WI: University of Wisconson Press.
• Richards, J. 1990Beyond training: Approaches to teacher education in
language teaching. Language Teacher, 14, 2, pp. 3-8.
• Murray, J. P. 1994. Why teaching portfolios? Community College.
• Urbach,F. 1992. Developing a teaching portfolio. College, 40, 2, pp 71-
74.
• Wolf, K. 1991. The school teacher’s portfolio: Issues in design,
implementation, and evaluation. Phi Delta Kappan, pp 129- 136.
• Zubizaretta, J. 1994. Teaching portfolios and the beginning teacher Phi
Delta Kappan, pp. 323- 326.