Portfolio assignment, why portfolio, Education, young learners, portfolios

1. Portfolio Assignment
(Mock portfolio for a 6 year old ELL Student)
BY: RUTH ANN DAPKUS
ED 485/585
WINTER 2015 PROFESSOR: SANDRA STOCKWELL

2. (NAEYC)
I found this organization to be
extremely helpful:
National Association for the Education
of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/
Why use Portfolios?
It is “part of an assessment plan” and “these documents
involve the teacher, parent, and the child in the system”
(Mindes 2011, pg. 71)
*Increase language learning
*Emphasizes both content and performance, or holistic learning.
*Links between learning across the curriculum
*Facilitates children’s learning about audience awareness as they write
*Is individualized
I’ve included these
guidelines as a
reminder as to why we
have ‘portfolios’

3. Student: Alyx (ExcerptsfrominclassworkSeptember2014 -February22,2015 “present”)
Samples of Alyx’s art projects
during unit on ‘Spring’ & after
our book of the month ‘baby
animals’ –MET Task: use dried
beans as a medium and use it to
represent an animal habitat.
Animal
mosaic. Task:
choose an animal
from the story and
create an illustration
with mosaic
medium.
I would save as many artifacts that were a direct result of projects and tasks assigned.
I would let the child know they are going to be saved for our portfolios beforehand. I
would allow them to access a portfolio holding area in the back of the classroom to
allow them to see their work if it was not already placed on bulletin boards around
the room.
Work product examples

4. Work product examples cont.
Self-portrait:
Following our introduction to
Art and famous artists. The
students learned about Frida
Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe and
Leonardo Da Vinci. They all
drew and completed a self-
portrait. Each child picked a
work product sample for their
portfolio from this unit. Alyx
selected this ‘self-portrait’ for
her portfolio. 10/4/2014
This activity builds fine-
motor skills. If done
consistently over time there
are developmental theories
that imply it may be used as
a diagnostic tool.
Not actual
student.
This is a
‘mock
portfolio’

5. Constructing buildings: (SnapshotsofbuildingsbuiltbyAlyxduringouruniton‘partsof
thehouse’December8,2014)
This building was
selected by Alyx to go in
her portfolio. (She was
very happy with it.)
Not actual
student. This
is a mock
portfolio.

6. Constructing puzzles…
PUZZLE COMPLETED BY ALYX: 1/15/2015 PUZZLE COMPLETED 11/5/2014
This was done in
class following a
discussion on
forest animals.

7. Observation: (If possible,Iwouldhaveanaidvideoanendofunit lessonwrapup.Dependingontheschoolandmydirector’spolicies.)
Thiswouldbeusefultoseethelearningprocessanddocumenttheactivity.ItwouldhelpmeasateacherandIwouldalsoplaceitinthe‘portfolio’aswell.It wouldserveasan
archiveforthat weekormonth’slesson.Itwouldhelpparentsbecauseoften‘visualmath’isconfusingandfrommyexperiencemanyparentsarenoteducatedonthecommon
coremathstandards. Withavideotheywouldunderstandwhat weareactuallydoinginclasssothat theymayassisttheirchildrenathome. I’veincludedthisinthemock-portfolio
becauseIthinkitsimportant.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/grade-1-math

8. Math:
For this activity (far left) students practice
building different strategies for subtraction.
Here we are practicing hands-on math. They
remove counters in this manor.
Notes: Alyx thoroughly understood the activity
and her progress was observed and noted.
Snap shot from
Alyx’s Math
journal ‘counting
by fives’ –Activity
completed
1/20/2015
*practicing
addition
within 20 and
showing her
answers.
These are the types of activities
and samples I would include in a
portfolio…

9. Science: Snapshots
from: ‘Is it a
liquid or is
it a gas’
activity.
Science Fair:
11/1/2014
Note: If this was a non-
mock portfolio I would
include work product
examples here. These are
however the types of
activities I would like to
do in my future class.

10. Language Arts: Writing Journal…
Week 1 Journal: Topic “What I liked about my first day at school”
Week 2 Journal: Topic……
Week 3 Journal: Topic….
Week 4 Journal: Topic…..
Week 5 Journal: Topic…..
Etc. etc.
In this writing journal I would include a scan of a journal
entry. I would pick one from each week and scan it and
put it in the portfolio. Then, I would have the children
select one entry that they want in their portfolio. It
allows me to assess children's progress as well as show
it to the parents at parent teacher conferences. It also
allows the children to reflect on their writing over time.
(Practice is essential for literacy development) Even in
first grade they can attempt to get their ideas down on
paper. Some may choose to draw pictures as well. This
is ok! Task: To write continuously for five minutes on a
designated ‘topic’.

11. “Reaching Every Student: Recognizing
Giftedness in Bilingual Students” (Woolfolk 2014,
pg. 219).
The Mindes book does a good job to
explain special evaluations for Special
Education programs. However, this also
includes talented and gifted ELL’s. Funding
for public schools in America is often under
rather than over and many ELL’s with high
aptitudes for Math, Science get overlooked
and lost in the shuffle. I would want to
include ways to reach them as well. For
example: (Right ) Provides a look at
identifying Bilingual Students with Gifts
and Talents. It is a great resource!
According to one student: “school is hard for me because my English is so
limited…there are times when I feel a lot of pressure because I want to say
something, but I don’t know how to say it. There are many times when the
teacher is asking questions, I know the answer, but I am afraid that people
might laugh at me.” (Woolfolk 2014, pg.219).

12. Language
Development
and emergent
Literacy
I would include writing tasks and
samples such as this one on the right.
According to Anita Woolfolk ‘Inside-
out skills’ are “the emergent literacy
skills of knowledge of graphemes,
phonological awareness, syntactic
awareness, phoneme-grapheme
correspondence, and emergent
writing.” I could then judge the
‘Outside-in skills’ or the “emergent
literacy skills of language, narrative,
conventions of print, and emergent
reading” (Woolfolk 2014, pg. 190).
The two are interdependent of each
other. It would be helpful for me as a
teacher to see where the child is at
with both of these skill sets.
Note: These are two
interdependent tasks. A grocery
list and a story. “This child knows
quite a bit about reading and
writing-letters make words that
communicate meaning, writing
goes from left to right and lists go
down the page, and stories look
different than shopping lists”
(Woolfolk 2014, pg. 190).
I would most
definitely include this
type of sample from
class exercises in an
ELL’s portfolio.
Emergent literacy is
often overlooked in
non ELL classrooms.
It’s important to
examine this sample
for what it is:
‘Emergent Literacy’
Inside-out skills vs. Outside-in skills

13. Parent Contribution:
· Likes and dislikes
· Favorite foods
· Special needs
· Health
· Favorite television programs
· Favorite books
· Favorite toys
· Fears
· Family activities
I would have the parents fill out this
survey/list. Next I would scan it and upload it
to the ‘portfolio’ because I want the parents to
be involved in the snapshot of their child. I
believe it contributes to the ‘holistic’ approach
to learning.
I would also use it as a way to remember what
the individual child likes in hopes it would help
with in-class activities or projects.
Note: I would also create an interactive ‘virtual portfolio’ with box or online cloud
storage that the parents could log into at any time. There would be portal for parent
questions and concerns as well as current class activities and vocabulary. Emphasis
would be placed on face-to-face meetings but I feel that a virtual box would be a
valuable tool. It is easy to do I feel all teachers should take advantage of technology
in the classroom.

14. Detailed morning observation 2/17/20152/17/2015
Individual observation starting at 8:30 am through the morning block and up until lunch at 11:00 am.
‘Eliza’ came to her first grade class at 8:30am. Eliza is a native Spanish speaker. She entered the class with the other children, sat down and waited for instructions. She seemed fidgety compared
to other children but she eventually unpacked with the rest of the class. Morning announcements were made and we introduced another student who is from French/Spanish descent.
In the beginning the children (10 ELL’s total out of 19 students) sat in a circle. Calendar time was starting and children sang songs about days of the week and talked about how ‘today is Tuesday’
tomorrow is ‘Wednesday’ and questions were asked about “if today is the 17th what is tomorrow?” I felt Eliza was softer spoken than other louder children in the group but she participated with
singing and all the circle activities.
*Also during circle time they reviewed ‘colors’ and talked about what color each child was wearing. Eliza belted out “Adam has a blue shirt” much to my surprise and also stated that she had “pink
shoes”.
Next, there were ‘phonics’ exercises such as holding up a letter and a card in order to elicit sounds like J-jug-/j/. Review of th,sh,ch sounds Ch and gave the example of ‘chicken’. Some words were
a bit more challenging for them and they all clapped and spelled. Eliza said the word, clapped and spelled. The teacher did this routine slowly with much positive reinforcement. A teacher’s aide
asked for volunteers to pick a word and use it in a sentence. Eliza responded with “I have chicken” the teacher asked if she had one or two? She determined that Eliza has more than one chicken
and reiterated that she had ‘chickens’. Not all of the children were successful but all seemed eager to use the words in sentences and try.
9:15: They returned to their classroom setting to turn in their homework. Some children left the class for extra math help. The students that stayed in class discussed basic sounds and ‘trick words’
often times with the suffix s that gets added to the initial base word. Eliza used her finger to tap out the word. Their fingers touched their thumbs. It seemed rather involved and the students that
returned from math seemed a bit confused. The teacher tried to help the returning students by showing them how to use their fingers in this way. Children volunteered to go up to the board and
use ‘sound cards’. Eliza had a bit of trouble with the word “shell” and the difference with the short I and e.
9:35: Children received small cards with a dot at the end of them and moved to the side of the room. They took their seats and the teacher read a short paragraph. They were instructed to hold
up their cards when there was a short pause or when a ‘period’ should be used. Cards went up at different times but they all participated. Eliza was correct in this activity and was one of the first
to hold up her card in the correct pause.
9:45: The class returned to their seats where they reviewed a writing activity.
10:25: The students were called back to a circle to read several books with a ‘Spring’ theme. A conversation was started with what do you know about spring? What kind of weather do we have?
What kind of animals do we see? Children were allowed to repeat someone else’s animals if they needed to. Eliza did not jump into participation at first. The word ‘elephant’ was translated.
elephant and different ‘animals’ and she seemed more comfortable. The children write in notebooks about the animals discussed. Chickens and ducks and lambs are drawn in notebooks with
many different colors often with the words in English beside them, sometimes just pictures. Eliza draws and repeats the names aloud in Spanish and English. Some children are easier to
understand then others.
10:45: The teacher calls the students attention and they read a story.
I can see that Eliza is very eager but also very shy. She would benefit from read-aloud activities. She seemed to excel at the card activity and understood long pauses in speech. She struggles with
many issues that other children do with using ‘s’ at the end of the words and being consistent with this.
A writing /picture journal would help her. Phonics games and integrating her parents in these activities at home would help. I don’t know what her parents’ level of English is however. I would
like to see a ‘reading help’ group like the Math group for additional assistance here.
I would like to see more structured small group activities as I think this would aid Eliza with her confidence and social interaction and participation.
Notes:
NOTE: This is a ‘sample’ taken from another assignment of an ‘observation’. Recently, I was able to observe an ELL classroom. I would
however include the same type of ‘observations’ in my portfolio. I have included it in this ‘mock portfolio’ …. I do not have any detailed
information about her family’s English level because I do not work at the school. I feel fortunate I was able to observe the classroom
setting on that morning.

15. Summary: (‘Why’)
Throughout this portfolio I’ve touched on science, math, reading, language arts and
literacy development as well as the visual arts. In theory the portfolio would start at the
beginning of the school year and continue to the end of the year. I would upload as many
scans of student work as needed and also keep a hard copy as well. Children would be
notified of their portfolio’s existence, be allowed access to their ‘work product examples’
and be asked for their opinions on work to be included. These opinions will be noted and
included. I will also save work product examples and document them. In hopes the
parents will be involved I have designed a questionnaire about their child that will also be
included. As always it is a ‘work in progress’ and I will be ever vigilant of creative ways to
incorporate both child and parent in the portfolio. In a non-mock portfolio I would also
have tests and standardized scores nearby for easy reference as well as developmental
scores.

16. Works Cited:
Hoy, A. (2014). Language Development and Emergent Literacy.
In Educational psychology: Active learning edition (Twelfth ed.,
pp. 190-191). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Mindes, G. (2011). Portfolios. In Assessing young children (4th
ed., pp. 358-362). Boston: Pearson.
National Association for the Education of Young Children |
NAEYC. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2015, from
http://www.naeyc.org/