Lesson 8: Give me a Break!

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able

  • Create a final Table of Contents
  • Create a final Introduction Summary
  • Evaluate next steps needed to succeed in creating a professional portfolio

Teaching

In Practicum Two you created an outline for your portfolio.  Now is the time (if you haven’t started already) to find yourself a solid binder and start putting things together.  The Oral Communication ELO is a presentation of your portfolio, so it is only a matter of weeks before you need to have this finished. 

Also in Practicum Two you created an introduction summary to your portfolio.  This summary is a paragraph long and gives an explanation to your portfolio organization and purpose.  It explains exactly what you want your reader to know as they look through your portfolio.  This is the firstitem the reader sees when looking at your portfolio.

Let’s recap the lesson in Practicum II….

Professional portfolios are an organized collection of materials that display your progress towards professional growth.  The portfolio is the sum of your college experience and displays your abilities related to early childhood education.  It will contain background information (resume, philosophy) teaching artifacts and reflections (materials from your experiences and course requirements) and professional information (professional activities, letters of recommendation and evaluations).

The purpose of this portfolio is to showcase your teaching practices and document your growth and development as an educator.  You might bring your portfolio to job interviews, reference its contents for future use and/or use it as a working tool to continue professional growth.  Read the article, The Benefits of Developing a Professional Portfolio and take note of what purposes stick out to you.

Then look back through and take note of all of the things you have left out of your portfolio so far.

Don’t forget that each standard in  NAEYC Professional Preparation Standards will be covered in your portfolio.  By now you should have a few articles for each Standard and are only missing a few things.  To assist in choosing artifacts for your portfolio, you may want to consider breaking them down into the key elements.  This will provide clarity to the reader and ease in finding artifacts. 

Now take a look at your table of contents draft from practicum II

The beginning should consist of your background information.  This information could consist of the following but is not limited to:

  • Your transcript
  • Acceptance letter to the ECE program
  • Philosophy of Education – the final creation of your philosophy is the ELO assignment LIFELONG LEARNING
  • Resume
  • A short autobiography

The meat of your contents will be the Standards materials as discussed above.  It should be organized so the reader can quickly access specific parts they are looking for.   
The later part should consist of your professional information.  This might include but is not limited to:

  • Professional activities
  • Professional awards
  • Background checks
  • Practicum evaluations
  • Letter of references

In addition to the table of contents and items you are putting in your portfolio you should make sure it looks professional.  This should be in a binder, maybe sheet protectors or reinforcement labels so that pages do not fall out.  The pages should betyped and presented with clarity.  This includes appropriate tabs, spacing and size of font.  You may want to create title pages and ABSOLUTELY want to have others proof read before submitting.

Assessment

Lesson 8 Assignment

  • Talk with your supervising teacher about setting up a Mock Interview.  The interview will take place with an objective party that is not currently involved in your course. Keep in mind when setting a date that you
    • Have finished the Lifelong Learning ELO
    • Have a finished portfolio!
  • Submit a final:
    • introduction summary
    • table of contents

 

Introduction Summary

0 Points

Did not provide summary

13 Points

Summary is unclear and contains few details.  Uncertainty of  how the summary relates to the organization and purpose of the portfolio

25 Points

Summary is clear and detailed and captures the organization and purpose of the portfolio

 

Table of contents professional background

0 Points

Table of contents did not provide professional background

10 Points

Table of contents is missing required artifacts

20 Points

Table of contents list at least transcript, philosophy and resume

 

Table of contents NAEYC Standards

0 Points

Table of contents did not contain NAEYC standards

13

List is incomplete and does not contain all of the NAEYC standards and key elements

25 Points

Table of contents list every NAEYC standard and key elements

 

Table of contents professional information

0 Points

Table of contents did not contain professional information

10 Points

Table of contents is missing required artifacts

20 Points

Table of contents list at least one practicum evaluation and three letter of references

 

Grammar

0 Points

Written with unacceptable spelling, grammar, and/or syntax errors

5 Points

Errors in mechanics are minor, but are somewhat distracting from the message.

10 Points

No substantial errors in spelling, grammar, and/or syntax, or APA Citations.

Lesson 8 Discussion

What are you struggling with on your portfolio?  Do you have any tips or helpful hints for your classmates as they move forward in this process also?