Overview of Teaching Portfolios: Process

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Overview of Teaching Portfolios Process Product

• Nancy G. Abney
• UAB Graduate School
• Professional Development Program

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Why do you need a portfolio?
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Portfolio Product Process

• Product (to get a job or promotion)
• Evaluation, hiring tenure tool
• Document effective teaching
• Visually represent the complexities of teaching
• Process (to improve teaching)
• Self-evaluation reflection tool
• Articulate your beliefs goals
• Illustrate how methods support goals
• Plan teaching improvement

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What goes into a Portfolio?

• Teaching Responsibilities
• List of courses, titles, semester, enrollment
• Teaching Philosophy
• Description of methods, objectives, strategies,
  goals
• Discussion of teaching effectiveness/Student
  ratings
• Summary of course evaluations
• Appendix of evidence
• Course materials, syllabi, assignments
• Classroom observations by supervisor/mentor
• Teaching awards, certificates, instructional
  technology
• Examples of student work with permission

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3 Sources of Evidence

• Material from yourself
• Responsibilities philosophy
• Syllabi, course materials, assignments
• instructional innovations, teaching improvement
• Material from Others
• Observations by colleagues
• Evaluationsfrom peers, mentors, students
• Awards, teaching development activities
• Products of Student Learning
• Pre/post exam scores
• analysis of samples of student work related to
  course objectives
• Graded essays w/ explanation

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What The Final Product

• A coherent set of material that represents your
  teaching practice as related to student learning
  (Mues Sorcinelli)
• Description of strengths accomplishments
• Documents materials covering the scope and
  quality of a professors performance (Seldin)
• lt10 pages of organized narrative, plus appendix
  of supporting material (8-15 pages)
• Peter Seldin (1997) The Teaching Portfolio 2nd
  ed. Bolton MA Anker
• Fran Mues Mary Sorcinelli (2000)Preparing a
  teaching Portfolio The Center For Teaching,
  University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Process How to get started

• Set up a filing system save syllabi, handouts,
  exercises, all evaluations
• Regularly reflect on your teaching start
  writing your philosophy
• Request letters from professors that have
  employed you or observed you teach
• Get mid-term feedback from students you teach
• Talk to faculty you admire about their teaching
• Collect material on your teaching-related
  activities (see list in Appendix A)
• Write your goals for teaching development

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Process 7 Steps to Creating a Portfolio

• Planning purpose audience
• Summarize teaching responsibilities (2-3
  paragraphs)
• Describe your beliefs about/ approach to teaching
  (philosophy)
• Select items of evidence
• Write reflective statements on each item
• Create a Table of Contents
• Put it all together (in binder or e-format)

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Final Review

• Is the data selected, organized and presented in
  a way that brings the most compelling evidence
  into focus for the reader?
• Does each piece of evidence serve a purpose,
  support a point you made about your teaching
• Does the portfolio give the reader a sense of who
  you are as a teacher?

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Process Freewriting Exercises

• What makes a good teacher?

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Your PhilosophyPersonal Purpose

• a distinctive organizing vision--a clear
  picture of why you are doing what you are doing
  (Brookfield, p. 16)

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Your PhilosophyPedagogical Purpose

• Teaching is about making some kind of dent in
  the world so that the world is different than it
  was before. Knowing clearly what kind of dent
  you want to make in the world means that you must
  continually ask yourself the most fundamental
  evaluative questions of allWhat effect am I
  having on students and on their learning?
• Stephen D. Brookfield, (1995) Becoming a
  Critically ReflectiveTeacher. San Francisco,
  Jossey Bass (pp. 18-19)

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Conceptualizing a Philosophy of Teaching

• Conceptualization of Learning
• Conceptualization of Teaching
• Goals for Students
• Implementation of the Philosophy How you put it
  to work
• Professional Growth Plan
• Nancy Chism, Director of Faculty TA Development
  at The Ohio State University (1998) Developing a
  Philosophy of Teaching Statement.

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Conceptualizing Learning

• What do we mean by learning?
• What happens in a learning situation?
• How can we observe learning?
• What is your metaphor for learning?

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2. Conceptualizing Teaching

• Coach
• Gardener
• Director of a Play
• General Leading Troops to Battle
• Midwife
• Swiss army knife
• Evangelist
• Rabbi
• Entertainer
• Choreographer

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What are your goals for Students?

• By the end of this class, students will be able
  to _____________________________.
• If You overheard students in the Cafeteria
  talking about you your class, what do you hope
  they would say?
• In 5 years, what influence do you hope to have
  had on your students?

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Elements of the Teaching Portfolio
Philosophy of Teaching Values Beliefs Biases
Desires
Goals Objectives for self for
students Content Delivery method what students
should learn Treatment of students professional
development Growth in your field personal
development of students Efficiency Evolution as
a teacher
Evidence Student Evaluations Samples of
Student work video Teaching
responsibilities cd rom Peer observation
Course preparation Webpages
Expressions of Teaching Learning
Tests Quizzes Homework Syllbus Web
use Discussions Interactive learning Texts Final
papers Group projects Writing Mid-term
evaluations Assignments Lecture style