Jeongeun
3/18/2011 03:32:05 pm

Week 3: March 21

Bullock&Hawk Developing a Teaching Portfolio
Chapter 1. The Teacher Assessment Movement/Chapter 2. Portfolio Development

At school, teacher assessment is very sensitive. Korean Education Government grades each teacher and gives teachers incentive based on their grade. It’s unspoken rule that chief teachers who are charged of some extra works usually get the highest score. This grade system is supposed to encourage more intensive work on students. However, the teacher who focuses on administrative work gets the highest grade. It’s absurd on the view that the main duty of teacher is to teach students well.
This book gave a good idea about teacher assessment. Portfolio would be a good alternative of teacher assessment, which can increase teacher’s teaching ability more than incentive system. It’s not competitive like present teacher assessment system but qualitative, meaningful, positive and objective. This portfolio is not for evaluation but for improvement of teacher’s quality. Teachers can accumulate their own resources such as lesson plans, management, test and so forth through portfolio. It also could be a good guide for next semester’s teaching. In addition, portfolio clearly shows which strong points or weak points each teacher has. In the perspective of a full time teacher, the thing that teachers have to do is put something in their head or computer database on the papers to make a well organized document.
I hope that Education Government stops judging teachers with the ridiculous teacher assessment system. Rather, it’s time to consider portfolio which is able to support weak points of teachers and encourage strong points.

Questions

Do you believe that the quality of education depends on teacher’s quality?

Is there another positive way to assess teachers instead of portfolio?

Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio
Costantino & Lorenzo
Chapter 1 & Chapter 2

Portfolio has strong points and weak points. The strong point is that thanks to portfolio, teachers don’t need to start from scratch. Based on what they’ve done so far, they can develop new skills, knowledge, and methods and refine them.
However, in some cases, portfolio is valueless. First, if teachers make portfolio to show it to someone, it could very time-consuming work. For example, whenever elementary schools are evaluated, supervisor asked many portfolios. During this evaluation season, many teachers copy some documents or create a new document only for better grade. That’s the worst portfolio because it is not accumulated as time goes by but is made in a hurry. Next, portfolio hardly contains spiritual growth. For example, I know someone who makes a fantastic portfolio. She knows how portfolio looks good. Regarding to only her portfolio, she is the best teacher in the world. However, I wonder her personality is appropriate for teaching. On the other hand, a teacher who has less talent to make a portfolio, but she is really respectable teacher. Thus, portfolio is just one way to evaluate or assess teachers.
In a result, to fully have the benefits of portfolio, such as foster self-assessment and reflection, personal satisfaction and renewal, provide tools for empowerment, teachers need to make a portfolio for their own purpose rather than education government, school principle, or parents use portfolio as a tool of evaluation.

Reply
Haewon
3/18/2011 06:51:40 pm

Developing a Teaching Portfolio
Ann Adams Bullock
Parmalee P. Hawk

First chapter talks about how teacher assessment has evolved. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has established a professional model instead of a bureaucratic model for teacher assessment. The professional model is “(a) individuals learn more when they are responsible for their own learning and development and (b) individuals perform at a high level of competence when high expectations and outcomes are clearly stated. (p 8)” This means in other words, the professional model allows teachers to document their own teaching experience rather than some others to document it. One way to do it is to generate a teaching portfolio. Although it is time consuming, it will enable teachers to be more responsible for their own work of evaluation. As Bullock and Hawk said, portfolios give teachers “the opportunity to document subject-specific pedagogy and the ways in which their students have achieved. (p. 11)”

Second chapter is about what portfolio is. Teachers’ portfolio can be used for self-evaluation or external review but both have several specific components: purpose, audience, evidence and reflections. In a portfolio, teachers should highlight the strengths, the weaknesses and your solutions about that and the changes which you would make about your own teaching. There are three types of portfolios: a process portfolio, a product portfolio and a showcase portfolio.

Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio
Patricia M. Costantino
Marie N. De Lorenzo
Christy Tirrell-Corbin

This book contains the similar content about teaching portfolios as the first book by Bullock and Hawk. One difference is that this book divides into two types of pre-service and in-service. In pre-service teacher portfolios, there are four types of portfolios: entrance portfolio, working portfolio, exit portfolio and interview portfolio. Then there are working portfolio and showcase portfolio for in-service teacher portfolios. Portfolios are great in a way that it can present a holistic view of teachers’ performance and which is not like a resume, transcripts or test that only measure the end result of someone’s performance. Second chapter of this book is very similar to the first chapter from the first book.

Before reading these two books, I was not aware of teaching portfolios or how they work around my teaching profession. Teaching portfolio will help teachers to sum up their strong points in a well organized form which will never be shown by some transcripts or resumes. Also it is a continuing process for teachers which can be used for self-reflection as well. I know it will be a time consuming process, but I am sure it will help me through my career development by pushing me in the right direction.

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So Yun Kim
3/19/2011 10:07:07 pm

Bullock and Hawk (2005)
The first chapter of the book Developing a Teaching Portfolio talks about the teacher assessment movement in the United States and gives the readers an overview of how the teacher assessment has developed throughout time. According to the book, the assessment of the teachers’ performance has been evolved from testing to classroom observations and to portfolios. Portfolios are better than testing and classroom observations in that they build a professional model of assessment rather than a bureaucratic model. This means that teachers can be more responsible for their own evaluation. The other advantage of portfolios is mentioned by Hawk (1996) that teachers report that they have experienced professional growth form the process of portfolios even though it is time and energy consuming process. The impressive line from this chapter was that the knowing content is important for the teacher, but knowing how to teach that content is the key to student achievement. (Rice, 2003) Bullock and Hawk (2005) concludes the chapter by saying that portfolios provide teachers with the opportunity to document subject-specific pedagogy and the ways in which their students have achieved.
Then what is a portfolio and how should it be developed? The second chapter defines what portfolio is and provides examples of how it should be developed. According to Bullock and Hawk (2005), the portfolios consist of reflections of what strengths, weaknesses, and changes the teachers make in their teaching and are used for self-evaluations or external reviews. Four things are discussed as specific components of portfolios: 1) specific purpose, 2) specific audience, 3) evidence and 4) reflections. The book also introduces three types of portfolios which are developed based on three different purposes: 1) a process, 2) product or 3) showcase. A process portfolio is to improve something by showing a person’s performance over a period of time. A product portfolio is to meet a desired outcome by showing evidences developed over a short period of time. The last type of portfolio, a showcase portfolio, is for teachers to showcase their best work to show at job interviews, competitions, or teaching awards. These three types of portfolios differ in the purpose of the portfolio, the type of evidence, and the way the evidence is collected. However, a teaching portfolio is specific to the education profession. Teachers can document their acquisition of knowledge of teaching and their ability to teach through a teacher portfolio. Bullock and Hawk (2005) state that a teaching portfolio contains evidence that show the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions of a teacher at his or her particular stage of development. A teaching portfolio can be developed at any stage of the teachers’ career and the purpose of the portfolio changes at each stage but at each stage the portfolio should contain evidence related to teaching and reflections that shows the teacher’s knowledge, abilities, and beliefs.

Constantino and DeLorenzo with Tirrel-Corbin (2009)
The first chapter of Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio defines teaching portfolio as an excellent process for documenting teaching performance, fostering professional growth, and facilitating reflective thinking. Constantino and DeLorenzo with Tirrel-Corbin (2009) introduce the purpose of the book as to help the readers to understand the concept of a professional teaching portfolio and to assist the readers in the process of developing a paper or e-portfolio. The chapter provides five benefits of portfolio development: that it 1) fosters self-assessment and reflection, 2) provides personal satisfaction and renewal, 3) provides tools for empowerment, 4) promotes collaboration, and 5) provides a holistic approach to assessment. However, the chapter also suggests some dilemmas in the portfolio development process: 1) labor-intensive and time-consuming preparation, 2) quality of document presentation, and 3) evaluation of portfolio evidence3. Even though these dilemmas cause some concerns in portfolio development, the book emphasizes the fact that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
The second chapter of the book is about the performance standards, accountability, and portfolio development. As mentioned in the first chapter of the book Developing a Teaching Portfolio, this chapter also talks about the teacher assessment movement in the United States and how the teacher assessment has developed throughout time. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), and few more are discussed in order to show the importance of performance standards as a determinant of teacher competency. The rationale behind the importance of performance standards to teaching and professional portfolios is also discussed: 1) teaching standards correlate with student standards, 2) standa

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So Yun Kim
3/19/2011 10:08:33 pm

2) standards target outcomes for teachers, 3) standards establish credibility, 4) standards provide a common language, 5) standards demonstrate a commitment to professional accountability, and 5) standards provide a framework for teaching assessment and evaluation. The chapter leads the readers to have a deep understanding of how to implement these standards into their own experience. Readers realize how to use standards as a framework for portfolio development, how to link coursework to performance standards, how to link a professional development plan to performance standards throughout the chapter.

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Jooyeon
3/20/2011 03:47:45 am

Developing a Teaching Portfolio
Bullock and Hawk (2005)

Portfolio is a good way to demonstrate and evaluate the professional qualification of a teacher. Chapter 1 of Bullock and Hawk (2005) provides the background information of the necessity of a portfolio as a tool to assess teachers. As America imposed more responsibility on the teachers for the achievements of the students, the standards for teacher assessments became higher, and new models of teacher assessment emerged. Shulman (1987) argued that assessment of teachers should combine and integrate various aspects such as written tests of knowledge, systematic documentation of their achievements, verification by colleagues and supervisors and analyses of performance, to get an insight of the teachers’ competences. Portfolios have advantages over other assessment methods in that they not only build a professional model of assessment, which enable the teacher to hold more responsibility for their evaluation. There are reports from the teachers that they experienced noticeable professional growth from the process of developing portfolios. Furthermore, portfolios provide teachers with the opportunity to document subject-specific pedagogy and the ways in which their students have achieved. Chapter two gives a general outline for designing and developing portfolios. Teachers who develop portfolios reflect on each pieve of work, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, and possible changes to improve their teaching. Teacher’s portfolios are used for self-evaluation or external review. Portfolios have 4 components: purpose, audience, evidence and reflection. Bullock and Hawk introduces in this chapter 3 types of portfolios, which are different in these components. Teachers in different situations and stages develop different types of portfolios.

As a learner, I once created my own portfolio. I assume that was a mixture of process and showcase portfolio. When I attended a course of 5 months of a language institute, I collected all my work, chose the best ones of certain works, and at the same time included all the works that I did to develop a research paper. I wrote introductions, reflections for each section, and included self, peer and instructor’s evaluation. When I was doing it, it was literally “annoying” and “bothersome,” but completing the portfolio, I could see with my own eyes what I had done, how much I had improved, What I liked and was good at, what I was weak at. It became something that I can never throw away. Sometimes, I referred to the portfolio for other works. I did it about 10 years ago, but I still keep it. As a teacher who has been in this job for quite a long time, I think it would be also beneficial to develop process portfolio over several years to check personal growth and broaden my perspective as a teacher, or product portfolio, to implement certain skills that I am poor at. Usually I kept lesson plans and teaching materials either in forms of paper or computer files. But they are far from portfolio. Those data need to be organized and outcomes such as students’ works and performances should be included. Reflections on the lessons are the key components of a portfolio to find problems and solutions. I expect the portfolio that we are going to develop in practicum will be a good chance to develop as a professional teacher as well as a preserving teacher of English.

Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio
Costantino, Lorenzo and Tirrel-Corbin (2009)

This book provides a set of practical guidelines including information and materials to create a meaningful and useful portfolio relevant to each individual teacher. A professional teaching portfolio is defined as “an organized, goal-driven set of documents that provide evidence of a teacher’s knowledge, dispositions, and skills…evolving collection of carefully selected or created documents that are accompanied by reflection and self-assessment.” This book classified the types of portfolio according to the stages of a teacher’s career. Inservice teachers usually adopt working portfolio or showcase portfolio. There are benefits and drawbacks of developing a portfolio. The benefits are that it fosters self-assessment and reflection, provides personal satisfaction and renewal and also provides tools for empowerment, promotes collaboration and provides a holistic approach to assessment. But on the other hand, developing a portfolio is a painstaking and time-consuming job. Also, visually pleasing portfolios does not guarantee a qualified teacher. Another concern is that this way of assessment entirely depends on the discretion of the developer. Despite the few problems, teaching portfolio is the most authentic ways to represent the teaching competencies of a teacher. Chapter 2 is basically bringing up the same information as chapter 1 of Bullock and Hawk (2005). It provides the history of t

Reply
Jooyeon
3/20/2011 03:49:00 am

Chapter 2 is basically bringing up the same information as chapter 1 of Bullock and Hawk (2005). It provides the history of the change of the assessment methods of the teachers. It was noticeable to find that all the in-service and pre-service teacher’s professional development plan should be related to performance standards. Another finding is the data-driven instruction resulted from NCLB legislation, upon which planning the curriculum and lesson, and reflections depend.

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Mr.Lee
3/20/2011 11:43:07 am

Ch1, 2 Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio (A guide for Success)
Patricia M. Costantino

Marie N. De Lorenzo
Christy Tirrell-Corbin

A professional teaching portfolio is defined as an organized set of documents that demonstrate a teacher’s potential including knowledge, experiences, and skills. There are four types of portfolios for teachers-in-training. Entrance portfolio is one that is used in the admission screening process at institutions of higher education. Working portfolio is a medium demonstrating that a teacher’s competence has improved and developed towards evaluating standards and requirements. Exit portfolio is a finalized set of selection that presents a teacher’s competence and potential towards the standards and the goals of the sought-after program. Last one is interview portfolio which is narrowed down to a limited selection of materials that show the best work from working and exit portfolio. In addition, current teachers do also develop and improve portfolios for the purpose of enhancing their career. Usually, working portfolio and showcase portfolio, a refined version of interview portfolio with a teacher’s best work and achievements, fall into this category.
Even though the process of creating and developing a professional portfolio is time-consuming, and labor intensive, the benefits of portfolio offset its shortcomings. Both practicing and current teachers can benefit from portfolio since it can help them reflect on their teaching, see their strengths and weaknesses, thus, improve teaching performance. In addition, portfolio-making process empowers teachers, especially teachers-in-training, to be more autonomous and responsible. Moreover, portfolio enhances collaborative discussions among teachers, and provides the breadth and depth of performance. Overall, portfolio is a great way to show and demonstrate what a teacher knows, has done, and is able to do to improve student achievement.
Chapter 2 mainly talks about the importance of performance standards and the relationships between standards and professional portfolios. It is critical to have a fundamental understanding of performance standards. Additionally, it is equally important to understand how performance standards are connected teaching practice and portfolio. Teaching standards closely correlate with student standards. In addition, teachers can decide on targeted outcomes through standards. Using standards also helps teachers to add reliability to portfolio. Above all, standards function as a framework for evaluation and teaching assessment. Therefore, a teacher can spot his/her strongest areas, and learn where he would best be able to help his students using standards in developing a portfolio. Moreover, he can improve his performance in the standards in which he finds weak.

CH1, 2 Developing a Teaching Portfolio

Ann Adams Bullock
Parmalee P. Hawk

This book has quite similar points compared to the previous one above. In chapter 1, the history of teacher assessment movement and accountability movement in America is introduced. Obviously, education is one of the top priorities in the public’s mind, and therefore, the need and demand of highly qualified teachers will be increasing over time. Accordingly, several teacher standards have been proposed, such as ‘professional model’ or INTASC standards, in order to present objective and universal guidelines to give an idea of what teachers should be like based on competency and knowledge. Ch 2 mainly talks about the definition and process of portfolio with detailed examples. In comparison with portfolio in general, teaching portfolio is more specialized in education profession. To be exact, a teaching portfolio is a set of records demonstrating a teacher’s classroom performance, development as a teacher, and coherence building through reflection.

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Soohyun
3/20/2011 01:02:31 pm

Bullock and Hawk (2005)
Asking for the reform in public education raised an issue of establishing accountability standards for teaching profession. To assess teacher’s competence and skills, there have been many assessment program designed and conducted. The professional model that NBPTS (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards) presented describes that teachers are committed to students and their learning, they have content knowledge to teach and know how to teach, manage and monitor their leaning progress. Also teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience. In order to effectively assess teachers’ teaching performance and to respond to the higher professional model standards, portfolios are being considered as a good source of assessment tool. Despite of its time-consuming and complex process of compiling data, it is regarded as an organized and condensed performance-based product that represents teachers’ depth of knowledge and ability along with their reflections on teaching experiences. Portfolios are used for self-evaluation or external review for a job interview or the best teacher of the year kind of award. They have a specific purpose, audience, contains work evidence and reflections. Reflection seems to be important since it tells how the developer him/herself finds their own work and it helps to seek after better ways to improve. There are three types of portfolio, process, produce, and showcase. The process portfolio shows performance over a period of time in order to improve something not to prove something. The reflections should include how students were taught and the development of skills and abilities. The evidence of work sample needs to show the success and weakness of the conducted program. However, product portfolio is a specific set of evidence over a short period of time to meet a desired outcome. It should have some sort of goal such as a license, or an award. The showcase portfolio is simply a collection of individuals’ best works. It can be used for individual purpose just as job interview. I believe the one that we intend to do during this practicum course might be the mixed version of process and showcase portfolio since we get to evaluate students over a given time period through an action research and personal teaching work evidence can be included as well as a best performance sample.

Constantino and DeLorenzo with Tirrel-Corbin (2009)
The teaching portfolio provides evidence of teachers’ knowledge, dispositions, and skills (2009). It can be best used both for pre-service teacher candidates and in-service teachers in giving chances to make meaningful connection between theory and practice, demonstrating their mastery of the knowledge and supporting their career enhancement efforts. There are many benefits of portfolio development in spite of its labor-intensive preparation process. It fosters self-assessment and reflection, provides self-satisfaction and empowerment, and promotes collaborative discussion with the reviewers and a holistic approach to assessment. The ultimate goal of portfolio that a developer should keep in mind is to improve the quality of teaching and enhance students’ achievement. I think portfolio can provide a great chance to prove myself how enthusiastic teacher you are to seek for ongoing improvement on teaching ability and skill. I’m very excited to make my own portfolio through this course.

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