Portfolio Reflection

My portfolio represents who I am as a teacher. It demonstrates my commitment to teaching to engage and empower students to develop them into lifelong learners. The lesson plans I chose to include – specifically those focusing on credit cards – represent issues that will be directly relevant to their own lives, as they will most likely be applying for credit cards soon after graduation. Presenting content within the curriculum in a critical framework allows students to become aware of injustices within our society, and prepares them to think critically. These themes are also prevalent in the Safety in the Workplace lesson, as we will be analyzing and criticizing laws that protect workers and the current policies in place by the government.

The student work I chose to include represents a variety of different formats for evaluation, including an essay, a resume, and a brochure. Utilizing creative methods of assessment in the classroom allows students to demonstrate their strengths and develop skills not available through traditional content-based testing. The credit unit project, for example, allows students to teach others about the impact of credit through a brochure, video, or lesson plan. Meaningful evaluation techniques such as these allow students to share their knowledge with others, which in turn affirms their own abilities.

The pictures throughout the website show me with two of my classes from my student teaching placement. The photographs demonstrate the classroom community that I built by ensuring that each student was represented as both a learner and a resource of knowledge. Together, we were able to create a learning environment tailored for the success of all students, a setting which I hope to replicate in my future classrooms.