Portfolios seem like a very nice way to "SEE" student growth. However I am still mulling over how to make it a powerful tool for my students as well as myself. I am interested in finding a dual purpose and then leaving all other parts of the portfolio to the side until I have some skill level built up. I would like to begin by teaching my students to evaluate their work in an effort to choose pieces they like and then I would like to create a checklist for myself in an effort to use these pieces to determine my report card.
My inquiry question is: What will it take to help students (young) to thoughtfully evaluate their own work?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think by providing your first graders with concrete examples of the skill you want them to master (benchmarks) even in the very simple things, you will be training them to evaluate their own work. I also think the questions for self evaluation listed in the "Using Portfolios in the Writing Classroom" brochure could be adapted for your grade level. :)
ReplyDeleteI, too, struggle with how to help my students become better evaluators of their own work. After all, I won't always be there to read their stuff! I think Lynne is right about providing them with benchmarks; my students always improve their writing when I give them good models! I also am planning on implementing rubrics more, but I don't know how that would work for 1st graders...
ReplyDeleteI thought exactly the same thing as I was reading your post. How can first graders reflect on learning. I think you start small and built on what they reflect on. It may be something simple like how many words they wrote at first, then move to other things you can observe in writing.
ReplyDelete