Through my readings I had been informed (and warned) that for ePortfolios to be truly effective they must remain the student’s. Ownership = greater motivation and use. Therefore ownership is paramount or it can become another “task” for the student resulting in the teacher becoming the slave driver.

When my class found out that they could finally login to their new ePortfolios a jubilant “HOORAY” erupted from the students. For us the rubber was finally hitting the road. :+) We had discussed the ePortfolio concept together as a class from the beginning of Term 1. During this preparation period we put together a written list of the samples we thought would be good to share with our Parents or peers and that would show what we are learning. I was impressed with the discussions and samples the students were suggesting. The list of samples looked like this:

• Special Things About Me: 
  • X-Factor movie
  • Our “Smarts” (a pictorial representation of our Multiple Intelligences)
  • Power points I have made about me
• Term Goals
• Maths Basic Facts tests
• Reading (audio recordings and comprehension activities)
• Writing:
  • Audio recorded or published Pirate narratives
  • Accompanying assessment rubrics
• Handwriting
• Topic Studies:
  • Pictures of our Pirate projects or the Pirate project powerpoints and their accompanying assessment rubrics

Over the last 3 weeks we have been busy setting up our ePortfolios and archiving our work samples (listed above). I continue to offer suggestions and guide my students. While I do this I have to be careful not to “take over” otherwise I rob them of the ability to own the ePortfolio. This is not an easy task. 

I have found the following ways to be effective in building student ownership:

1. Allow students to upload things that are of interest to them eg: sport pictures, power points they have made or to create links to other pages they enjoy visiting.
2. Show students how to design their own ePortfolios so that they become personalised eg: the different ways they could create an avatar, change the layout of their portfolio, colour schemes, etc.
3. Always include the students in discussions about their ePortfolios. We all contribute, then discuss ideas and finally solutions are arrived at together.
4. Give options for the different ways you can come to the same conclusion eg: in Term 1 we wrote Pirate narratives together as part of our Pirate topic. Together we discussed the different ways we could publish these. Some students choose to type them while others choose to record them orally.

I love reading blogs that are either visionary, challenging or practical. Here is a blog that is very practical.

Jacqui Sharp is an Educational Consultant who works in Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve never met her but would like to. Her blog:

• is written with tips for teaching junior and senior students (generally a Primary/Elementary focus) .
• shows a strength in incorporating powerpoints into everyday teaching and shares these with you.
• uses web 2.0 tools effectively for teaching and learning eg: Scribd, Bubl.us, Inspiration, Delicious, etc.
• shares a range of sites that will support the following classroom programs: spelling, writing, oral language (and this is only on the first page!).

Click here or on the picture above to visit Jacqui’s blog.

My thought is this, we all communicate things…some things on purpose…some things unconsciously. I believe it is often the unconscious things we do that our students pick up most. Our attitudes, thoughts and priorities are communicated through our behaviour and words.

So I have been asking myself lately, “As a Teacher what attitudes and behaviours am I encouraging and modelling? What am I communicating?”

At the conclusion of the last two terms I presented a survey to my students to complete. Using Survey Monkey I designed a survey that would:

1. Give me some detailed feedback on the term from the students’ perspective.
2. Allow my students to take greater ownership of the classroom and share with me ideas they think would help what we do.
3. Hopefully give me an insight into how I am teaching and communicating.

   

To have a look at this survey click on the picture of the clipboard. (I have left it open and made it possible for you to move through the pages without filling anything in.)

Many will think this is a bit crazy but with careful wording it has been most valuable to me. I will share a few points with you that have been beneficial to me and my teaching:

• The students felt that I could be better at remembering things (This became my goal for the next term and I enlisted the support of a egg timer which now keeps us better on time.)
• A number of students felt I was sometimes unfair. This was something that grabbed my attention as I worked hard on being consistent and fair. I took it back to the class and listened to their thoughts. They were open with me and shared some good points. However I must note that they are students and a number couldn’t see the ‘real picture’ from their own issues.
• I was also encouraged in my teaching as they saw some of my strengths to be a good sense of humour and the ability to teach, communicate, stretch them and provide support. (Thanks E3 :+D)
• Many felt that homework had become too boring and monotonous. They wanted to do some more projects. (This became another goal for me and so to spice things up I now pop a “Brainer” challenge in from time to time to replace part of the standard homework.)

I will leave you with a thought:

“The problem with communication … is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” George Bernard Shaw

Picture Author:

Dictionary = http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/library/tutorials/behavior/communication.html

Clipboard = http://www.arb.ca.gov/ports/cargo/documents/survey.htm