With the title Educator’s Portfolio, a white binder now sits before me with pages of evidence that, after three years of working hard to convince myself as well as everyone else, I really am a teacher. Now that it’s here in its work-in-progress form (because of course I plan to keep adding to it), I wonder why I had such uncertain feelings about compiling it in the first place. Fortunately, my strand group saved me from my initial reluctance. They gave me the encouragement I needed and many clever ideas about how to make it much better and brighter than my original conception.
Scanning the pages I have assembled, I cannot help but compare the experience to that of looking through a scrapbook or a photo album. The idea that my budding vocation could be recorded in this way is new to me. For some reason, even when searching for work as a teacher, the idea of creating such a document never occurred to me before my involvement last summer with the Redwood Writing Project. During a discussion in our summer institute some teachers began talking about their “portfolios,” and it dawned on me that something, indeed, was missing in my professional life.
Now I am convinced that a portfolio ranks in importance with a professional journal, or any other means of reflection on what it means to do the hard work of attempting to reach young minds in a way that will inspire them to achieve their learning potentials. The unexamined teaching life becomes just a job. A person might as well throw in the chalk (or the dry-erase pens) and choose a more typical nine-to-five existence.
At this point in time, I must admit, looking at my collection of memorabilia gives me an excuse to indulge in some sentimental reverie. But why not? The major hurdles of my year are behind me, as my students and I move steadily toward the finish line. With less than two months left of school, we already sense completion. We all know we’re almost “there.”
While perusing, I can enjoy things I’ve collected a second time. I feel as if I’m watching a repeat of a favorite film. I re-appreciate student illustrations for various texts, the modernized re-writes of scenes from Romeo and Juliet, photos of students enjoying school events, overheads from group projects where students took turns teaching concepts to the class, along with original poetry and essays students gave me to keep for my “file.”
By comparison, I also find myself reminiscing about my strand group experience. Mainly, I’m grateful, because not only did the meetings help me get started, but they helped me continue. I got wonderful feedback. For instance, the design of my portfolio improved beautifully, after I utilized Mauro’s suggestion to color code the sections and the table of contents. An actual photo layout was born from Stephanie’s tips. And, one section owes much to Marcy’s editing. It’s amazing how much time is saved that would be spent in agony trying to make decisions about form, or trying to proofread one’s own work. The group editorial process really works. Ideas come into play during discussion that I, as the author (or queen, as I’d like to believe), can take or leave. For me, the time we spent focusing on projects proved highly productive. In addition, we usually made time to discuss various professional issues. Since the other members of my group had more teaching experience under their belt, I gained much from their knowledge and viewpoints.
As this was the first year as a high school teacher, I benefited from feedback I requested, as well as what I learned from listening to others talk about common questions or problems that came up in their professional practice. For me, the highlight of meeting with my strand group turned out to be the camaraderie I experienced. I realize that I owe some of my personal growth as an educator from the support I got while working on my RWP project. Needless to say, the good feeling of accomplishment I felt at our last get-together had an undercurrent of sadness---something like I’m certain to experience when this school year finally does reach the finish.
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