Teacher Portfolio

Teacher Portfolio

It is important that you start to develop a professional portfolio at the very beginning of your teaching career.

Considerations

• Keep a portfolio of your accomplishments as a teacher to demonstrate your abilities and readiness. It can be very important at several different points in your teaching career, including the following:
  • When changing schools or applying to a new school
  • When applying for a promotion as a coordinator or administrator
  • When applying for a grant or scholarship
• Keep your teacher portfolio up-to-date. It’s important for it to be complete, and it can be hard to remember what you did a year ago if you need to catch up.
• Save all agendas. They provide evidence of professional developments and trainings that you have attended.
• Develop the portfolio as you go, and take your time with it.
• A professional portfolio might include the following:
  • Current credentials
  • Current résumé
  • Transcripts
  • Classroom assessments you have used, along with examples of related student work
  • Thematic units you have created
  • Special activities you have participated in at school
  • Professional developments you have presented
  • Positive evaluations from administrators
  • Grants you have written or received
  • Documentation of professional growth
  • Awards and accolades
  • Photos of projects
  • Video of projects

File Cabinet

Having a well-organized file cabinet that houses lessons, activities, and thematic units makes your job significantly easier.

Considerations

• Clean out your current file cabinets. Start fresh, and start clean.
• Keep only material that is current and relevant.
• Request file folders through your school. If your school doesn’t provide them, purchase them yourself.
• Keep extra file folders on hand.
• As you acquire new items, label and file them in a way that makes sense to you (for example, “CVC Words,” “Multiplication”).
• Determine which method of organizing your file cabinet is best for you—for example, in alphabetical order, by month, by time of year, by theme, or by need.