Portfolio Reflections

The end of the year is here! 

I can't believe that I have neglected this blog so much this year...then again I can.  It was a doozie of a year.  Working with 7th grade RtI, 8th grade RtI, a plethora of classes with students needing Regents prep for mixed Regents exams, Algebra A and Algebra I Common Core... along with Student Council and all sorts of things that come along with being new to a district.  I tried my best this year!  

One thing I tried was student portfolios.  I had students keep folders in the room and periodically throughout the year, we would add to the portfolio and keep a table of contents.  The idea was to get students to not just take a test or quiz and throw it out or move on.  Good idea, right? 

I have a lot to improve on for next year with this... but this year worked out as well as it could.  I kept the artifacts to just tests and quizzes, and they had to type a reflection that included some sentence starters I provided.

These are a few of my favorites:

Student example and my comments

Student example and my comments

Student example and my comments

Here is an example of the rubric I used:

This is the rubric I used to grade them, the portfolios were a 4th quarter test grade.  (double jeopardy, yes, but the reflection was the point.  I figured an easy grade that teaches self reflection)

If you're interested in my reflection and rubric, you can download them here:

Overall, I was proud of them.  Next year I was hoping to have them pick out artifacts they are proud of.  Perhaps include projects.  I will be incorporating more student goals along the way, too, per unit, so I can ask questions like "did you meet your goals?" and "what standards are did you master and how?" etc.

How do you incorporate student reflection/portfolios??