FCS 470 Curriculum Portfolio in FCS Ed



		\| College of Agricultural & Life Sciences \| University of Idaho \| UI Extension \| FCSED HOME \|

FCS 251 FCS 350 FCS 351 FCS 461 FCS 465 FCS 469 FCS 470 FCS 471 Contact Information Family & Consumer Sciences University of Idaho PO Box 443183 Moscow, Idaho 83844-3183 Betty Sawyer 208-885-7819 Fax: 208-885-5751 bsawyer@uidaho.edu Kristi Overfelt 208-885-7819 Fax: 208-885-5751 kloverfelt@uidaho.edu www.agls.uidaho.edu/fcsed		FCS 470 Curriculum Portfolio in FCS Education Welcome to the FCS 470 This class provides credit for the Showcase Portfolio you develop to demonstrate achievement of the Idaho Core Teaching Standards. The Idaho standards were adopted from the INTASC standards. The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) developed these standards as part of a national effort to insure a high level of quality in education. During your FCS Education Internship you create a Developmental Portfolio where you keep your unit plans, lesson plans, student activities and assessments. From these materials you "showcase" you best efforts with at least two artifacts for each Idaho standard. These artifacts are drawn from your developmental portfolio. The developmental portfolio is graded as a part of FCS 471. The showcase portfolio is graded for this class. Syllabus Developing a portfolio consists of four steps The Collection process. This is the primary purpose of your Developmental Portfolio. The Selection phase. You examine what you have collected to decide what should be moved to your Showcase Portfolio. The Reflection stage. You articulate your thinking about each artifact in your portfolio. Through the process of reflection you become increasingly aware yourself as a learner. The quality of your portfolio is directly proportional to the quality of your self-reflection of your work. Your reflective statement for each artifact should elaborate on why it was selected, how it meets a standards and the value of this artifact to your portfolio. The Presentation stage. You focus on arranging your documents in print format and on creating an accessible format for publishing your Portfolio. As you complete your college preparation, begin searching for a job. First, set up a credentials file with the U of Idaho Career Services Office. By establishing this repository for your credentials. You should ask your references to place a confidential letter of recommendation with the Career Services, and then as you apply for jobs, you won't need to ask your references for copies of their letter, you can just ask that your credentials be requested from the U of Idaho Office where your credentials are maintained. Most faculty spend a great deal of time, hours in fact, preparing a letter that reflects the positive qualities you have. It is courteous on your part to ask they for a letter for your file, rather than for personalized copies for each application you make. It is helpful for you to make preparing that letter as time efficient as possible. Provide the person who is developing the letter a copy of your updated resume, and perhaps even a draft of the letter that includes qualities you think are especially pertinent to the types of position you will be seeking, (This suggestion comes from a highly respected resource in the education career field, the Chronicle of Higher Education.) Module 1 - How to Prepare a Portfolio How to Prepare a Portfolio is included for your consideration. You do not need to purchase a leather binder, however, if you are in a highly competitive situation, and you can carry your portfolio with you to an interview, this may be helpful. The content of How to Prepare a Portfolio is included so that you might have an idea of what your competition may be showing. Another example of Completing a Portfolio is also included for your review. Recent graduates have documented their accomplishment of the Idaho MOST standards with large three ring binders, which thoroughly document they have met the standards, with two or three artifacts for each standard. This documentation is important for this class. When you apply for a job, however, most administrators will want a more concise summary of your abilities. That is why you prepare a brochure, and perhaps a 12-15 page portfolio that you can take to interviews; along with your complete portfolio, if you can do so without appearing to be carrying everything thing you own! Module 2 - Characteristics of a Professional Marjorie East, (1980) one of the "great names" in the field of Family and Consumer Sciences described a professional Family and Consumer Scientist as one who: Consistently reads the professional journals Attends the professional meetings which are designed to update and refresh the skill level and theoretical bases Gets added graduate study or attends the special workshops and institutes. The Professional takes considerable responsibility for sharing knowledge with other colleagues and for extending professional knowledge through research As a gradate Family and Consumer Scientist, the professional has a responsibility to carry assume the role of the professional defined by Marjorie East. Teachers who rarely or never attend the Professional-Technical Conference don't deserve the designation "professional" because they have failed to attend THE professional meeting which is vital to their being able to function professional as a Professional-Technical Educator. Teachers who do not carefully select classes for renewal credits, which keep them on the leading edge of changes in education, likewise are not worth of the designation "professional". A leading change in Education today is Action Research. which is a means for classroom teachers to carry out scientifically based research. A true professional will be doing action research in their classroom and reflecting upon their findings. They will also d extend this professional knowledge with their colleagues. This sharing can be done as presentations at district and state meetings, as submissions to the state newsletters, and nationally at meetings, and to journals. The College of Education at the University of Idaho expects that all teacher education graduates will hold membership in at least one professional organization during their internship. Module 3 - Table of Contents Listed below is a suggested table of content for an interview portfolio: Presentation Table of Contents I. Classroom Environment A. Seating Chart B. Classroom Management Plan II. Assessment Plan A. Performance-based assessment 1. Rubric example B. Student work samples 1. Your Reflective statements C. Principal's commentary on assessment plan III. Professional Development A. Short and long term goals B. Workshops attended this year IV. Curriculum Development A. Bloc Plans B. Unit Plan Example C. Sample daily lesson plans with supported academic standards V. Theory A. PowerPoint presentation on learning theories B. Educational philosophy Statement. Modules 4 - Reflecting on Artifacts Reflection Process Choose one artifact you plan on including in your portfolio. Apply Brown and Irby's (2001) process for structuring and developing reflective comments by writing a reflective statement that includes the information shown here. Date: Artifact: Standard: Describe: Analyze: Transform: Module 5 - Find a Job Teaching Positions: Where to Find Them Openings for teaching positions are created by (1) teachers retiring from existing positions (2) growing districts adding new schools and teachers. Read the newspaper and real estate guides to see where towns are growing or where there are a number of retiring teachers. Places That Can Point You to Job Openings v The Career Center or University Job Placement office, upcoming job fairs, resume matches, job listing on the web site. v Newspaper ads – Sunday newspapers usually list openings for positions in the geographical area. v State Department of Education and Bureau of Teacher certification list of openings on the web site for schools or at Department of Education list of towns where new schools are being built. v State Employment Office and federal government teaching in correctional institutions, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other government agencies related to education. v State Teachers’ Union and Teachers/Retirement Board may have a job-matching system that show where openings are due to retirement. v U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) schools. Office of Overseas Dependent Schools, 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22331. v Office of overseas Schools, Room 234, SA-6 Department of State, Washington, DC 20520. v Real estate groups will have information about schools and where new one are being built. v Personal networks your parents, friends who are teachers, school you attended, where you student-taught, etc. The Application Process There are teaching positions all over the United States and the world. What are you looking for? Public school? Independent school? Religiously affiliated school? International school? You need to find out how the positions are being posted. Are they listed by the central office, by the superintendent of schools, or by the building principals who do the hiring? Do they require a letter or an application? Do private schools have a different procedure for application? Your university career center may be able to guide you in learning about the districts and schools in which you are interested. Application for positions may be done by . . . . Responding to an official opening posted in the newspaper for a specific position needed: Specific details and job requirements will be listed. See how closely you match the description and respond if you fit the bill or if you come close. Attending an on-campus recruiting session with districts that are in need of teachers? Typically school personnel arrive on campus and spend a day doing short interviews. This screening process allows districts to see a large number of student teachers and allows student teachers to interview with a variety of districts in a short time. Usually resumes are set to the districts through the career center and the districts select candidates to be interviewed. After the initial interview at the college, school personnel call back students they would like to have come to the school site for a second interview. Exploring in a district/region/state where you would like to teach. This could be your own hometown or a graphic area in the state that you have decided on. This is where student teachers who don’t do their homework tend to get frustrated if they blindly mail hundreds of resumes out and don’t hear anything. Focus on towns/areas that have retiring teachers or that are building new schools. " Find a Job" Checklist: Portfolio Letters of Recommendation- 1) mentor teacher, 2) university supervisor, 3) school principal (perhaps) Selection Phase Purchase a pack of 3 x 5 index cards or open a software program such as Inspiration or PowerPoint, or a word processing or database program. Write of description of each resource you plan to include in your portfolio and why you plan to include it on an index card, or with the software program you chose in the first step. Start with the artifacts. For example you might take a PowerPoint presentation you want to include and write: "PowerPoint presentation on preschool created on 2/25/2005. Demonstrates competence with district-recommended software program. Illustrates use of technology to reach students with various learning styles." Or another artifact might be a letter a letter you sent to parents: "Letter sent to parents on 1/04/2005. Explains my instructional approach and policy for grading student work. Demonstrates ability to communicate effectively in writing." Organize your artifacts by standard. If using a software program, save the file and name it appropriately. Rubrics Listed below you will find a link to rubrics that will help measure your professional accomplishments. Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium Principles (INTASC) Completing a Portfolio Completing a portfolio is a difficult, time-consuming, and a very rewarding task. The following are some tips that may be helpful in your endeavor to create a terrific teaching portfolio. Some of the most time consuming things are doing the index tabs, the clip art, table of contents, and the organization. Don't put these things off to the last minute (e.g., day before an interview, etc.). Figure out how to type on index tabs before doing the ones for your portfolio. Buy some extra tabs and see how they work on your word processor. Dedicate a filing cabinet or a box to just your portfolio. This is where you will gather and store portfolio related stuff. Have each section identified and put things in there when you do them at your school. Start taking pictures early on in the school year. It usually takes several rolls of film to get a few good pictures. Of course, make sure you have permission to photograph your students in your school. Don't go overboard on colors or clip art. Content should take precedence over the artwork. Do the content first, then add the clip art and pictures. The pictures should complement your content. Along those same lines use fairly thick card stock to mount pictures and sample work on. Use colors that are complimentary to the pictures or work. Best to use the same or similar background colors in each of your sections. Avoid using colors like loud pink or dark on dark. Use card stock to print your 3-ring spine title on, as regular paper typically won't go down the side protective sleeve very easily. For the section title divider pages of your portfolio it is best to buy the protective covers with the tabs already built on them. The tabs that you buy to stick on to protective covers don't work very well. Then you can print out your section title with clip art and just slide it in the protective cover. Do not hand write your index tabs. Those need to be typed and should be on both sides of the tab. This will make it easier to navigate to the sections during an interview. Make sure all your protective cover sheets are of the same type and it is best to get the ones that don't show a glare. It is best to number the sections of the Table of Contents and then put the corresponding number on the index tabs. (Ex. 1. Introduction) May be best to do a Table of Contents last after you have checked everything and it is in the order it needs to be in. Purchase a 3 ring binder that has a plastic protector mechanism at the back and front of the 3 ring binder. This really helps when opening and closing the 3 ring. The Title page on the very front of the 3 ring (in the protective cover) and the title on the inside front should be close to identical. Show your portfolio to several other people before taking to an interview or showing to a principal. Resources Here are some helpful resources to assist you in building your Portfolio: Application Process: Tips for Resume & Cover Letter Electronic Portfolio How to Prepare and Present a Portfolio Other Resources: Characteristics of a Committed Professional Classroom Checklist Reflective Journal Selecting a District Right for You Technology: Using video on the Web What has the NEA Ever Done for ME?

The Application Process