Sandbox for Professional Growth
Poetry by Kathleen Thompson, Art by Matt Smith
This young boy plays in the sandbox, and while his focus is on the sand itself, he soon realizes that something else entirely is happening. His toes have disappeared! In the process of playing -- building a sand mountain -- there are more discoveries to behold. And even in the process of sifting through the virtual sandbox -- building a digital portfolio -- I have discovered the benefits to be wide-ranging. I've found not only a tool for student use but one for my own personal and professional growth, too.
How do I define my digital portfolio? It reaches beyond my blog to include the artifacts of my professional portfolio. And I also value the behind-the-scenes resources. Desire2Learn provides structure; my evaluation notebook and discussion tools foster conversation, and recorded office hours offer references.
In a harmonious partnership, these electronic assessment tools have guided my understanding, given me space to reflect, and supported formative learning opportunities. As I explore electronic assessment for teaching and learning, I do so through the grains of a sandcastle.
The foundation lines represent content management systems (CMS) that have been most beneficial in providing a structure for learning and growth. The castle walls are formative assessments, which can be built and re-designed to meet the learner's needs. Formative assessments are wide-ranging and include e-portfolios, gamification projects, papers, or tests, quizzes and surveys within a CMS. Any learning opportunity can be formative if it feeds students' future learning and it informs an educator's future instruction. The windows of the castle act as tools (e.g. blogs, office hours, screencasts) for conversation, feedback, and reflection among teachers, self, and peer groups. Lastly, the turrets add personalized flare similar to the design process. Multi-media offerings (images, color, audio, video, layers, links) serve this learning necessity -- self-expression.
I plan to continue developing my own professional portfolio as a part of my commitment to lifelong learning and to better define my digital presence. Up to this point, the content of my work has been guided by graduate studies; however, from this point on, I will look at my plan for future learning as a guide. And since digital portfolios are anything but stagnant, I can document the growth in my learning for as long as I choose. It's not a single moment on the learning time line. Rather my e-portfolio documents my evolving teaching practice. I'll now blog about moments from the classroom, teaching strategies, thoughts on educational literature and current events. I'll share honestly of positive moments and tough decisions inside the walls of my fourth grade classroom, which will support my reflection and hopefully connect me with others. I expect that my application will shift in intent as I develop as an educator, but for now my aim for the next year is to document what collaboration, blended learning and making look like within my classroom. It's all about opportunities for formative learning in this sandbox.
