Reflective Blog Positing # 4

       When I read the article Electronic Portfolios as Digital Stories of Deep Learning, I most related to the  “AFL learning should focus on how students learn”.  I connected to this the most because it concerns me that as much progress as education has made, many teachers still focus on one type of learning and do not take the time to individualize teaching/learning as much possible.  Students learn in different ways, visually, hands on, auditory etch.  Teachers who ONLY teach by lecturing are doing a disservice to some students.  I think that one should consider determining the different personality types of  students because personality types can correlate with how  students learn. While searching for information coorelationg personality types and types of learning, I found the article located here  to be quite interesting.  I was a SEVERLY shy student.  Just the thought of having to speak up in class made my stomach sink and my heart race.  If my teacher had been more aware of my introverted, melancholy personality perhaps some teaching methods could have be tailored to help me overcome the fear of speaking in front of others.  Since I never got over that fear, I still have problems speaking in front of others.  I completely understand that there are 25-30 student’s in a classroom and only one teacher but I do believe progress can be made to evaluate how students learn on an individual basis.

I see a huge potential in using portfolio assessment.  It allows the student to have a “voice” and “create a story” of what they have learned – not just circle A B C or D on a test.  As a teacher, I will enjoy grading and assessing portfolio’s rather than a standard test.  I feel that most students will love to be creative.  A few years ago, I taught high school students in Botswana Africa for three months and I was amazed at the difficulty of their tests.  All of their tests were essay tests.  I have no doubt that most of the student’s had more of an in depth knowledge of the learning material than they would had they been allowed to take true/false or multiple choice type tests.  If student’s have portfolios they will have to have an in depth knowledge of what they are learning.    

The creation of a portfolio will do a great deal for my learning and will also enable me to have a portfolio for future teaching job interviews.  I absolutely LOVE this type of learning versus text book type learning only.  The portfolio will also give me something to go review what I have learned in the past and how I created a wiki/blog/ in case it has been awhile and I forget what it took to create it.  I am also excited to show this to my husband who owns a contacting business.  This will be a fantastic way for him to show the type of work he has done and can do for his customers.  There is an unlimited use for e-portfolios.