Designing a Portfolio Using LiveText
Introduction
The goal of your teacher education portfolio is to provide evidence and documentation that you have achieved the compentencies described by the Cal U Conceptual Framework's 12 principles.
Purchasing and Logging into your LiveText Account
LiveText is a required software package for all teacher education programs at California University of Pennsylvania. Teacher education students must purchase, activate and maintain their own LiveText accounts. Teacher education students may need to complete designated surveys or activities in LiveText as part of this course. The instructor reserves the right to decide how other class assignments are submitted.
The first thing you must do is purchase LiveText and log into your account. Information on how to buy and register a Live Text Account can be found here. The College of Education and Human Services also has helpful LiveText information. When you are ready, go the LiveText website.
Students in the Introduction courses (TED 100, ESP 301, SEC 150, EDE 200) should purchase their account by the end of the first week of class and set it up by the end of the second week. Students will not be able to use their financial aid to purchase it in the bookstore after the first week. It is important for the students to register early in the semester so they can complete the assessments.
Live Text Help Sessions
The first place to learn about portfolios and the LiveText program is in your classes from your instructors and advisors. During the semester there are often LiveText help sessions in Keystone 402. Watch for announcements each semester about help session hours.
Fall 2008 - Sept 3 from 2-4; Sept 4 from 11:00-12:30; Sept 10 from 2-4; Sept 11 from 11-12:30
The LiveText Help Center provides excellent tutorials and documents on key aspects of using LiveText in .pfd or .doc or even animated Demos. This is a first stop for many of your LiveText questions. You can follow the link from this webpage or open your LiveText account and click on the "help" tab at the top.
LiveText Portfolio Requirements - Fall 2008 for Recommendation to Student Teach Spring 09
Students (undergraduate and post-baccalaureate) this semester must turn in their portfolio totally on LiveText. Students must have their LiveText accounts active. Students must have the following items on LiveText (minimum requirements): a) performance principle explanations b) rationales and c) artifacts.
Graduate Students should consult with the graduate coordinator in their program.
California University elementary/early childhood teacher education courses designate an assignment as the Performance Assessment Task (PAT) to be part of the teacher education portfolio. These PAT's can be selected as artifacts for each of the 12 principles in the portfolio. You can download a list of the PAT's and which principles they might fit best under by clicking here on Portfolio Assessment Chart.
Portfolio Summary Document Sheet -
The Portfolio Summary Document Sheet is set up as a cross reference-- students should list all the PAPs on one side. Just as in the past there will be blanks because they are still taking classes. So, students write the PAPS that they have completed there. Then on the other side students should list the artifacts they are putting in the porfolio at this point.
Portfolio Interview with Faculty - Fall 08
Congratulations! You have reached another mile marker on your way to teaching and it's time to schedule your pre-student teaching portfolio interview. Here are the guidelines for you to follow. Read them carefully because there are a few changes from last semester.
About Your Portfolio Interview:
1. Stop in the elementary education office beginning Monday, October 6, 2008 to schedule your portfolio interview. Your interviewer will be identified to you as soon as you sign up.
2. Send your LiveText Portfolio to your interviewer by October 7, 2008.
About the Portfolio:
1. For each principle, you need 3 things: one rationale, one interpretation of the standard, and one artifact. Please remember to put the rationale under the “rationale for selection of artifact” tab on LiveText. Notice that we are asking you to submit only ONE artifact for each principle.
2. Put all 3 things for each principle on LiveText (including your artifact). Be sure to put them in the "common portfolio."
3. Once your find out who your portfolio interviewer is, send your LiveText portfolio to that professor no later than October 7, 2008. EVERYBODY has the same deadline no matter when your interview might be. So, by Oct. 7, you must have everything uploaded onto LiveText and sent to your portfolio interviewer's account.
4. Don't panic. You already have all of these things finished. You now just need to organize them onto LiveText.
About Your "Recommendation for Student Teaching" Packet:
1. Download this form. The front page describes the forms and important documents you need for the application to student teach process.
2. The 2nd and 3rd pages provide you with the Document Summary Form. Simply summarize the contents of your portfolio, and the 4th page lists some questions to help you prepare for your portfolio interview.
3. Go to the College of Education and Human Services Forms and Documents webpage and get the Recommendation to Student Teach form. Fill it out completely. You may need other forms such as the grade point average calculator and personal data sheets. They can all be found on this website.
4. Gather COPIES of everything requested on the front page. This is important, because you won't be recommended to student teach without them. Attach these copies to the page Recommendation form. You must provide all the copies. (Do not ask the department office to search for your Praxis exam scores or clearances – bring copies)
5. Fill out the Portfolio Document Summary sheets. Attach them too.
6. Turn this completed packet into the elementary education office by Oct 7th.
Let's Review:
1. Stop into the elementary education office to sign up for an interview time on Monday or Tuesday of next week. (Oct. 6th and 7th)
2. Put everything on LiveText. For each principle, you need 3 things: interpretation, rationale, and artifact (only one artifact for each principle).
3. Submit your portfolio to your interviewer by OCT 7-- regardless of your interview date.
4. Prepare your "Recommendation for Student Teaching" packet turn it into the elementary education office by Oct. 7.
Teacher Education Assessments
All students in education will complete surveys through their LiveText accounts. The following is a list of those surveys and the course where they take that survey.
a. Conceptual Framework Level One – Courses: TED 100, ESP 301, SEC 150, EDE 200
b. Professional Dispositions Level One – Courses: TED 100, ESP 301, SEC 150, EDE 200
c. Conceptual Framework Level Two – Courses: TED 300, ESP 406, SEC 300, EDE 450
Portfolio Vocabulary - Working, Presentation and Common
There are different ways to think and use porfolios to enhance your learning. I recommend that you start with a working portfolio. A working portfolio is a rough draft where many of the documents you might use in the future are kept together in one place. It is a place where you tentatively organize things and place them for future use. A presentation portfolio is a porfolio you submit for review and evalation. It represents your best work with exemplary attention to the format and content. Often you might take the working portfolio which has many artifacts and prune or trim or select some of the best artifacts for use in the presentation porfolio. A common portfolio refers to the portfolio that is common to all teacher education candiates at the California University of Pennsylvania. There is a common portfolio template for you to use in LiveText. There may be other portfolios that you will create based on the common portfolio for specialized areas depending on your major and degree. Please see your advisor for the most recent portfolio requirement information.
Live Text Portfolio Information
Webquests: Attaching in Livetext - Currently, if you have created a webquest and want to use it in your LiveText portfolio there are a few things to consider. Go to the principle in your portfolio where you want to display it. Then click on edit under one of the artifact areas and attach the individual webquest files in the order you want them to be viewed. After your rationale statement please type a note something like the following: "The following attachments are files from a webquest. The individual webquest files are attached in order that they should be viewed and must be opened and closed individually." We are working on the technical issues and strategies for the webquest to work naturally in LiveText.
How do I view my graded portfolio? - The grades can be found in your LiveText account under the Review area. I think the following directions should help you find your portfolio grade.
1. On the left hand menu click on "Reviews."
2. Under Reviews, you should see two tabs, click on "Sent for Review."
3. You should see the name of your portfolio and a column on the far right that says "Action."
4. Click on the "View" link.
5. Click on the "View Assessment" option in the green tool bar at the top of the page.
6. Click the principle that contains your review.
How do I scan artificats such as books or posters? -
The Elementary/Early Childhood Education Faculty Portfolio Committee would like to share an idea with you that you might want to use for artifacts that are very difficult to scan (for example, the Phenomenon Journal you do in science or the book you may have written in Language and Literacy I). Instead of scanning these difficult items and attaching them to the artifacts section, try this:
- Type a one page document that describes the artifact. Make this about a paragraph long --- no more than two. Simply tell us what the artifact is. Tell a little bit about how you created it and why. Tell us that you have the hard copy and it is available for review upon request. Click on the edit button for "Artifact 1" and paste this one page document in there. (See example below.) If you wish, you may also paste in a picture of the artifact. That will add some visual impact, but it is not necessary.
- Use the rationale that you've already written for that document. Click on the edit button for "Rationale for Selection of Documents" and paste it in there. (This is nothing different from what you were already expected to do.)
- When you come in for your interview, simply bring the hardcopy of your document with you.
Example #1
Let’s imagine that you wrote a children's book for Language and Literacy I with Dr. Farrer. Under “Interpretation of the Principle” you type your interpretation of the principle you’ve decided to use with this document. Then, under the “Rationale for Selection of Documents” tab, you paste the rationale that you wrote when you created the book and turned it in to her. Finally, in the tab, “Artifact 1,” you type something like this:
Writing a Children’s Book
While in EDE 300, Language and Literacy I, I wrote a children’s book. In this course, I learned the writing process, and used this process to create this book. I produced a manuscript, including illustrations, and submitted this to Dr. Farrer as part of the performance assessment requirements for this course. It was so exciting, a few weeks later, to see my book published! I am very proud of my book, and am including it in under this Principle to show my capabilities. The hard copy of the book is available for review upon request.
Then, when you come into your interview, bring the book that you wrote with you so that the interviewer can look at it.
What do I do when I have a lot of artifacts from my classes in LiveText Portfolio and my faculty portfolio reviewer just told me I only need one artifact per principle?
If you have carefully collected PAPs and saved them for your portfolio, you are in good shape! In fact, some of you are in such great shape that you don’t know what to do with all those extra PAPs! Since we are only scoring one of the documents that you have submitted to each Principle, here is a suggestion for what to do:
1. Pick your favorite document for each Principle. This should be the strongest artifiacts that shows you acheived proficiency on that principle. That is the one you should paste in.
2. Go to the Principle, and click on the “edit” button for “Interpretation of the Principle.” Type what you were already planning to type for this.
3. Then go to “Rationale for Selection of Artifacts.” Click on edit and type a statement that says something like this: “I have had four experiences that show I am capable of planning for instruction. The one that I would like to submit for review is __________________, called “_____________.” I have pasted it in the Artifacts section of this Principle, shown below. My rationale for including it is shown in the next paragraph. The other experiences are attached in the section below, called “Other Artifacts.”
4. Just below this, paste in the rationale that you already wrote for your “favorite document.” Now you’re finished with the rationale section.
5. Go to “Artifact 1” and click on “edit.” Paste in that favorite document of yours.
6. Go to “Artifact 2” and click on “edit.” Name this “Other Artifacts.” Attach all of the additional documents that you want to include with the principle right there. (To do this, scroll down. You’ll see “Attachments” and the “edit” button next to it. Click on that, and then browse to find the document that you need. Attach it. Make sure it is appropriately titled in your files, so that a reviewer can make sense of it. Do this for each document that you want to include.)
Example #1
Chelsy has 4 lesson plans that she’s done for her classes, and has decided they all belong under Principle 7, Instructional Planning Skills. She has chosen to put her lesson plan for EDE 340, Language and Literacy II, as the “one” that she wants her interviewer to see in detail. In the “Interpretation of Principle” tab, she types her statement of what this principle means to her.
Next, Chelsy clicks on the edit button for “Rationale for Selection of Artifacts.” She types this:
“In my coursework at California University I have had four experiences that show I am capable of planning for instruction. The one that I am particularly proud of is the lesson plan that I wrote for EDE 340, called “Guided Reading Lesson Plan.” I have submitted it for review and it is pasted in the Artifacts section of this Principle, shown below. My rationale for including it is shown here, in the next paragraph. The other experiences, which also show my capabilities in lesson planning, are documented and are attached below, under “Other Artifacts.”
Then Chelsy pastes the rationale that she wrote for the lesson plan in EDE 340. (She already wrote that rationale last semester, when she turned it in to Dr. Nettles. All she has to do right now is paste it.) She’s done with the rationale section now.
Next, she clicks on the edit button for “Artifact 1” and gives this artifact a name: “Guided Reading Lesson Plan.” Then she pastes the document in.
Finally, she clicks on the edit button for “Artifact 2” and attaches the other three lesson plan documents that she wants to include. She makes sure to name this section “Other Artifacts.” Now she’s done!
Resume
One of the first things you will need to do is to create a very basic resume. Information on resumes can be found on the Cal U Career Services website. (Click on the Red Book icon). You might like to look at this very basic resume format that can be downloaded to your comupter and used as a framework to start the resume design process.
Educational Philosophy Statement
Each person comes to their job as a teacher with unique experiences, perspectives and thoughts about what is valuable in education. The educational philosophy statement is a chance for you to make some choices and put your ideas on paper to communicate with other professionals. There are many ways to do this and many different resources. Below are some very good references to get started. For the purposes of this assignment several paragraphs will work nicely.
Ohio State University; Oregon State; Oregon State Examples; Dr. Jugen Combs;
Dr. Peterson collected the following downloadable documents on writing educational philosophy statements and three examples of educational philosophy statements.
Writing Artifact Rationales
One of the best resources on developing portfolios in teacher education is the following book.
Campbell, D. M., Cignetti, P. B., Melenyzer, B. J., Nettles, D. H., & Wyman Jr., R. M. (2007). How to develop a professional portfolio (4th ed.). New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon.
"In each section of your portfolio, you will insert various artifacts that document your proficiency and experience for that standard. However, readers of your portfolio will not necessarily know why you included these particular artifacts. Therefore, you need to include a rationale for each artifact in the [portfolio]. Type a brief statement explaining your justification for including this artifact in the portfolio for this particular standard. This statement should be no longer than one page. Make sure that you explain why this is an example of your best work, specifically for this standard. Your rationale should show the reader that you know what you are capable of doing in terms of meeting the standard. Be specific about showcasing our abilities" (Campbell et. al., 2007, p. 15-16).
The rationale should answer the following questions (adapted from Campbell et al). Some course instructors suggest that each question be contained in a separate paragraph so that you have a four paragraph rationale.
1. What is this artifact? What is the experience that the artifact documents?
2. What principle does it address and why did I put it under this principle?
3. How does this artifact show that I meet or exceed the teaching competencies in this teaching principle?
4. How will the knowledge or skill that this artifact documents be used in the future or transfer to new teaching situations. What did I learn by doing this?
Sample Rationale (Used by permission, Dr. Christine Peterson)
I have included the artifact "Graphing Birthdays- A Second Grade Lesson Plan and Reflection" under Standard Seven: Instructional Planning Skills. I received the opportunity to teach my first lesson plan in my Instructional Strategies class. I taught this lesson to second graders who had just begun learning about graphing. At a previous visit and observation the students were using calendars during their math lesson. The teacher indicated which subjects the students would be learning about upon my return to teach the lesson. I decided to use the students' prior knowledge of using a calendar in my lesson on graphing. The lesson met the objectives of what the students were learning about that particular week.
The lesson consisted of discussing why, how, and what types of graphs they have used. The students documented their birthdays on calendars that we created on the chalkboard. After the completion of the calendars the students compared the number of birthdays for each month, analyzing which month had the most and the least birthdays. The children then graphed the number of birthdays based on gender and season. The children were very eager to share their birth dates with the class as they posted the information on the calendars. To conclude the lesson the children were asked questions pertaining to other types of information that could be included on a chart or graph and how graphing is useful for collecting and representing information. I learned from this experience that it is very challenging to write an effective lesson plan. There are so many factors that have to be considered such as: the age of the children, objectives and curriculum goals, methods of instruction, and assessment to just name a few. I didn't realize how involved a process it is to develop a lesson plan and the amount of time it took to write it. This experience has really opened my eyes and will be beneficial to me when I plan other lessons in my methods courses.
I have documented this artifact under standard seven because it demonstrates my ability to organize a lesson to meet the standards of the grade level. I included age appropriate methods in to the lesson to motivate the students. I have included a copy of the lesson plan, my reflection of the lesson, and an example of what the graph looked like under Standard Seven: Instructional Planning Skills to document my knowledge of lesson planning.
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October 8, 2008
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