Portfolios

During lunch today with my mentor teacher, the topic of portfolios actually came up in conversation. I was informed that not only are they encouraged, but at Farragut they are required. English instructors must have a portfolio to represent each student's completion of the assignments in the course. However, it is up to the individual teacher to choose whether or not that portfolio will serve as a form of assessment. Regardless, they are required as documentation.

So, this hits home the relevance of portfolios to us as teachers. They are indeed used out there and required. However, I would assert that most portfolios used in schools today are paper, not digital. I greatly hope this changes. Digital portfolios seem to me to be simply more practical, environmental, and secure. But I understand there are pitfalls; the main one being that projects (especially art related ones) that are more than typed documents may find themselves difficult to transfer into a digital format.