A daily portfolio is the most basic form of portfolio - without pupose, planning, and structure, the daily portfolio could closely resemble a simple notebook in which students keep their work for a class. With a clear purpose of teaching organizational skills, tracking progress, and setting goals, and with time set aside to explain not only the purpose, but also the structure, the daily portfolio serves as a study guide, an aid in goal setting, and a method by which to track progress.
How to implement this system:
1. Establish a clear purpose for tracking assignments, projects, and test grades. Make it explicit to the students. For example, a statement of purpose might be, "This semester we will create a portfolio that tracks your progress and helps you to set goals for future academic achievement. By reviewing your work and the effor that it took to complete it, you will learn your strengths and weaknesses and be able to focus your study efforts appropriately."
2. Explain to your students the way the portfolio will look. The daily portfolio should have a section for each type of assessment you want to track - for example: notes, warm-ups, in-class work, daily assignments, quizzes, tests, and projects. A 3-ring notebook (2" usually covers a semester) works well for this set-up.
3. Be clear about what goes into the portfolio. Especially at first, your students will often mis-file or fail-to-file their work. On average, it takes about four weeks of daily reminders for students to understand where to file their work.
4. Periodically, have students review their work as a tool for learning. Requiring students to write down the most important piece of information from the previous week's work is a wonderful, low-effort assignment that requires students to think, even if briefly, about their work the week before. Before quizzes and tests, remind students to look at the contents of their portfolio. It helps to provide a skeleton study guide and have students fill it out as homework or in groups prior to a test. You might also consider taking "supplementary" information that could have been included in notes and making it bonus material.
5. Periodically, have students review their work as a meta-cognitive strategy. At the end of a unit, ask them to think back over the past (week, two weeks, month, two months) and write down what they see as their strengths and weaknesses. Have them reflect upon their study habits, homework completion, and class effort. Ask them to list the piece of work they are proudest of and why, and the piece of work they are least proud of and why. Encourage them to link their strengths and weaknesses with their study habits and effort. After a unit assessment, have students write goals - and specific ways to meet them - for the next unit.
6. Assess for completeness of portfolio and thoughtfulness of reflection. Over the course of a unit, you will probably have assessed student daily work, quizzes, tests, essays or projects. Base the score for the portfolio on their organizational skills and their ability to tie their effort to their comprehension.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Strengths:
• Teaches meta-cognitive thinking
• Empowers the student to link own effort to achievement
• Serves as a study guide for assessments
• Teaches organizational skills
• Advances student learning
Weaknesses:
• Requires administrative time during class
• Is not "assessable" in terms of content learning
• Less flexibility for students who organize differently
Examples