(Term V: Portfolio)
I. Introduction
Overarching question: In Seminar you will be asked to pose a question about pedagogy that you want to keep in mind as you teach your lessons. The question should be something that you care about and something that is related to pedagogy but not a particular discipline (e.g. math, science, social studies, or literacy).
Story of the question: This part of your writing should tell the story of the question, or how the question came to matter to you. Personal experiences of your own or others' teaching are appropriate to include here, as are connections with course literature.
Story of the question: This part of your writing should tell the story of the question, or how the question came to matter to you. Personal experiences of your own or others' teaching are appropriate to include here, as are connections with course literature.
II. Analytic Essay
The focus of your inquiry should be an area of consistent and strong interest that emerges for you throughout the year. It should be connected with specific issues, cases, problems, or puzzling notions that have surfaced for you throughout your learning. Your inquiry focus can be envisioned as a unifying theme around your practice, an essential question, or a teaching dilemma. This focus of inquiry should be strong enough to organize your portfolio. This essay should be a well-focused argument and should reflect your current beliefs about teaching and learning and your role as a teacher. We expect that you will make reference to materials you have read over the course of the year and draw on student teaching experience from the fall and the spring terms. Your analytic essay should be built around, and should reference, 6-12 artifacts.
III. Artifacts
The artifacts are an integral part of your presentation. They are the evidence on which your case (your argument) is built. Examples of artifacts you might use include: student work, lesson plans, journal or blog entries, field notes, excerpts from course papers, meaningful photographs, transcripts of conversations, very brief audio/video clips and notes from meetings or lectures.