I have two interviews tomorrow, and one is with the school where I did my student teaching this past spring. Because I'm a new teacher, I obviously lack some of the things an experienced educator might have in their portfolio. This is what I have: 1. My philosophy of ed 2. Resume 3. Letter of recommendation from my cooperating teacher 4. Teaching Certificate and Test scores 5. Formal observations from cooperating teacher, university supervisor, and department head at the school where I student taught 6. A few lesson plans I created 7. A few student responses to a survey on my teaching I had all the students complete at the end of my placement 8. A few samples of student work that shows how the students reviewed for our state's standardized test 9. A powerpoint I created for a graduate class on differentiation strategies 10. My college transcripts Should I take something out? I don't really have anything to add at this point.
I would remove the student survey responses, the power point and the transcripts. In place of the power point on differentiation I would have some of my student work samples explicitly show the results of how I differentiated a lesson. And I would use them as a visual when you get the inevitable question on differentiation. I would also remove the philosophy of education piece as well. That is (usually) a required element when you're putting the portfolio together for your university, but most interviewers are going to ask you to speak on your philosophy anyway. Having it in written form is kind of redundant and takes space and attention away from your actual artifacts that show how you put that philosophy into action. You don't want to include so much that all the good stuff gets lost. Use the portfolio to show what you have done, not what you think about what you have done (or will do). Good luck! Sheilah
Your portfolio sounds amazing. I just graduated from an MAT a few weeks ago and now in full fledged job search trying to catch up on so many trends in ed. Out of curiosity, if you feel comfortable answering, did your teacher prep program give you advice on how to assemble a portfolio?
Thank you! To answer your question, no my prep program made absolutely no mention of a teaching portfolio. I don't think they're super common around here. I only used mine once during a job fair screener interview. It seemed to impress the panel, but I don't think it got me any further. I used it when discussing differentiation. It was nice to be able to refer to the ppt when discussing strategies that I used during student teaching. That being said, I went to 3 interviews this hiring season and didn't find an organic way to use it once. I will maintain it as my career progresses, though.
Thanks for the info. This is why I am so worried and consumed with this job search; I would think your portfolio would knock the hire-ers' socks off. Everything is so counter-intuitive.
