Every time I attend a professional development class, a big deal is made of ensuring that everyone gets an agenda for their portfolio. I've been teaching 3 years (this will be my 4th), and I still do not know what this means! Currently, I keep them all in a file folder. Do I need a binder or something? With my district in a state of flux, I want to be prepared to job hunt "just in case," so please, advise away!
An agenda? Like the day's schedule? I don't see why that would need to be kept. The certificates you sometimes receive, sure, but not the agenda. But, if they make a big deal of making sure you have one, I suppose I'd keep it. Can you ask someone who has worked there longer how they handle this?
You should call one of the professional dev classes you attended and find our what they meant. GOOGLE IT! Rebel1
I have a portfolio. Basically it's just a binder with any info, lesson plans, examples or anything like that you might want to share with admin. at an interview, contract renewal, etc. You don't have to have one. Mine includes: resume, teaching cert, college transcripts, professional dev stuff, sample lesson plans, classroom management plan, sample student work (with name blacked out)...
Interestingly, at a PD I attended last week, someone said they needed the agenda for some kind of record keeping. Perhaps it was for their portfolio! Maybe it's for a BTSA portfolio to show that you've been pursuing professional development????
I think it's a good idea to keep one so that you can keep track of all the pd's you've attended. I have no idea how many I've done and which ones. I wish I had kept track somehow.
Mine is in just a good, leather-bound binder that has a snap closing flap on the front. It was about $20 @ Office Depot many moons ago. As I get verificiation of any inservices, trainings, thank yous for going above and beyond, ratings and observations, I just literally stick them in. And each summer, I update and organize.
We have to turn in certificates of completion for any PD at our end-of-year review. For any out-of-district PD, we are required to turn in the agenda in order to receive the points. I do keep my own copy of certificates and agendas - just in case something mysteriously disappears off of my record. Which has happened in the past. It's also nice to be able to say "I have ___ hours training in ____" and back it up.
In NJ we keep track of our PD hours for the state and we accumulate credits in our districts for salary guide movement. An agenda for us counts toward hours.
We also keep agendas of anything we attend outside of district, but not for our portfolio. I might put an agenda in my portfolio if I attended a PD on something outside of what I currently teach though.
