Yearlong Process Portfolio:
As a culminating text for the entire year, students will be asked to complete a process portfolio in which they display one "exhibit" from each unit. An exhibit won't necessarily be an example of their strongest work, but rather it will be a piece of work that represents their most notable learning experience from every unit. Students will be made aware of this assignment at the beginning of the year, and they will save their work in order to thoughtfully choose exhibits when it comes time to complete this process.
Along with each exhibit students will provide a 300-500 word reflection about why they chose the piece of work that they chose. This reflection will include an account of the new and significant learning that took place as they completed the exhibit, and will describe how the skills that were developed can be applied to other learning, living, or working contexts.
The third element of the process portfolio that students will be required to complete is the synthesis essay. This essay will require students to "...discuss how these artifacts as a whole reveal what you've learned this year about both yourself and the material we have studied" (Smagorinsky, pp. 56). Specifically, students will address our overarching concept in this essay by explaining how this newly acquired knowledge of strategies and information has allowed them to take ownership of their education and actively improve their learning in the future.
This project idea was modified slightly, but taken primarily from the description provided by teacher educator Peter Smagorinsky in Teaching English By Design, pp. 55-56).
As a culminating text for the entire year, students will be asked to complete a process portfolio in which they display one "exhibit" from each unit. An exhibit won't necessarily be an example of their strongest work, but rather it will be a piece of work that represents their most notable learning experience from every unit. Students will be made aware of this assignment at the beginning of the year, and they will save their work in order to thoughtfully choose exhibits when it comes time to complete this process.
Along with each exhibit students will provide a 300-500 word reflection about why they chose the piece of work that they chose. This reflection will include an account of the new and significant learning that took place as they completed the exhibit, and will describe how the skills that were developed can be applied to other learning, living, or working contexts.
The third element of the process portfolio that students will be required to complete is the synthesis essay. This essay will require students to "...discuss how these artifacts as a whole reveal what you've learned this year about both yourself and the material we have studied" (Smagorinsky, pp. 56). Specifically, students will address our overarching concept in this essay by explaining how this newly acquired knowledge of strategies and information has allowed them to take ownership of their education and actively improve their learning in the future.
This project idea was modified slightly, but taken primarily from the description provided by teacher educator Peter Smagorinsky in Teaching English By Design, pp. 55-56).