Reflection 3

Although I felt all 10 researched principles relating to the AFL were extremely appropriate and well defined, I am drawn more toward the AFL which recognizes the full range of achievement by all learners. To me, it's in the same category as Ron Edmonds would have put it, all students can learn. The fundamental nature of recognition for all learners, which includes a full range of the learning environment, is a profound statement for teachers to adhere to. I believe it sets the stage for involvement between teacher and student. It also seems to have an effect of engagement so teachers have the game plan of student learning right up front. Achievement calls for an immediate association to all sorts of action such as best practices, proper pedagogy, better analyzing, more hands-on, and projects. When teachers make a full range of achievement by their students the focus, students benefit.

Electronic Portfolio assessment gives a clearer picture of what a person has created throughout his career in one neat little electronic package for possible assessment. It offers a way to analyze someone’s work, possibly in the selection of candidates for a job, via the Web. The potential is there for all types of purposes. For instance, an artist turns in a portfolio of all of his paintings, electronically. It’s a show-and-tell story of his creative efforts without hauling in the many pages of his/her artistic work. In earlier years, portfolios were stored in boxes and three-ring binders and other such devices. This worked fine for the paper years, but it misses many ways of communicating one’s thoughts and ideas. Recently, teachers, students, and business people have found electronic portfolios as a very effective way to present his/her information through visuals, audio, and video formats. Documents are now stored on hard drives, CD-ROM in digital formats such as text documents, picture files, web pages, digital video, Excel files, and Powerpoints. As you can see, we have come a long way BABY! This is OUR potential in today’s world.

My portfolio just might cause me to seek a job back into the education field one day. A glimpse back into the past of my principalship was somewhat satisfying. To see past work which was successful is inspiring.