Section One:

Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project

Introduction to the Portfolio Project/Overview and Rationale

This portfolio is compilation of work and experience during a fourteen month Master of
Science in Education program at Medaille College, in Buffalo, NY. I spent four of those
fourteen months teaching in two different elementary schools in Peel region. I have put together
my best teaching practices, learnt theories, theorists, along with experts from the field of
education to support my philosophies on education and teaching. An emphasis is put on my
ability to plan, instruct and assess. Also, it should be noted that I am a big believer of using
technology in the classroom and my teaching reflects that belief. Particular attention should be
paid to the visuals that I created to go along with the lesson plans, as they show my ability to
engage students to be active participants in their learning. The documents and artifacts presented
here have been developed over the duration of this program and represent me as a proficient and
passionate educator. In this overview of the portfolio I will go in to detail about the
competencies that I possess as a new educator and then will break down and elaborate each
section of the portfolio itself.
The purpose for this portfolio is to highlight my preparedness to become a professional
educator and demonstrate the knowledge Ive gained about teaching and what Ive accomplished
thus far in this field. During my time at Medaille College and student teaching in Peel Region,
three important competencies were heavily focused on; Planning, Instruction and Assessment.
Planning and writing effective lesson plans has been a major focus for this program. This skill is
absolutely crucial at determining who will thrive in this field and who will falter. Builders use

blue prints to construct buildings and homes. Blue prints have clear directions with a focused
result that is to be achieved. Effective teaching is no different. Teachers plans are their blue
prints for constructing a unit. Effective plans are the foundation for everything else that follows
in the classroom. Not having a plan is like building a home without a blue print. There are many
factors that go into creating an effective lesson plan. According to Piagets four stages of
development theory, teachers should develop and teach plans that are appropriate for students
cognitive abilities. This theory played a key role in my lesson plan development, as I always
sought to take the content that is to be taught, and modify it so that it was more accessible and
developmentally appropriate for the students I was teaching. This included taking out fancy
jargon words and adding my more visuals. It was important to know the curriculum for New
York State and Ontario, which would then guide a lesson plan that had to be designed for all
students being taught.
When Planning lessons there are two areas that have gained a lot of importance over the
years and that is accommodation and culturally responsive teaching. During our time at
Medaille we learned a lot about Gardners theories on the different types of learners. Some are
visual learners, while others are more hands on. Our goal in teaching is to plan lessons that reach
as many types of learners as possible. I made a conscious effort to have differentiated instruction
plans to address the different learning styles and to also accommodate ESL, IEPs and special
needs. This included special handouts, planned one on one instruction time and even modified
assessments. When it comes to being culturally responsive, I took the approach of not ever
assuming students understand what Im trying to convey to them. I also made sure that the
lesson was not offensive to any race, religion, or cultural group. For my First Nations unit I
wanted to see what types of misconceptions the students had and what they already knew.

Through a class discussion we talked about these misconceptions and reinforced the idea of
being respectful to all people.
The next primary competency that this portfolio will highlight is instruction. Once a
solid lesson plan had been prepared, it then had to be executed. There are some teachers who are
really great at lesson planning, but are unable to execute their plans successfully. I believe there
are many things that I did that helped make my instruction time efficient and effective. For me it
was vital to establish a strong rapport with the students. In each of my placements, I was the
new teacher and had to break down a comfort barrier with the students. I did this through the
use of humor and inquiry. I made a point to speak with each individual student and would ask
them genuine questions about their lives in an effort to get to know them. Once the comfort and
rapport was there I also asserted my classroom expectations a lot more. Harry Wong wrote in his
book, The First Days of School, that the first days of school is the most important for
classroom management because it lets the students know what is expected of them. Students
crave structure according Harry Wong. Once the students knew what I expected from them and
how I managed the classroom, the next step was to introduce the content in a way that they could
connect and engage with. I did this with the use of technology. As I mentioned earlier I am a big
believer of having technology in the classroom. Many of the artifacts that I provide in this
portfolio will be PowerPoint presentations created by me for my third and fourth grade students.
I also used a presentation clicker with a laser pointer, so that I could move about and engage with
the students instead of sitting behind a computer desk asking questions.
The third primary competency that this portfolio will highlight is assessment.
Assessments are indicators for teachers to see if their lesson planning and instructions were
effective or ineffective. If students who normally do extremely well on tests suddenly are

scoring Ds along with the majority of the class, it is a sign that the lesson was not taught in an
appropriate way that the students could comprehend or the assessment was flawed. Assessments
can also indicate which students need extra attention. In a subject like math a quiz or unit test is
always a good type of assessment. But as a compliment to the test for our Measurement unit, I
also had students conference with me. I asked questions that were aligned with instructional
objective to see if the students learned and comprehended what was taught. Sometimes students
can develop test anxiety and may not perform well on tests, even though they know theyre
content. To ensure I was created to most appropriate assessments for my lessons, I would often
collaborate with the more experienced teachers on the team to get their thoughts and ideas. I
believe in learning from others and value the information that experienced teachers can provide.
Also Blooms Taxonomy comes into play when designing assessments. It made me think if there
are enough critical thinking questions? Were the students applying theyre knowledge? Blooms
theory helps create stronger assessments by forcing new teachers like me to step outside the box
and reflect on the assessments, to ensure students are simply not just memorizing information but
applying it.
Portfolio Development
The portfolio itself will be divided up into six different sections all focusing on various
aspects of my education and teaching experience. Section one is designed as an overview or
introduction to the whole portfolio. This is where you get a sense of my rationale for how I plan,
instruct and assess, plus an explanation of why I will include certain artifacts in the portfolio.
Another important piece of information introduced is how I developed my lesson plans and
theorist and/or experts that influenced my teaching practices.

Section Two will focus on my background experiences. In this section I will outline my
education and important work experiences that have led to me developing my teaching style and
strategies along with my philosophy of education. This is where I will also include my resume
for review. I learned a wealth of knowledge during my time at Medaille. The curriculum is very
vigorous yet focused on producing the best, professional educators. The course content focused
on a variety of theorist like, Bloom, Gardner and Piaget, to give us a strong theoretical
framework to start planning and teaching lessons. This education combined with valuable
student teaching placements has allowed me to forge an identity as an educator. I know how I
want to teach and how to achieve it.
Section Three is where I will present all my important artifacts and instructional materials that
demonstrate my knowledge, skills and best teaching practices as a professional teacher. Each of
the artifacts and/or materials included showcases one of the three primary competencies of
planning, instruction and assessment. I will discuss and describe the artifacts in detail and
explain the reason of why they were included in the portfolio. These artifacts will show my
skills at developing and creating visuals for lesson plans and how they engage students in
learning.
Section Four is all about the foundation of what teachers teach; the curriculum and standards. In
this section I will present the New York State P-12 Common Core standards and the Ontario
Elementary Curriculum standards. The relevant standards will be focused on and connected to
the artifacts include in the portfolio.

Section Five is where I provide my reflection on my education at Medaille, teaching experiences

in the elementary schools and the process of putting together this portfolio. Reflecting is a big
part of teaching. It is all about improving yourself and fine tuning existing strengths.
Section Six will include a 5-10 minute screencast video that will represent a mock job interview.
I will be asked questions just like a real job interview and I will use the portfolio and the selected
artifacts to present myself as a professional educator. I will highlight my skills, strengths and use
my Weebly website to demonstrate my professionalism and preparedness for the education field.
Theorists and Theories
The theorist that has had a huge impact on my teaching practices is Howard Gardner. His
theory is now a cornerstone in the education field. The theory suggests that people and students
dont all learn the same way. Some are visual learners, while others learn from a more hands on
approach. This is called the Multiple Intelligence theory. Knowing this theory allows me to
analyze my lesson plans to see if I have addressed different learning styles. The best lesson
plans attempt to reach and engage as many different types of learners as possible; which is
always my goal in teaching.
Other theorists that have influenced my teaching are Piaget and Vygotsky. Piagets
Developmental theory is about ensuring lessons being taught are appropriate for the age group
and their cognitive development. Vygotsky takes this theory further and expands that learning
happens with social interaction during these cognitive development stages. I applied these
theories to my teaching by ensuring that my lessons are age appropriate, by not using too much
jargon and by getting to students to interact with each other in group activities.

When it comes to classroom management, no other educational expert has impacted me

more than Harry Wong. Teaching can only take place if the teacher has the attention of the class.
If the class is in chaos, the teacher will spend more time managing the class then teaching. Harry
Wong states that classroom procedures and routines begin the first day of school. For new
teacher, we have to clearly set out our expectations immediately. Students like routine and
structure and it is our job to put those in place. In my two teaching placements, the first goal was
to introduce myself and then clearly set what I expected from the students. Students needed to
know who I am and what I expect.

Conclusion

My goal was to introduce who I am as a teacher and why I am prepared for the
educational work place. This first section of this portfolio is to provide a brief glimpse or
overview of the organization and collection of the documents and artifacts that will make up the
portfolio. The viewer of the portfolio should come away with the opinion that I have
demonstrated very clearly the ability to plan, instruct and assess. I also take into account the
theories presented by Bloom, Gardner, Piaget and Wong to plan culturally responsive lessons that
accommodate all types of learners. The portfolio will also show that I manage my classroom
with humor to create a strong rapport with the students and provide very clear and consistent
classroom rules to follow. I am a big believer in Vygotskys theory that learning happens through
social interaction and I implemented that into my lessons. I like having the students discuss,
share and question. Hearing differing points of views and opinions promotes critical thinking.

Finally this first section was to layout the following sections of the portfolio and to provide some
details about each part.