Over the years I have tried creating a variety of
portfolios. I usually take an updated portfolio to education job interviews. I
like having my work in front of me when talking with potential employers. Some
of the portfolios I have worked with were E-Portfolio and I was able to share
my work with others. I tried creating a portfolio with live text but I had a
lot of issues. I am now working with portfoliogen to create a portfolio webpage for
my EDH Class.
According to The
University Center for the Advancement of Teaching (2009) it is important that a portfolio is creative,
organized, comprehensive, structured, representative, and selective. It should
have a good collection of teaching ability evidence. The portfolio I created to
take with me has:
Table of Contents page
Introduction which contains an update resume and my
certificates
Service project experiences
A variety of lesson plans I created
My educational philosophy
Article reviews
PowerPoint projects
On my new E-Portfolio I will have an update resume, a
cover letter, and my educational philosophy. By creating an E-Portfolio I hope to
communicate online to new prospective employers my strengths, progress, and personal teaching style.
What do you think about using E-portfolio for job
interviews? What type do you use?
References
UCAT. (2009). What is a portfolio? The University
Center for the Advancement of Teaching - The Ohio State University.
Retrieved from http://ucat.osu.edu/teaching_portfolio/teaching_port.html
I think having any kind of portfolio that documents a persons skills and background is very useful for job interviews. I like the idea of an e-portfolio, and keep that in the back of mind at all times. I believe that with every project that we do along the way, we must consider it as part of our portfolio, so that's why I believe it's so important to organize your work early on in order to have your "ducks in a row," so to speak, when it comes time to putting together a portfolio.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts, Jodie. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Jodie,
ReplyDeleteI know from personal experience that having an electronic portfolio could potentially give you an advantage in job interviews. I graduated college Summa Cum Laude with glowing recommendations and I could not find my first teaching job for an entire year. Fortunately, that year actually helped to make me more prepared for being a teacher. I started teaching myself how to design websites to pay the bills, and while doing so, I developed my technology skills for education. When I interviewed for my current job, I was basically told that I had almost no chance of getting the job because of the enormous amount of highly qualified applicants, but that they were impressed with my experience with technology. My electronic portfolio really set me apart and got me the job.
Many schools are looking for teachers with technology experience, and an electronic portfolio is a great way to showcase yours. My advice: also include links to your professional blog, a sample teacher website with homework and class documents posted/linked (or in your case, a sample library website), and ideas for implementing technology with few resources in your potential classroom/media center. That will highlight your creativity and show that you are definitely going to be using technology in your classroom.
Good luck with your interviews!
-Erin