National School Reform Faculty

Educators Making Portfolios
First Results from the National School Reform Faculty
by Kathleen Cushman
Phi Delta Kappan, June 1999

How (Really) to Assemble Your Portfolio
One Teacher's Private Diary
by Peggy Silva, Souhegan High School, Amherst, New Hampshire

HIS Thanksgiving weekend is my self-imposed deadline of putting together my professional portfolio. (Hmm, are there "amateur portfolios"?) No problem--I have a carton of "stuff"; all I have to do is assemble it into a coherent narrative, hole-punch everything, write an intro and a conclusion, and be done with it. I am a writer; I have never missed a deadline; I work well under pressure; this is pressure. I will succeed. Perhaps my process could help my colleagues who are not writers; I will document it to serve as a model for others in my Critical Friends Group:

1. First, empty every desk drawer and file folder into a cardboard box.
2. Empty box on dining room table and make plans to eat out on Thanksgiving.
3. Talk a lot about how busy you will be assembling your portfolio on Thanksgiving weekend. You will impress your friends with your diligence.
4. Friday morning. Set alarm, get up early; watch the Today show to get caught up on world news and holiday shopping tips. Get dressed and make bed while watching Regis and Kathy Lee. Straighten living room while watching Rosie O'Donnell. Okay, that's it; get thee to the dining room.
5. Go through "stuff." It's now become "data." There is no logic to the piles. Take a break.
6. Make an angel food cake--the first cake you've made in about two years.
7. Sort "data" into meaningful piles. Make popcorn. Watch "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful." Fortunately "As the World Turns" has been canceled because of football. Hole-punch data.
8. Arrange data chronologically. Make notes: How will this data meet your stated needs? Dial Jen's number; hang up. This is a holiday weekend; do not bother your coach with your concerns.
9. Go to Wal-Mart to buy socks on the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year, even though you pride yourself on never setting foot in Wal-Mart. Convince yourself that you need a binder to hold your portfolio. Buy three binders in assorted sizes. Do not notice until you get home that none of them works properly.
10. Rent movie, "Big Night." Get wrapping paper, one color for each member of your family, and wrap all Christmas presents while watching film.
11. Make soup from the carcass of the turkey you made on Wednesday to compensate for the fact that you were going out to dinner on Thanksgiving. Make homemade fudge frosting for angel food cake. Throw in a couple of loads of wash.
12. Tell husband that you are exhausted from doing your portfolio all day.

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