The Ideal Portfolio
If I no longer had any restrictions....
In a grade 9 Core French class
Student portfolios would demonstrate their capabilities of speaking, reading, writing and comprehending the French language, as well as la Francophonie. It would show that they can speak and use French outside of the classroom, through creativity, cooperative learning and co-creation of products.
Purpose
I see a portfolio's purpose as part of metacognition; students are able to explain their growth (or lack of) through the products they have chosen to do throughout the semester. The products are differentiated, meaningful, have depth but above all include examples of authentic language use.
The What
Categories: Oral- dialogues, presentations, videos, podcasts Aural- listening comprehension (presentations, videos, music) Written/Reading comprehension- journals, written responses, critical analysis of text, literary products
Criteria: Most proud of; most growth from beginning of semester, at midpoint, at end; most creative, best demonstration of authentic speech; what needs to be improved
Specific Products: Francophonie assignment, infomercial, 4 corners discussion of a current news article/video, poems, emails, discussion boards, text interpretation.
The Key Learnings
- the level (of speaking, reading ,writing, comprehension) that they came in with and how they have grown (or not) in each category through the semester
- their knowledge of the French speaking world (la Francophonie) has grown
- their use of authentic French has increased (idiomatic expressions, natural dialogue, impromptu questioning)
- metacognition is key