Language Arts
Middle School
The Purpose of a Portfolio in a Language Arts Classroom
Students in Grades 4-6 Language Arts classes are called upon to cover a variety of written, oral, reading and media literacy tasks. The purpose of the portfolio is to effectively document the range of student work that can be created, and identify areas where students need to develop in order to improve.
The Categories & Key Learnings
Oral: 1) Students can demonstrate their ability to speak in a variety of ways (to the class, to the teacher, larger population etc.) 2) Students can show their listening skills by participating as audience members and engaging in meaningful discussions 3) Students can build confidence in presenting their own and other works
Writing: 1) Students can create different pieces of writing to demonstrate their understanding of writing forms [paragraph structure, sentence structure, types of writing (narrative, biography etc.)] 2) Students can exhibit their comprehension of texts 3) Students show an understanding of conventions and proper usage in their writing (grammar, spelling, use of new words etc.)
Reading: 1) Students can exhibit their comprehension of texts 2) Students demonstrate an understanding of connections to other texts, personal stories etc. 3) Students can readily reflect and apply the text they are reading to the real world 4) Students vocabulary is developed by reading a wide variety of texts
Media Literacy: 1) Students display an understanding of the role that the media plays in their life by analyzing different media forms (ads, commercials etc.) 2) Students show how connections through various social media forms and how this can impact their own personal lives (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.)
How Would the Learning be Demonstrated in the Portfolio?
-presentations
-audio tools to create a portfolio
-students providing feedback (to demonstrate listening)
Writing
- a range written pieces (can be completed online or on paper)
-blogging, writing in Docs, other online resources
Reading
-showing comprehension (displayed in oral presentations and writing skills)
-see ideas above in Oral and Reading
Media Literacy
- show an understanding of online discussions (blogs, wikis, Google Apps etc.)
-critiquing media forms
-how they utilize online tools (is it effective? productive? contextually sound?)
-digital citizenship/ netiquette