Portfolio Power!
In the art area, discussion concerning final portfolios takes place almost every day, among students as well as among my colleagues.
Although it is a critical component in teaching the visual arts, the use of portfolios doesn’t have to be relegated to only a few select disciplines. A final portfolio element can be utilized in virtually any course. Requiring students to save their best work and include it in an end-of-semester compilation is a great way to encourage them to view their course work in a more comprehensive way. Also, the awareness of a portfolio component can compel some students to put in an extra effort into individual assignments. There’s something about the knowledge that a well-written paper could also possibly serve as a strong portfolio item to which most students respond favorably.
You may or may not be able to draw a straight line (I hear that all the time), but why not encourage your students to add a visual element to their final portfolios? Something to try might be requiring students to hand in their best coursework, bound in a simple way but with a cover page that the student has either drawn, collaged, or painted that reflects the subject of your course. Extra points could be awarded for a really creative, skillfully-executed cover.
Submitted by Athesia Benjamin (Visual and Performing Arts)
Julie Damerell Transitional Studies 03/18/2009 |