ePortfolios in the Classroom
Amy Atchison
Boerne High School
1 Greyhound Lane
Boerne, Texas 78006
October 21, 2016
Mrs. Farber
Principal-Boerne High School
1 Greyhound Lane
Boerne, Texas 78006
Dear Mrs. Farber:
Boerne High School is a campus that is known for its academic excellence and for being a close-knit student body and community that is rich in tradition. In spite of our ongoing run of successful teaching and learning, there is always room for improvement. Currently, one of our biggest growth opportunities is the use of innovative technological methods and routines in the classroom. The initiative I am proposing should allow for tremendous growth amongst both students and staff alike and help to remedy certain limitations we are experiencing.
At the moment, our organization is in the middle of a tug-of-war between the old and the new, and I believe the new approach I am hoping to implement will provide tremendous opportunities for both students and teachers alike. It is true that my plan will require additional training to help our teachers design instruction and teach differently, but I have faith that many will be pleased with the fruit of their efforts, and I would love the opportunity to be involved. As an individual who has been avidly using technology for as long as I can remember, I would enjoy the possibility of transforming and changing the systems and routines currently being used on our campus. In addition to the positive teacher feedback we will receive, I believe the students will be drawn to the new curriculum delivery method as well. Since our students are growing up in our current technological era, and they continually use technology outside the classroom, a new digital push in the classroom will join their recreational practices with their educational ones. After considering many possibilities for a truly impactful approach for transforming teaching and learning at Boerne High School, the one that I felt would be the most successful as well as easy for other educators in our building to adopt is the use of ePortfolios in the classroom.
My first exposure to ePortfolios was last summer during my journey through two of my graduate classes at Lamar University. The process of designing and personalizing my own site was a fantastic and rewarding experience. Selecting my platform, theme, color scheme, and images to display provided a wealth of learning before I even arrived at the point where I was ready to add some actual content to my pages. Once I personalized my site by adding class projects, blog posts, videos, and photographs, I fell in love with my finished product, and I knew it would be one I would want to share.
Designing and building an ePortfolio provided me with the training and confidence needed to pull off the initiative with 120 high schoolers, and I believe the buy-in from those particular students will make it well worth the effort. Since I am an English teacher, the writing and communication practice used to maintain our ePortfolios should hit many areas of the required Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for secondary students all at once. In addition, composing and responding to blog entries should help the students to learn how to properly tailor their writing for a particular purpose and audience. Rolling several expected learning outcomes into one product should provide tremendous growth in reading and writing scores across the board, and I believe other educators will eagerly adopt a similar strategy once the results are in.
Since ePortfolios are so versatile, the initiative should be one that will be easily implemented across all core areas. New pages and tabs can be added to the same ePortfolio for science or social studies. My vision is for the students to be provided log-in information for their ePortfolio on the first day of school (along with their regular school log-ins) and be directed to create tabs for each of their courses. They will even have a separate blog page for each course that requires one. Once the students become comfortable navigating and making modifications to their sites, it should be a breeze for all teachers to use the ePortfolio as a cornerstone to compile evidence of learning outcomes in each of their respective disciplines. Another added bonus will be the benefit of writing across the curriculum, an initiative that we have been striving to adopt and implement.
Allowing technological innovations to transform the educational landscape is a movement that needs to happen both campus and district wide. By making small adjustments like the implementation of ePortfolios into instructional routines, we are preparing our students to compete in a globally connected world of innovation as well as grooming them for success in their adult lives. After all, our goal as educators is to help our students reach for the stars and become productive members of society. In today’s world, without exposing them to technology in the classroom, we are not achieving our desired educational outcomes.
I look forward to further discussing the many ways the implementation of ePortfolios will make an impact on our students here at Boerne High School. Please let me know when you have available time for a discussion.
Thank you,
Amy Atchison