“Who Am I?” – TA Students Create Personalized Portfolios
February 15, 2022
At our most recent community day, students in Kathy Hooke’s advisory worked intently and animatedly on their transferable skills portfolios. Glancing over their shoulders, I saw home pages depicting anime artwork, family pictures, and athletic action shots, and lively “Who am I?” introductions where students talked about themselves and their interests.
The 8th graders uploaded evidence of their learning, both in and out of school, including artifacts such as math problem sets, French quizzes, Design Tech projects, and plays they wrote just for fun. Their work was an impressive reflection of their personalities, learning, and accomplishments.
Throughout the year, students at TA have been hard at work creating these online portfolios. The portfolio is an opportunity for students to reflect on their academic growth, document their progress toward TA’s 5 Transferable Skills, and to develop personalized learning plans (PLPS).
TA’s Transferable Skills transcend specific academic content and appear in many different ways throughout our curriculum. For example, Effective Communication and Expression is honed not only through writing English papers, but also through creating artwork or performing in TA’s musical. Creative and Practical Problem Solving skills can be developed in math class, but also in science labs and culinary projects. Students choose how they demonstrate their proficiency, and their means of doing so are as diverse as our school community.
On April 6, students will present their transferable skills portfolio to their advisor, family, and any teachers or peers at a Student Roundtable event. The event will be a showcase of the hard work students have put into their portfolio development this year, and a way for them to demonstrate their learning and growth.
Stay tuned for more information about Student Roundtables in the coming weeks.