Electronic Portfolios and Student Self-Evaluations

I feel like these two topics can go hand in hand.  As a first grade teacher, I often conference with my students during writer's workshop about thier writing.  During this process I ask them to reflect on their writing and tell me something they did great and something they could improve on. At a first grade level some students can express this to me and some have trouble reflecting on their work.  I think student self reflection will look different in each grade level, although I think it will also look different in each classroom when you use differentiated instruction.  The skill of reflecting is not easy, it is not easy for adults and it is difficult for some students to understand and take seriously.  I think having students create electronic portfolios to show off their work, will help them reflect on the process of picking pieces of writing to put in their e-portfolios. Making decisions and justifying them will be a great lesson to teach students how to reflect.  I plan on attempting to make one electronic portfolio in my first grade classroom this year and asking each student to pick on piece of writing to put in it per quarter.  I will work on a class portfolio because I will have to help each student and this will be a great start for me.  I will then teach student how to reflect on their choices and share their reflections with the class.