Digital Portfolios: “Hello, Future Teacher! Allow me to introduce myself.”

Our students walked through the door of our classroom 174 days this year. The door has never been propped open. That would be against fire code. The door is always locked to make lockdown and fire drills more efficient. The magnetic strip in the door jamb is mangled from all the comings and goings through that door. Still, that door symbolizes the steps we have taken to come together as a community of learners this year, and it only makes sense to try to find some way of capturing the individual and collective experiences we shared.

In the past week, seventh-grade students have created a massive hyper doc with links to their best work from the year to reflect on their learning. Then, they recorded a video pointing to and elaborating on the concepts and skills evident in their best work. I framed this project as a way of both reflecting on the year and an opportunity for students to introduce themselves to their future teachers because I will download this hyperdoc as a PDF and share it with our eighth-grade ELA team.

HyperDoc Contents

• Evidence of Writing: Best Creative Nonfiction, Best Creative Fiction, Best Informational Essay, and Best Poems
• Evidence of Reading: Best Poem Analysis, Independent Reading List, Literary Comparison Essay, and Best Reading Response
• Evidence of Speaking, Listening, and Collaborating: Best Video of Public Speaking, Best Interview, and Best Evidence of Supporting Other Writers

Example of One Row*

*Some links may not work as they are internal to our school district. Nishika’s evidence is shared with permission from her and her parents.

Reflection Video

After collecting evidence of their learning and reflecting on the skills and concepts of each piece, students recorded a video using Screencastify to talk through each piece. While I, their current teacher, am interested in hearing students’ ability to identify the skills, purpose, and experience of creating these artifacts, I wanted students to be addressing their future teacher as a way of transitioning their thinking from a seventh grade to eighth-grade learner. I also hope that in identifying their audience for this video as another teacher that the students would be more specific about the details of the project — minimizing assumptions. Here is one reflection video shared with permission from the student and her parents:

Now at day 172, final grades are due. Today, students will share cakes in the shape of the states for their final history project. They will watch a movie in the afternoon as teachers enter grades. On Tuesday, day 173, while grade and data reports are printing, students will meet their eighth-grade teachers, maybe play a game, perhaps watch another movie. And finally, on Wednesday, day 174, the school will gather to share a farewell breakfast and send the students out the door one last time.

But today, day 172, I will meet with students one-by-one as they watch the movie — irritating some because I’ve interrupted an action sequence — to review their evidence for the quarter, to be sure I’ve seen all they’ve made and heard their perspective on progress because today will be the last day they walk through the door into this classroom, the last day I will be their teacher.

I will ask students to tell me what they have learned, what they are most proud of, what they struggled through to find success, and what they will most remember about our time together.

Together, in this final conference, we will enter “final” grades (essentially, conflating all their complex evidence into a single letter), and we will email the massive hyperdoc of evidence to our wonderful team of eighth grade ELA teachers, knowing they will carry on our work 78 summer days from now.

And then I will watch our community disperse, walk out our door one last time, trusting their new teachers will open doors I could not.