Section One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project

Introduction, Overview and Rationale

Although initially being trained in accounting and finance and landing jobs at some of the top

financial institutes, accounting firms and corporations, I came to realize that passion was lacking for me

in that line of work. It was through my volunteer experience as a Youth Mentor with SMILE Canada

where I was able to build interpersonal relationships with children and their families, and facilitate them

through communication to assess their needs and offer the appropriate support. These connections

initiated feelings of compassion and broadened my knowledge and understanding and led me to realize

that I wanted to pursue a career along these lines on a full-time basis. This, coupled with my desire to

work with children, my deep love of learning, as well as my interests in studying behaviour, personality,

counselling, child development and education, motivated me to go back to school to earn an honours

degree in Psychology and pursue my passion.

Upon completing my undergraduate degree, I joined the Milton Community Resource Centre's

before and after school program – an organization that applies the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy,

where learning is built upon the interests of students by means of a self-directed approach – where I

began gaining experience as an educator. From there, I was hired by the Halton District School Board as

an Educational Assistant. It was through this experience that I formed a deeper love for teaching and

recognized that working one-on-one with students in this context brought meaning and purpose to me. I

have a profound love of learning, which I believe would translate to my students. The fulfillment from

witnessing student learning and growth is unparalleled.

I realized I could get the best of all worlds as an educator – working with children, applying my

interest and knowledge of psychology, social work and counselling, my love of learning and being able to

pass that on to students, and teaching. I have had several students tell me that they wished I were their

teacher, and have also had several colleagues ask me if I have considered teaching. Upon speaking to the
 2

principal at my current school and seeing how encouraging and reassuring he was, it only strengthened

my desire to teach and gave me confidence and added enthusiasm that I was fit for the job and making

the right decision. To me, success is having my life and my life choices in congruence with my values.

This portfolio is a culmination of my educational career at Medaille College. It presents my

background, skills and abilities, knowledge, and values to demonstrate my preparedness and

qualifications as an effective educator. There are six sections to this project: 1) Teacher Candidate

Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project, 2) Teacher Candidate Background Experiences, 3)

Teacher Candidate Artifacts, 4) Alignment to Curriculum and Professional Standards, 5) Teacher

Candidate Reflection, and 6) Teacher Candidate Teacher Interview Video. From this, you will gain a

better understanding of my pedagogical approach, including my awareness of and commitment to

culturally responsive teaching, differentiated instruction, enhancing and maintaining student

engagement, and learner accommodation and modification considerations. My approaches to planning,

instruction and assessment are devised with student learning, growth, and success at its core.

Portfolio Section Development

This initial section of this portfolio, Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio

Project, is an introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project with a description of each section

provided. Prominent educational theorists and experts—with whom my perspectives and values align—

who have made major contributions to the field of education are recognized. The influences of Lev

Vygotsky, Carol Dweck and Howard Gardner, and whose ideas and pedagogical approaches I plan to

implement in the classroom, are discussed.

Section two, Teacher Candidate Background Experiences, is a formal introduction of myself as a

teacher candidate and includes my background, and educational and work-related experiences, and

resume. I will also share my school observations and classroom applications in this section. I have several

years of experience in the classroom and have had the privilege to collaborate with a number of
 3

educators with diverse backgrounds and instructional styles. My philosophy of education, which has

been shaped by these experiences, will also be conveyed. This section will acquaint you with me both

personally and professionally, detailing my journey into the field of education.

In section three, Teacher Candidate Artifacts, sample artifacts of my work can be found. These

artifacts were carefully selected to highlight the diversity and range of my professional palette. These

works provide evidence of the skills and abilities that I have developed that are pertinent to education,

as well as the knowledge required to be an effective teacher in today’s elementary classroom. The

artifacts chosen display my technology skills, lesson planning, instructional and assessment capabilities,

cultural responsiveness, support for diversity and inclusion, classroom management and differentiation

abilities, and also speaks to my creativity and character.

Section four, Alignment to Curriculum and Professional Standards, will connect the selected

artifacts from the previous section to both the New York State and Ontario curriculum standards. This

section will demonstrate my ability to align daily work and responsibilities that are expected of an

elementary teacher to curriculum and professional standards. The artifacts chosen will associate with

the New York State Common Core standards, New York State Learning Standards, Ontario Curriculum

Expectations, New York State Code of Ethics for Educators, Ontario Ethical Standards, the Interstate New

Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), the International Society for Technology in

Education (ISTE) standards, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the Medaille College Department

of Education (DOE), and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation standards.

In section five, Teacher Candidate Reflection, I will present my reflection on the overall

experiences that I have acquired in developing the portfolio project: the process, collection of materials,

specific research materials, specific artifacts, and the organization of the portfolio content. My reflection

will also include my educational experiences at Medaille College, and how they have equipped me with

the knowledge and skills required of a successful elementary school teacher.

 4

Lastly, section six will include my Teacher Candidate Teacher Interview Video. This is a screencast

video interview that will showcase my work and make connections to an interview simulation where I

will answer potential questions that may be asked of me during a job interview. This video will be

embedded on my Weebly teacher website, where I will also introduce you to my artifacts and showcase

my knowledge and understanding of the standards, my skills as a teacher, my strategies, and my

professional disposition.

Theories, Theorists and Experts in the Field of Education

The work and contributions of many theorists and experts in the field of education continue to

shape the ways in which instruction is practiced in today’s classroom. These theorists and experts offer

best teaching practices that have been supported by research and continue to be studied. The theorists

whose ideas and pedagogical approaches have resonated with me include the works of Lev Vygotsky,

Howard Gardner, and Carol Dweck.

Lev Vygotsky has been a pioneer in the fields of education, as well as developmental psychology

and educational psychology (Daniels, 2005). His theory on the zone of proximal development (ZPD) has

been widely received and continues to impact education today. Vygotsky learn from interacting with

others in their social environments, and that this learning occurs from active engagement within their

learning environments (Leong & Bodrova, n.d.). He believed that children learn best by being guided by

those who are more knowledgeable and skilled (Leong & Bodrova, n.d.). He defined it as “the distance

between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of

potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration

with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).

Vygotsky believed learning takes place when children are in a “struggle zone,” which lies slightly

outside of their comfort levels (Mcleod, 2019). When these tasks are too simple, the learner quickly

loses interest and becomes bored, and learning is not taking place. Similarly, when tasks are too difficult,
 5

the learner becomes frustrated and again, learning is quickly forfeited (Mcleod, 2019). Vygotsky believed

that for this learning to take place effectively, children need to be provided with tasks that slightly

surpass their current ability levels just outside their comfort zones (Mcleod, 2019). Teachers need to

ensure that the tasks and activities they provide to their students are appropriate to their present

abilities (Mcleod, 2019). Effective teachers are able to “read” the scene of their classrooms and monitor

students’ levels of engagement or disengagement (Metcalf et al., 2016). Based on their observations,

teachers should make adjustments to ensure students are engaged and that learning is taking place.

Howard Gardner has made vast contributions to education in many ways, and particularly based

on his theory of multiple intelligence (MI). This theory asserts that intelligence quotient (IQ) is multi-

dimensional and should not be deduced to a single score (Gardner, 2000). Instead, he proposed that

there are at least eight different types of intelligences: visual-spatial, linguistic-verbal, interpersonal,

intrapersonal, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic and naturalist, with existential

intelligences added later as a ninth form of intelligence (Gardner, 2000).

A one-size-fits-all methodology to learning is not one that is pragmatic or all-encompassing; it is

a generally accepted notion that individuals excel in different areas and/or in different ways than others.

Despite this, we have not fully integrated this awareness in its application in the classroom. By the mere

fact that we offer differentiated instruction validates the overarching principle of the MI theory. As

educators, it is imperative to our role to make the effort to reach all the students in our classrooms and

direct our pedagogical approach to nurture student learning to correspond to the different ways in

which they acquire knowledge and information.

One way that I can use Gardner’s theory of MI is to try and establish the range of intelligences

that my students fit into, perhaps by having them complete assessments at the onset of the school year

in order to distinguish their individual learning styles and strengths. While it would not be realistic to be

able to encompass every type of intelligence for every lesson, it is feasible to tailor instruction when
 6

addressing the whole class to attend to the majority of learners, and perhaps pull students aside

individually or in groups for the remainder of the students to offer instruction in a way that addresses

their unique learning styles. In terms of a particular lesson, using language arts as an example, I could

offer students the option to read a book or watch a visual read aloud of the book, and provide multiple

options to complete the related assignment. If we were doing a reflective writing task, students could

have the option to write a few paragraphs, to write a song or a piece or poetry, or to perform their work

through words and movement with the emphasis on the ‘writing’ component of the activity. For those

students who have difficulty with writing, I could scribe for them to accommodate their learning needs.

There are a myriad of ways that educators could attend to the various intelligences of their students.

With some effort, educators can take the various learning styles into consideration and provide an even

playing field in order to enhance student learning and academic success.

Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, introduced an idea that has left a permanent footprint in

the field of education. She coined the terms fixed mindset and growth mindset, highlighting the contrast

between the two and how these mindsets lead to different patterns of behaviour (Dweck, 2007; Mindset

Works, n.d.). Through her research, she discovered that people’s underlying beliefs about their

intelligence significantly impacted their motivation, effort and how they managed challenges (Mindset

Works, n.d.). Dweck discovered that individuals with a fixed mindset assume that intelligence is fixed at

birth, leading these individuals to want to appear intelligent (Dweck, 2007). They tend to display

avoidance behaviors in the face of challenges, easily forfeit tasks and do not ascribe much value to effort

(Mindset Works, n.d.). In contrast, individuals with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be

developed, leading these individuals to want to learn (Dweck, 2007). These individuals embrace

challenges, persevere when faced with obstacles and recognize the benefits of effort (Mindset Works,

n.d.). Those with fixed mindsets tend to feel threatened by others’ successes and often do not realize

their own potential, while those with growth mindsets take inspiration from successful people and
 7

achieve at high levels (Mindset Works, n.d.). Children’s views about their abilities affects self-esteem,

and consequently their academic performance and success. When posed with a challenge, a student

with a fixed mindset might think to themselves, “This is too hard. I can’t do this. I give up!” On the other

hand, a student with a growth mindset might realize that they need to put in extra effort and think to

themselves, “I can do this. I will try a different strategy to become successful at this.”

Dweck also champions the power of yet, stating that the word yet is a simple way to begin

working towards a growth mindset (TEDx Talks, 2014). She cautions against praising children for their

intelligence or talents. In its place, she advocates “praising the process that kids engage in: their effort,

their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement” and that “this process creates kids

who are hardy and resilient (TEDx Talks, 2014). In the face of challenges when children are not able to

successfully complete a task or understand a concept, she suggests using the words “not yet,” which will

give students greater confidence and a conduit for greater persistence (TEDx Talks, 2014).

Conclusion

The profession of teaching is one that influences the next generation of learners, directly

impacts the future and is rewarding. However, with teaching comes great responsibility. Through the

many advancements in the field, new theories emerge and new practices are brought forward to meet

changes in society and in our collective understanding. Today, there is a wide range of diversity in

learners, and teachers are given the opportunity to strategize to attend to the unique needs of each

individual student. Now more than ever, differentiated instruction is calling for teacher flexibility and

creativity, proactive planning, and creating an environment that is conducive to learning. These are all

qualities and skills that I possess and will become evident as you explore this portfolio.