Teaching porfolio

Recently I accidentally read an article with the title "The Teaching Portfolio: A
Tool to Become a Reflective Teacher" it talks about Teaching portfolios' strengths:
serving as a vehicle for reflection, improvement, and achievement. Jack. C.
Richard said, "A teaching portfolio is a collection of documents and other items
that provides information about different aspects of a teacher's work. It describes
and documents the teacher's performance, facilitates professional development, and
provides a basis for reflection and review."

A significant issue I just realized now is teaching portfolios as a product (with

results) is seen through educational activities from many different perspectives.
The educational activity is seen as the second meaning of its creation. The teaching
portfolio conducts self-assessment in the form of philosophy and policy, and two
policies are implemented explicitly in educational activities and adjusted later
through documents. Therefore, it can be used as a performance assessment
document that explains the quality of educational activities in a multifaceted and
meaningful way rather than simply listing information by "quantity." Additionally,
visualizing educational activities as TPs makes it easy to share with others. This is
expected to improve the quality of education by enhancing the curriculum's
consistency and sharing superior teaching methods. It can also promote a high
educational competence in individuals or organizations.

This experience idea is relevant to me because I need to define my teaching

philosophy. I used not understand any modern teaching methods and how to use
appropriate sentences; sometimes, I just focused on teaching but needed to
remember what my students were doing, etc. When I was a freshman, I had a part-
time job as a tutor, and I didn't keep a record of what I did, which taught me a
valuable lesson- I can only learn about how I am changing if I have a self-
assessment tool. In my 3rd year, my roommates suggested I keep a portfolio to
reflect on what I taught during a course to my students and fix it if not appropriate
for future classes.

Being able to see in this way is extremely valuable for me because it marks the
maturity of a teacher who hasn't graduated from school like me. It will show what I
can do, creativity in organizing lessons, writing lesson plans, organizing classes,
guiding students to do assignments, and so on. In addition, it is also evidence that I
can ask my colleagues or experienced teachers to support me later so that I can
revise and improve. Last but not least, it helps me exchange plans with colleagues
in a more specific way.
To further develop this skill, I will Check out the sample teaching portfolio to learn
how to write concisely and intelligibly. In addition, I will regularly re-read the
teaching portfolios to gain experience and, simultaneously, make corrections to the
inappropriate parts to make them as perfect as possible.

Workshop

A workshop is a short, intensive learning activity designed to provide an

opportunity to acquire specific knowledge and skills. Nowadays, it is easy to find
information about seminars through social networking forums and specialized
groups. Especially for English teachers, we have many opportunities to participate
in workshops organized by foreign experts. During "Profesional development," I
was deeply impressed with the planning workshop.

The most exciting thing about this topic is that I have been intensively researching
to set up a complete workshop. During week 12, we learned that building a
conference plan requires six steps:

Choosing an appropriate topic

Limiting the number of participants

Identifying a suitable workshop leader

Planning a proper sequence of activities

Looking for opportunities for follow-up

Including evaluation

In that lesson, the teacher gave us a few handouts to match the steps to the process
taking place in each step.

This experience is relevant to me because I have a lot of changes to joining

workshops, and I took notes for myself and shared many valuable things with the
workshop leader. The organization plays the most crucial role in a successful
workshop. They need to engage all participants in the content without being
tedious or noisy. Also, if I don't attend the PD course, the seminar and workshop
are the same. I can now tell them apart by the number of participants, participants,
hosts, and so on. A seminar is typically lecture-oriented and delivers the same
content to the audience as a workshop. However, the involvement and interaction
with the audience are limited or at least less than a workshop. A seminar is better
suited when the number of participants is more than a hundred.
On the other hand, in the workshop, participants play a more active role, and there
are times when personalized help and assistance are forthcoming from the teacher.
Individual attention on the participants is possible because, typically, in a
workshop, the number of participants is kept low purposefully. Lectures play a
lesser role in a workshop, and more attention is given to imparting knowledge
through practical mode. Workshops are held primarily at places that are open and
more spacious than what is required for seminars. This is necessary to let the
participants clearly see the teacher's technique.

Having realized the importance of the workshop, I now understand that the
workshop was beneficial, and I have started implementing some of the things we
learned. As mentioned in the coursebook, the workshop has vital benefits such as:
raising teachers' motivation, being flexible in organization, providing input from
experts, developing collegiality, short-term support innovations, offer teachers
practical classroom applications.

If I were to comment negatively about the workshop, it would be that it was too
crowded and we needed to interact more with the facilitator.

Next time, I will organize workshops in my class so that students can exchange
and share their English learning experiences and help their friends gain confidence
when speaking English with foreigners. I should still attend workshops and learn
interesting ways of organizing and highly interactive activities between the
presenter and the audience. At the same time, I also need to improve my self-
confidence and carefully study the content I want to convey through the workshop.

- Effective professional development also contributes to better job satisfaction and

is an important factor in teacher wellbeing

- One of the main reasons to pursue professional development is to be empowered

to have the opportunity and the confidence to act upon my ideas as well as to
influence the way I perform in my profession. Empowerment is the process
through which teachers become capable of engaging in, sharing control of, and
influencing events and institutions that affect their lives. As teachers, we have the
capacity to empower ourselves if we keep in mind the following precepts:
• Be positive.

• Believe in what you are doing and in yourself.

• Be proactive, not reactive.

• Be assertive, not aggressive.

- To be an effective teacher requires a combination of professional knowledge and

specialized skills as well as your own personal experiences and qualities. And
adding to their knowledge base and acquiring new skills are among the main
reasons teachers participate in professional development activities (Bailey, Curtis,
and Nunan 2001). For both a novice teacher and a veteran like Nafissa, learning
about new ideas and techniques in English language teaching can be motivating
and encouraging.

- Teachers all around the world face similar challenges due to the very nature of
school environments. They teach their classes independently from their colleagues,
which makes them feel isolated. Sometimes teachers, especially those who are new
to the field, can become overwhelmed by the demands of school bureaucracy, and
if teachers do not receive regular supervision or feedback, they can become
frustrated. Professional development activities can alleviate some of these issues.
Such activities can also bring together teachers who have similar experiences and
interests. Just having the opportunity to share experiences and ideas with
colleagues can help a teacher gain a sense of community and belonging.

I am expected to keep up to date with developments in the field, to regularly

review and evaluate my teaching skills, and to take on new teaching assignments
according to the changing needs of the institution.

Teachers need to expand their roles and responsibilities over time if they are to
continue to find language teaching rewarding, and it is the responsibility of schools
and other educational institutions to provide opportunities for teachers to develop
longer-term career goals and opportunities over time.

The field of language teaching is subject to rapid changes, both as the profession
responds to new educational paradigms and trends and as institutions face new
challenges as a result of changes in curriculum, national tests, and student needs.
As a result, teachers need regular opportunities to update their professional
knowledge and skills, that is, their opportunities for professional development.