Teacher’s Professional Growth Plan
Stephanie Hedges
Relevant School Goals:
- None
Inquiry Question: TQS
Goal: 2a
I want to learn more
about and implement
a portfolio system in
language arts so I can
be better prepared to
meet the needs of my
students.
3c
PS III
Planning for Learning - PS III
Other School Initiatives:
- Love and Kindness
Strategies Resources/ Evidence of Success Timeline
Support Required
-Discuss how to -Using the classroom -Greater student September - December
implement the portfolio portfolio system already engagement in
system with my TM. set up. assignments
-Hear from students what -Education research -More assignments turned
helped during the initial articles on the pros and in.
implementation last year. cons of the portfolio -Higher marks on
-Read up on literature system. assignments.
about what the research
says about the portfolio
system to engage
students more.
-Talk to other teachers
who have or have not
used the portfolio system.
- Talk to other teachers - Discussion with other - Seeing students being September - December
about how to implement teachers. more on task during
engaging and relevant - Reading recent articles collaboration and group
lessons to the students. or books to read new work.
- Learn more about ways to create engaging
various ways to teach and relevant lessons.
literature using group
collaboration.
-Learn more about
different ways to
encourage student
collaboration.
 Reflection on Learning - PS III

Inquiry Question:
I want to learn more about and implement a portfolio system in language arts so I can be better prepared to meet the needs of my students.

Achievements Future Considerations

- I used a portfolio system in my ELA 20-1/20-2 and my ELA 9
class.
- Learned about other portfolio system styles from consulting with
other ELA teachers (Robert LeBlanc and Jenna Lowe) and
reading articles on the topic.
- Collect a writing sample from students at the beginning of the
year to see where the students are at in their writing.
- Chunk the objectives into units to help with organization. This is
especially true for the grade 9 students.
- Give multiple possible project ideas related to the texts we cover
in class. This will help students who have run out of ideas on
what to do.
- Give a possible assignment guide that covers all the objectives
so students can consult this for ideas and organizational help.
- Find a way to showcase student work.

Overall Reflection:
I learned about how to implement a portfolio system in an ELA classroom. By using the portfolio system already set up in the classroom, I was
able to see the logistics and the elements necessary when setting up a portfolio system. I noticed that students (especially in the 20-2 class) really
liked the flexibility and choice embedded within the system. The projects were more creative, and, when students found a project they really
connected with, there was more engagement and better quality in the projects.
I found that the younger class (ELA 9) needed a little more coaching and structure in the portfolio system. Giving multiple project ideas and
checking in with these students frequently helped, but some students found the flexibility in the portfolio to be too overwhelming. After discussions
with other teachers and articles on the topic, in the future I might implement slightly more structure by having the portfolio system for individual
units, not for the entire semester. This would give extra structure and organization while still maintaining the flexibility and choice factor.