Integrating Portfolios and Reflective Writing

What do I mean by portfolios?

• Selection and/or Collection
• Reflection
• Sometimes: design, framing, identity construction

Portfolios offer students concrete opportunities to…

• Connect writing/learning contexts (Acker and Halasek 2008; Perry 1997; Zaldivar, Summers, and Watson 2013)

Portfolios offer students concrete opportunities to…

• Connect writing/learning contexts (Acker and Halasek 2008; Perry 1997; Zaldivar, Summers, and Watson 2013)
• Reflect upon learning experiences (Landis, Scott, and Kahn 2015; Greenberg 2004; Yancey 2011)

Reflection and Goal Setting

• Reflection encourages students to think more deeply about goals, accomplishments, and processes (Belmont, Butterfield, and Ferretti 1982; Dively and Nelms 2007; Sommers 2011).

Reflection and Student Outcomes

• There is “a significant correlation between amount of reflective conversation and the quality of writing plans: students used reflection in metacognitively defensible ways to identify problems, to search for and evaluate alternative plans, and to elaborate and justify ideas” (Sitko 105).

Reflection and Knowledge Adaptation

• Focused, sustained reflection and metacognition encourage students to reuse and adapt writing knowledge across writing and learning contexts (Alexander and Murphy 1999; Ford 2004; Haskell 2001; Salomon and Perkins 1972; Sitko 1998; Wardle 2007).

Portfolios offer students concrete opportunities to…

• Connect writing/learning contexts (Acker and Halasek 2008; Perry 1997; Zaldivar, Summers, and Watson 2013)
• Reflect upon learning experiences (Landis, Scott, and Kahn 2015; Greenberg 2004; Yancey 2011)
• Recognize opportunities for knowledge “transfer” (re-use and adaptation) across contexts (Hassel and Giordano 2009; Whithaus 2013).