Teaching Portfolios

Preparing for your interview is important!

• Look up interview questions on-line and draft your responses
• Make a list of popular education "buzz words" and practice using them in conversations
• Review the school's website and be familiar with their large initiatives
• Assemble a professional teaching portfolio

Your Portfolio doesn't need to be fancy

• A well organized manilla folder will do the trick
• Your portfolio is your professional "brag-book"
• A work-in-progress you will continue to revise throughout your teaching career

Why create a teaching portfolio?

• A teaching portfolio should help you develop, clarify, and reflect on your teaching philosophy, methods, and preferred pedagogies
• Present teaching credentials
• Document professional development
• Identify areas of improvement
• Prepare for an interview

What should be included in your portfolio?

• The ideas and objectives that inform your teaching
• Student Work!
• Examples of your best lessons for each subject you teach
• Pictures of you teaching a great lesson
• Your teaching credentials and test scores (if awesome!)

What NOT to include in your portfolio

• Just barely passing test scores
• Lesson plans
• Prepared worksheets
• Negative reviews
• "Canned" lessons

General Guidelines

• Start Now!
• Give a fair and accurate representation of yourself
• Be selective in which materials you use
• Make sure every piece of evidence in your portfolio is accompanied by some sort of context and explanation
• Be organized!

How to use a portfolio

• Don't ask if the interviewer wants to see your portfolio - they don't
• Use your portfolio as a prop during an interview
• When asked how you would teach certain subject, 1) describe your teaching philosophy, 2) use the artifacts in your portfolio as examples that demonstrate your teaching