About My Classroom

Apr 21, 2017 | Piece of Flair | mkoehler |
8745278368_d536344fd2_h Almost everyone will have an “About Me” page on their portfolio, but not everyone will have an “About My Classroom” page. Now is your chance to make one! The goal of this page is to convey to parents, fellow teachers, and prospective employers what your classroom looks like in theory and in practice.

Requirements

Make a page called “About my Classroom” or another name that fits your site and preferences. Carefully design the page to include as many of the following elements as you can. We would expect that a typical “About my Classroom” page would have at least 4 of these elements:

  • A description of your classroom setting, including your school, grade level, and what you teach.
  • A description of your students.
  • Some sample lessons or projects you have your students do.
  • Pictures, descriptions, and rationale for your classroom layout.
  • Examples of student work or a link to your “Gallery of Student Work” page if you’ve done that Piece of Flair.
  • Links to any active classroom portals, assignments, or parent communications you use.
  • This page could be the start of a classroom portal for you to communicate with students and/or parents. How could you incorporate a way to describe what’s happening in the classroom on a daily or weekly basis?
  • Anything else you think adds breadth or depth to describing your classroom and your teaching practice.

Whenever possible, include pictures!

School Policies on Publishing Student Work on the Web

If you add student work to your portfolio, be careful to comply with school policies regarding putting students’ work on the Web, including such issues as whether one can put photos, whether or not you need parents’ permission, and whether or not you can use first or last names. Make sure you become familiar with your school’s policy, and make sure you understand it.

Strategies that are often helpful for displaying student work in order to comply with school policies include:

  • showing work without names
  • using pseudonyms or no names at all (e.g, “One student” as opposed to “Matt”)
  • using photographs that show students working without showing faces (e.g., backs of students heads)

Relationship to Other Pieces of Flair

If you also do the “Gallery of Student Work” Piece of Flair or “Teaching Philosophy” Piece of Flair, make sure the “About My Classroom” Piece of Flair is sufficiently different.

If this doesn’t sound like a good fit for your portfolio, please see other Pieces of Flair for ideas that might work better for you.