Portfolio

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 * Your semester exam will be your portfolio**

2010 AP Student Portfolios



=Overview= You will create an online portfolio that gives readers a glimpse of yourself and that showcases your work and reflects on your learning. I've tried hard this year to grow your powers of analytical and critical thinking. Your portfolio will be the final opportunity in this course to exercise and demonstrate those habits of mind! Thus, don't be frustrated with the lack of step-by-step instructions. I am intentionally giving you sketchy instructions in an attempt to allow you the opportunity to problem solve, to research, to imagine, to design--ultimately to create a unique portfolio that showcases YOU!

Specific Requirements:

 * Your portfolio must be **published online** with a tool of your choice. This will allow you to include a URL (web address) to your portfolio in scholarship and college applications.
 * You must employ an **extended metaphor or a theme** throughout your portfolio. Use what you've learned about rhetoric to present your ideas in a memorable way--a way that will make you stand out from the crowd.
 * You must include an **introduction to your portfolio** so that readers understand what it is they are viewing. Consider your intro your HOOK. Can you set up your extended metaphor/theme?
 * You must have a clear **organizational structure** so that readers can easily navigate your portfolio.
 * You must include a **resume**. But, refrain from giving personal info like your address, phone number, etc. Be careful not to reveal info online that you should keep private!
 * You must include at least **five (5) artifacts** of work, three of which must showcase work you've completed this year in AP English. This means, if you choose, you can showcase work from other classes.
 * Since you are selecting which examples of your work to include, **select good ones** that show your ability to think analytically and critically and creatively. Show off your growth as a reader and writer and thinker.
 * Consider carefully **how best to display the artifact.** Would an image, a document, a link to something you've created online be the best format to show your work? Something else?
 * For each artifact, include a **caption** that explains the context of the assignment, the date you created it, the learning goal.
 * For each artifact, include a **reflection**. Reflect on what you learned--about the content, about your self, about working with others...

=Where to Begin= Explore the portfolios of former BHS AP students and the links below to other portfolios. Your goal is finding INSPIRATION! Consider these questions as you explore the portfolios:
 * 1) What information will you include in your portfolio?
 * 2) How will you organize the information? How will readers navigate the portfolio?
 * 3) What theme or metaphor can you use to create a compelling, unified portfolio?
 * 4) What tool will you use to create the portfolio? A blog? A website (with a free host like Moonfruit or FreeWebs or Google Sites or Wix)? A wiki? Something else--like an online magazine created with Issuu or a VoiceThread or a Protopage or a timeline created with a tool like timetoast? An online presentation using Prezi?
 * 5) How can you WOW your audience and give yourself an edge on the competition?
 * 6) How can you show you are a critical, logical thinker and a creative one (think: Dan Pink!)?
 * 7) How will you make the portfolio visually appealing and user-friendly?
 * 8) How will you remain safe and protect your privacy while allowing chosen viewers to access key information?
 * 9) What multimedia might you include? Photos, videos, podcasts...?

**Explore Articles and Examples.**

 * //[|Electronic Portfolios in the K-12 Classroom]//: This article is a good starting place, giving an overview of what portfolios are.
 * [|Helen Barett]: She is one of the earliest gurus of ePortfolios. She's spent more than a decade researching ePortfolios. She's actually published her own portfolio using [|thirty-four different tools]! Here's her [|WordPress](like our blogs) version of her portfolio.
 * //[|Metaphors for Portfolios]//: This article, by Helen Barett, is worth reading. This might be one of the keys to creating a powerful portfolio that wows your audience.
 * Planning Sheet: Using a planning sheet such as this one gives you a strategy for attacking such a large project. What should we include on our planning sheet? Should we create one planning sheet as a class? Should individual students create their own planning sheet? Should we create a set of core pieces everyone must include but allow for individual creativity?

Former BHS Student Portfolios
Keep in mind, their portfolio requirements may have varied slightly from yours.
 * Two Sides of a Mind
 * Keep Moving Forward
 * Hello Gorgeous
 * Krystal's Infinite Playlist
 * Grace
 * A Prodigious Quantity of Mind
 * GM Portfolio
 * Dan
 * DavidsonFolio
 * The Big Trip
 * AC Portfolio
 * JM Poff
 * [|Two Teachers]: This portfolio uses graphics creatively.
 * [|Another Teacher]: You may not be able to read it (it's written in Spanish, I think), but you can analyze his organizational and navigational strategies. He has a really cool nameplate as well.
 * [|Hen]: This is a student portfolio.
 * [|Another student]: A bit cutesy for me, but it's worth a peek.
 * [|A Designer]: This is an awesome--very visual--portfolio created by a designer.
 * [|Another Designer]: Very creative!
 * [|The Reflective Teacher]: Check out how this teacher uses thumbnail images down the left sidebar for navigation--a simple trick that makes a professional-looking site.
 * [|College Professor] : You be the judge.
 * [|Edublogger]: This is one of my favorite edubloggers--he's very quirky! Notice how his front page is a written piece with hyperlinks to his artifacts.
 * [|Brian Gardner]: I love this guy's web design. His use of color and simple graphics are quite effective.
 * [|A History Teacher]: This is one of my favorites. I'm not sure how to do what's he's done, but I bet we could figure it out!
 * [|Another Designer]: Very colorful!
 * [|nmc Virtual Worlds]: A full-blown website (created with a blog) that includes a portfolio.
 * [|Pachyderm Services]: Another full-blown website using a blog. Might this site inspire your organizational and lay-out design?

Think outside the box.
Check out this student's format choice for his resume: media type="custom" key="6043171"

Writing a Resume
Below are a few sites that give tips, tricks, formats for writing your resume. One of the elements that can set your resume apart from others is **POWER VERBS**. Be sure to educate yourself about using power verbs. Check out these links:
 * AIE: Adventures in Education
 * College Confidential
 * Resume Tips for High School Students
 * Sample high school resume

Or, you might abandon the traditional resume entirely (of course, you always need to consider your audience)...
 * timetoast resume
 * 40 stunningly creative resumes