Checklist for a Teaching Portfolio

An Ongoing Record of Your Professional Life

Maintaining a teaching portfolio can serve a number of purposes. For example, it can provide a record of your background and teaching experience. It can help you reflect on your work with students. It can help you see your professional progress and growth. And it can keep all this information at your fingertips.

Create a teaching portfolio that is minimal and meaningful. Your portfolio might include some or all of the following:

• Your professional background
  
  
• Class descriptions: time, grades, and content
  
  
• Written examinations: National Teacher's Exam, state licensure test
  
  
• A personal statement of teaching philosophy and goals
  
  
• Documentation of what you've done to improve your teaching (e.g., a list of seminars you've attended)
  
  
• Implemented lesson plans, handouts, and notes
  
  
• Graded student work such as tests, quizzes, and class projects
  
  
• Videotape or audiotape of classroom lessons
  
  
• Colleague observation records
  
  
• Written reflections on teaching
  
  
• Photographs of bulletin boards, chalkboards, or projects

Related Links

» Looking Good on Paper -- Having a stellar résumé and portfolio will set you apart from the crowd. NEA, Tomorrow's Teachers (Spring 2005).

» Your Professional Papers -- A checklist of papers to file in a safe place. North Carolina Association of Educators.