One of the best moments from my 391 practicum was on the final day because I got to lead the weekly circle. In this circle students are able to share how they are doing physically and emotionally from the past week (on a scale of 1-10 with some information on why). Following this there is normally a question of the week that the students will answer for the teacher. Since it was my last day, I wanted to focus not just on asking a question to them, but getting them to share one final piece of information for me. I asked them the importance of self care, especially during covid times. From this I had each and every student write on a colourful piece of paper one compliment that they would like to give themselves. It could be able their appearance, their success in a subject, their personality or whatever they wanted to praise themselves for as long as it was something that celebrated themselves. While this was happening I handed out my final little gift to them which was a small bag of candy (yes bribery in the form of sugar was a successful option for me to use) and a note from myself thanking them for sharing their learning time with me, and also an individual compliment based on the relationship I had built with them over the three weeks.
This was such an amazing weekly circle that I got to be apart of because it allowed the class and I to talk about self care and the importance of showing ourselves some love and kindness not only in good times but in hard times too. I gave the students the option to either keep their piece of paper or to hand them in and to my joy they all handed them back in to share with me. The compliments that they wrote to themselves was even better then I could have imagined and I will continuously bring this activity with me throughout my years of teaching just based on this one outcome. Below is a picture of some of the compliments that students gave themselves and yes while I was reading them I did cry because they made me so extremely happy that I got to see all these amazing attributes from these students and I am going to miss them so much. I learned from them just as much as I hope they learned from me and there was not much more I could ask from them during 391 practicum that they did not give me.
This section is a holding space for you to keep specific artifacts and accompanying reflections that you believe are relevant to the other tabs in your eportfolio. You will also want to include artifacts that demonstrate your personal and scholarly growth. You will add to and delete artifacts from this section over time. ePortfolio includes an about me space, a blog, and a space for artifacts. The ePortfolio is a space for students to decide what they want to show case and explore, so this template is just a starting point for students.
The point of the ePortfolio is for the student to think and see how their identity, culture, and education are interconnected. Students have a space to reflect on their learning, experiences, identity, and culture. Students can make their learning visible, to see their progress and to set goals for the future.