Section One:
Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project
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Introduction
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. (Mandela,
Nelson, 2003). I believe that education is the foundation for almost everything. The more
knowledge you have the better you will be at making educated decisions in life. Education helps
to aid members of society by preparing them with knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs that
will make them beneficial to our society. This generation of students will be the future of our
society. It is up to us as educators to help educate them and prepare them to become members of
society. Teaching is a life-long learning process. Things change and it is important for educators
to keep an open mind and to incorporate new ideas and different styles of teaching.
Children learn best by doing and being engaged in their learning. Children are curious in
nature and as educators we need to know our students and what interests them and plan
accordingly. This portfolio will showcase my background experiences and will also demonstrate
what led to my passion of becoming an elementary school teacher. My artifacts will demonstrate
my passion for teaching alongside displaying my capabilities to plan, instruct and assess while
also incorporating technology in the classroom. This portfolio will present a collection of my
work which has aided my confidence and has prepared me in becoming a professional educator.
Portfolio Overview and Rationale
Throughout this portfolio, you will observe a compilation of my projects and
assignments such as lesson plans and unit plans which will be a part of my artifacts. These
artifacts demonstrate my capabilities for planning, assessing and providing instructions.
Teachers must accommodate and modified instructions to ensure that one meets the needs for all
students within your classroom. Within this portfolio, you will read about some of the best
teaching strategies that I hope to incorporate in my teaching. Collaboration I feel is an essential
part of teaching. Collaborating with your fellow colleagues and together working as a team is a
great way of ensuring that your students are getting the best educational experience. Teachers can
benefit from collaboration when they use the resources that are provided to them by other
members of the community (teachers, parents, etc.). This portfolio will showcase my knowledge,
skills, attitudes, beliefs and my pedagogy in education.
Portfolio Development
This Portfolio will exhibit the skills and knowledge that I acquired throughout my
education. Section one of this portfolio is an overview and introduction of my portfolio. This
section will include the theorists in which I believe their methods have influenced my values and
beliefs in education. Section Two will display my previous work experiences as a teacher
assistant alongside previous work experience working in a daycare. In addition, this section will
outline my early field experience from not only my undergraduate degree in Early Childhood
Education from Ryerson University but also the early field experience that I completed my first
semester with Medaill College while completing my Masters of Education. In section Three, I
will present to you my artifacts that I believe demonstrate not only my knowledge of subject
matter but in addition showcases my best teaching practice, my pedagogical awareness, and my
skills in being able to plan, instruct and access. I believe that incorporating technology in the
classroom is beneficial. One of my artifacts will outline my capability of integrating technology
into the classroom. Section Four incorporates the curriculum standards for both Ontario and the
New York Standards in connection with my artifacts. In section five, I will offer my reflection in
regards to my personal experience throughout my education as a student in the Masters of
Science in Elementary Education at Medaille College. I believe this will provide evidence of my
preparedness and my capabilities of becoming an elementary educator. Section six which is the
final section of this portfolio will provide you with a video simulating a teacher interview. This
interview is where I integrate my knowledge and experience with responses to questions that
may be asked in a teacher interview.
Theorists and Experts in the Field of Education
As a future teacher, I will make every effort to consider the various cognitive
approaches and implement them in my classroom. There are numerous theorists that have
inspired my knowledge of teaching. Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Howard Gardner are the
three theorists that I have chosen to include in my portfolio. It is important for educators to
understand how children learn so we can better teach them. These theorists and their
contributions to education have taught my some valuable teaching practices which I have
adapted and can demonstrate through the artifacts presented in this portfolio. Jean Piaget
discusses cognitive stages of development and I will use his model of stages to ensure my
students have attained at least stage 2 (pre-operational) or stage 3 (concrete operational) at an
elementary school level. Being able to combine ones interests, culture and learning styles is
crucial in order to shape effective instruction by implementing things that the students may be
interested in or simply things that they can relate to. For students to construct knowledge, they
need the opportunity to discover for themselves and practice skills in realistic situations.
Jean Piaget (a constructivist theorist), believed that the learner actively constructs his/her
own understanding of reality through interaction with objects, events and people in the
environment. Piaget described intelligent behavior as adaptation. The learner organizes his or her
understanding in organized structures (schemas). He believed that through accommodation and
assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge. When something new is presented, the
learner must modify these structures in order to deal with the new information. In addition, he
believed that a child goes through four distinct stages or levels in his or her understandings of the
world (McLeod, 2015).
Lev Vygotskys Theory of Social Development (1962) is another constructivist
theorist/theory. Vygotsky believed that the teacher facilitates between the new material to be
learned and the learner's level of readiness, supporting the child's growth through his or her
"zone of proximal development. One of the most best teaching practiced that I believe is
associated with Vygotsky is Scaffolding which is the changing of the level of support to suit the
cognitive potential of the child. Teachers use scaffolding when they provide further support to a child
when they are having difficulties with a task. Once the child becomes more confident and more
familiar with the task at hand and is able to continue independently, then less support and guidance is
provided for that task.
Constructivism argues that humans create knowledge and meaning from an interaction
between their experiences and their ideas. As teachers, we need to be prepared in terms of
philosophy, pedagogy and curriculum while acquiring the attitudes, skills, and personalities to
work effectively with culturally diverse student. Howard Gardners Theory of Multiple
Intelligences (1983) is very important to the way that educators teach. He believes that there are eight
intelligences: Verbal-Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Visual-Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic,
Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist. Teachers should try and determine which type(s) of
intelligence each student has and direct the student to learning activities that benefit on these natural
abilities. Students learn in different ways and in order to meet the needs of all students, teachers
should present the material in variety of ways by using the different learning styles (Fernie, 1992).
Conclusion
Section one of this portfolio was an overview and introduction of my portfolio. This
section included the theorists in which I believe their methods have influenced my values and
beliefs in education. I believe that there are many attributes that are required in order to be an
effective teacher. Some of these attributes are the knowledge, skills, passion and drive for
teaching. I believe that these are some of the characteristics that I possess. Teacher need to build
a caring relationship with their students. Students need to feel that they have someone who
believes in them, someone who challenges them in order for them to succeed. It is important for
teachers to provide accommodations and to be culturally responsive in their teaching. Teachers
need to incorporate different learning styles and use different strategies in order to reach every
student for not all students learn the same way. I strongly feel as though I possess these ualities
and I will illustrate them through the artifacts that are presented in this portfolio. This portfolio
will provide you with an overview of my capabilities with respect to teaching.
