PYP Portfolios

I know I briefly mentioned PYP portfolios in my student-led conference post, but I wanted to elaborate a little bit more on those.

First of all, whether you are a PYP school or not your students should have some type of portfolio to display their work over time. Many teachers keep student writing pieces throughout the year so that they can show parents at conferences and students can see their own growth. I know our middle school (which does not use the IB curriculum) uses online portfolios and this is a huge part to their student-led conferences. 

What I like about the portfolios is it allows students to visually see that they have learned a ton over the course of a year and even parents can say "hey, my kid has learned something this year!" 

 

What is unique about the PYP portfolios is that there are artifacts from each unit that get stored in this binder. The artifacts we choose to put in at our school is their summative project (or picture of it) and a reflection about what they learned from completing that project as well as an activity that the student completed during the unit and a reflection about what they learned from completing that activity. The second set of artifacts are what we call 'student-pick' reflections. 

From kindergarten all the way through fourth grade (at our school elementary ends in fourth) students collect artifacts from each of the six themes that are covered each year in the PYP programme. So not only are students seeing what they learned and how they grew throughout the school year, but they are also can see how what they learned in kindergarten in the theme 'Who We Are' connects to what they learned in first, second, third and fourth grade. Amazing!

I encourage you to start incorporating portfolios into your classroom. Students will never be allowed to say "I didn't learn anything this year" ever again!

Student-led Conferences

Phew! Having report cards due and getting ready for conferences in the same week can make for one busy teacher. At our school we have 'Team Conferences' in the Fall, which is like the traditional Parent Teacher Conference most schools use, but something special that we do in the Spring is we have "Student-led" Conferences. 

If you have never heard of these types of conferences I am sure you will soon because they are becoming more and more popular around the country. In these types of conferences students are the ones sharing about what they have learned and how they have grown with their parents and the teacher acts more like a mentor or facilitator by guiding the conference. There are many different ways or structures to a successful student-led conference, but the principles and goals of them are the same no matter what school you visit. 

The reason we organize student-led conferences is because it ties perfectly with the philosophies on the PYP. Students take the time to reflect on what they have learned, display their learning in multiple ways (through writing, projects and portfolios) and it is a way for students take take ownership of their learning.

There is a lot of preparation that takes place before students can take part in the conference. All the PYP teachers at our school have students complete a reflection. Depending on the grade level will depend on the amount and types of questions ask, but most teachers have students reflect on the learner profiles the exhibit, the PYP units they have taken part in this year, what they have learned in each subject and goals they have for the rest of the year.  Below is what part of the reflection students have to complete before conferences.

Along with these reflections teachers will have students share projects, teach their parents a math game, read a book, share their writing pieces and their PYP portfolio along with online portfolios. Once again, the structure and what students share/do depends on the teacher and school. My students will be sharing their reflections at the teacher table, sharing their writing folders and PYP portfolios, playing a math game and sharing a project they completed in ESP this year. Students have a checklist at their desk so they do not miss any part of the conference. This is what the checklist looks like.



The last things students need to do to get ready for conferences is to practice! We take a day or two and practice reading our reflections, looking through our PYP portfolios and comparing writing pieces from the beginning of the year until now by discussing their noticings. This way students feel comfortable and ready to share with their parents the day of their conference.

Our conferences are this week, so wish us luck!