I recently applied for a first grade position in a neighboring district. The employment in that district is highly competitive. I fortunately landed an interview at a school there and knew I needed something to take with me to showcase my talents and passion for teaching. I had read that teaching portfolios had helped many others in this situation. I have always kept a portfolio each year to meet our state's professionalism rubric, but I needed something a little more tailored to the needs of an interview. I decided to create my own that highlighted some important areas of teaching and that would serve as evidence to questions asked during the interview. Since I was going after a primary grade teaching position, I wanted the colors to be bright and colorful. I think it's also important to put your contact information on the cover, as well as your picture. They might want to keep your portfolio to look over while making their decision. Your picture will help remind them of you and your interview. I also wanted to take them on a tour of my classroom. They should be able to envision me in their building. Since I am a blogger, I have lots of photos of my classroom. I included a blog post after this page in the portfolio that took them through my learning space. You could even add a layout of your classroom from a website that allows you to create those. That would show them that you value classroom layout and like to plan ahead. Classroom management is an area they will definitely want to know about. What is your system? How do you ensure a smoothly run classroom? How do promote positive behavior and desired expectations in your classroom? I included information along with photos of these areas. Not only did I incorporate my latest strategies, I also added strategies of the past that I had tried with my students. Lesson plans should also be included. I have taught kindergarten and second grade, so I included examples of both. If you do visual plans, definitely incorporate those! They are attention grabbers and look great in your portfolio. I included a copy of my current classroom schedule. I wanted them to see that consistency and routine were vital to my learning environment. One section in my notebook was all about lesson plans and creative activities I had incorporated in my classroom. I divided that section up into some effective best practices. In each section, I included the strategy, brain research to support the practice, and photos of them being incorporated into my classroom. I also included some units I had created along with photos of students engaged in activities from those units. Another section in the portfolio highlighted assessment and data. Education is so data-driven these days that I knew I had to incorporate this. I listed all of the assessments I had experience with, included data from assessments I had administered (do not include student names), and showed how I used the data to drive my instruction. You may be asked about parent communication in your interview. In this section, I included newsletters and various other ways I communicated with parents and got them involved in their child's education. I also took the time to break down what my reading and math blocks looked like. I made sure to mention the five components of reading, curriculum I had experience using, and student work samples. I made sure to highlight how each of these areas drove student success. Finally, I had sections for professional development and important documents. You should include any professional development you have attended, as well as any you have led. Be sure to also include documents such as a copy of your teacher license, praxis scores, and a college transcript. There are many more components to my portfolio that you will have access to if you purchase this Editable Teacher Portfolio. I am confident it really helped me receive the first grade position. It provided easy evidence for me to refer to during the interview. The file is a PowerPoint, but you could also save it as a PDF when completed to send digitally to principals. Since it is editable, you can add or take away any pieces to fit your needs. It will definitely make you stand out in your teacher interview! I hope this portfolio is beneficial to you and lands you that perfect job! Happy teaching and best wishes!
3rd grade teacher blog- New teacher tips, lesson ideas for K-4, & freebies for elementary teachers, like a customizable lesson plan template!
Take a sneak peek into my actual teaching portfolio and learn how to easily create your own for job interviews.
Can you list ways your teaching portfolio stands out from the crowd? If not, read and implement these portfolio organization tips and strategies for teachers.
A digital teaching portfolio is an important tool when you're seeking a teaching job. Here's how to use Google Site to create one for free.
Hellooo future teacher! Congrats to you on completing your student teaching and degree! You are about to begin one of the best and most rewarding careers (at least in my opinion!) I know you have completed a tough several years and are eager to get your own classroom! I know, because I was in your shoes about five years ago.... As soon as I graduated, I started applying for jobs online. I would fill out the application on the school's website and wait to hear back from the school. I soon became discouraged because I didn't get a single response for even an interview. Luckily, I was offered an assistantship to get my Master's Degree and was able to put the job search off for another year. I was so blessed to get the opportunity for so many reasons! I was extremely fortunate because my assistantship gave me the opportunity to connect with some amazing teachers, professors, and future teachers who showed me that I was applying for jobs all wrong! I'm going to share my biggest mistakes as I applied for jobs and give you some tips to stand out in your interview process! *Please note, I'm sharing what worked for me in my job search. 1. Of course you need to... Be sure to do the obvious...create a resume, write a basic cover letter that you can easily tweak as you apply to schools, type up your references with all of their info in one place, get your letters of recommendations together. If you don't have letters of recommendation-be sure to ask for them now! Don't forget to get permission from your references to use them too! Spend the extra money and buy some resume paper! Print your resume, references, and cover letters on this paper! I know it can get expensive but it's worth it! 2. Set yourself apart and get the interview! When I applied for jobs, my first mistake was just applying online and waiting around! I look back and I realize what a silly mistake that was! In order to even get an interview, administrators want to see that you are dedicated and willing to go that extra mile! If the expectation is to fill out the online application, then you need to do that and go above and beyond! Email the administrators directly to reiterate your interest, go in to the school and personally drop off your resume, send brochures or something extra with your resume (see below)and let administrators get to know you! Check out the brochure I created below! Sorry I wasn't able to make this an editable template. Don't worry though, you can find a template in Microsoft Word that you can edit. Some things I included on my brochure were: photos of me teaching, why I became a teacher, career experience, relevant skills and training, my contact information, the degrees and certificates I obtained, and references. Don't worry, you're not being pushy, you're setting yourself apart from everyone who is just applying! The point is, you need to do more than just fill out the application to make yourself stand out! Be unique and show your personality! 3. Once you've got your interview, time to get ready! When I started applying for jobs I was told by several people to not even bother putting together a portfolio. I was told that administrators don't even bother looking at them. Um.... wrong! Of course the people you are interviewing with won't take the time to sit there and look at every page in your portfolio. It's up to you to put meaningful items in your teaching portfolio that you can easily talk about. Don't just try to fill pages in your portfolio. Include items that administrators want to see. Do your research and look up commonly asked interview questions for the grade level or area that you specialize in. As an intervention specialist, I knew I would be asked about writing IEPs. I made sure to include an IEP I had written in my portfolio. (If you plan to do this too, be sure to delete or hide ALL confidential information. That includes: school districts, names, addresses, and more.) I can tell you that at every interview, I was almost always asked about these topics: classroom management, lesson planning, professional development, and communication with parents. Since these topics are so important to teaching and so commonly asked about, I made sure to include information about each one in my portfolio! As your interviewers ask you about these topics, open up your portfolio to these pages! It is a great visual for administrators and it makes it easier for you to discuss each topic. Not to mention, it shows you are prepared, creative, and willing to put in the extra work! For example, if you are asked, "what does a typical lesson look like?" You can show the administrator a typed out lesson plan (complete with objectives, assessments, and all that good stuff!) along with photos and student work samples. Even if you're not in a teaching position, be sure to start collecting these things now from your student teaching! If you are looking for some ideas of things to include in a portfolio, some options are: copies of your resume, copies of your references, letters of recommendation, communication with parents, lesson plans, student work samples, classroom management information, a sample IEP, professional development certificates, Praxis or testing scores, college transcripts, evaluations and observations, resources you have created, a copy of you teaching license, a disc or QR Code with a link to a video of you teaching a lesson. One thing I have commonly notified in many teaching portfolios is a nicely typed out paper on the individuals' educational philosophy. Although this is great information, I can tell you that your interviewer will not likely sit there and read your entire paper. It's best just to know this information and work it in to your talking points as you interview. I would recommend saving this space for something else. Obviously, what you put in your portfolio will change depending on your specialty. Be sure to do your research and carefully select what you put in your portfolio! 4. Organize that portfolio! Now that you have selected what will go in your portfolio, make it look nice! Invest in a big binder to put everything in and get some tabs to separate out each section. Don't forget to get some page protectors for each page (I might be slightly addicted to page protectors.) Be sure to give it a nice cover page and add a table of contents. I created mine using Microsoft Word! Don't worry I've included a few different options for the cover page and what I used for my table of contents for free! Click the images to grab some of my favorite necessities! When I made my portfolio, I started with the table of contents. I numbered all of the sections on one page so I could easily find everything. I purchased binder tabs with numbers so I could place each section behind the numbered tabs. Grab this as a freebie at the end of the blog post Check out some examples of what I included in my portfolio. Please note, some things are blacked out to keep students' identities private. I did obtain parental permission to include students photos in my portfolio. You may want to send a letter home to the parents of your students to get this permission as well. Bonus: you can use this letter under your "communication with parents" tab in your portfolio. :) Get the letter for free at the end of this post! Please keep in mind I did not place my copyright on the letter because I thought it would be too intrusive. Even though it is not there, please respect my work and terms of use. :) Grab this letter as a freebie at the end of the blog post Below are some pages I included in my teaching portfolio. Hope they can give you some inspiration! Whatever you do, make it yours! I like to create things digitally so that's how mine turned out. Looking back, it's not the most beautifully done but it showed employers that I can create things digitally and am (somewhat) tech savvy. Maybe you're a big scrapbooker? Make your portfolio "scrapbookie"... I know that's not a word but you get my point! Make it unique and reflective of your personality! Contact cards. I gave these out or my interviewers could take them from my portfolio. Sample lesson plan Photos from a lesson A student work sample. Don't forget to add a cover! I tried to keep mine simple but still show my personality. I added my name, number, and email to the cover. I also added my favorite quote about teaching. Below you can use my editable template or create your own and just use mine as inspiration! Grab this as a freebie at the end of the blog post 5. Don't forget to follow up... After you have had your interview, be sure to follow up within 24 hours. Don't let them forget about you! Some people suggest an email others suggest a handwritten thank you card. I suggest doing both! Neither has to be too long. Just be sure to reiterate your interest in the teaching position and mention something specific that you talked about while you interviewed. You can do it! Well I hope these resources and the information will help you in your job search. If I can leave you with one more piece of advice... Don't get discouraged if you don't get an interview, job offer, or exactly what you are looking for right away! Just keep trying and continue to better yourself as a teacher! I can tell you from personal experience that it is not easy but all of your hard work will pay off. Soon you will be doing what you love! Ready to get started? Sign up below to get all of these FREEBIES sent to you. First name Email address Send it to me! Yay! Please allow about five minutes for this freebie to arrive. Feel free to leave me any questions in the comments! Best of luck! 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“As a teacher, it is your job to make explicit whatever you though was implicit” -Carol Ann Tomlinson Introduction My collective experiences as a scientist, STEM advocate and teacher form th…
👉 I’ve researched how my colleagues create their teaching portfolios to make yours look awesome too. Check out these 17 winning examples. 💪
Use this list of 107 instructional strategies to fill-in that lesson plan or teaching portfolio with some high quality teaching strategies.Or, try some of these strategies out when you’re low on ideas and looking for a fresh way to teach in the classroom!
This is a 20 page teaching portfolio and can be edited to suit your teaching practice. It has a efficient yet floral design in order to impress future employees so you stand out among others. This document includes everything you will need to show your teaching including: Resume Educational Philosophy Behaviour Management Classroom Management Parent Communications Lesson Planning Student Work Samples Professional Development Community Involvement Awards and Recognition Goals Technology Enhanced Learning Enhancing Literacy Skills Enhancing maths Skills Assessment Data British Values ‘Why you should hire me’ Supporting Documents If you have any problems with this document or if you have any recommendations in how I could improve these for the future then please get in touch. I am new with sharing my resources so any advice would be great.
Use this list of 107 instructional strategies to fill-in that lesson plan or teaching portfolio with some high quality teaching strategies.Or, try some of these strategies out when you’re low on ideas and looking for a fresh way to teach in the classroom!
Create digital portfolios using Google Forms. For the teacher, this is a great way to track growth and keep a collection of assignments as data.
Use this list of 107 instructional strategies to fill-in that lesson plan or teaching portfolio with some high quality teaching strategies.Or, try some of these strategies out when you’re low on ideas and looking for a fresh way to teach in the classroom!
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This project offers an alternative three-dimensional way to display children’s artwork. It’s a simple concept with multiple potential variations so you can make it as basic or as complicated as you like. I love it’s kinetic qualities, but unfortunately this made it astonishingly difficult to photograph properly, so all I can say is that the photos don’t really do it justice. You can make them as big or as small as you like depending on the space available. I think a few really long ones would look fabulous suspended down a stairwell. However we don’t have the house for this, so a corner of my kitchen had to do! Before you start, measure the height of the space where you intend to hang your mobile so you know how many frames you need. To make this, all you need is some foam board for the frames, coloured card for the mounts, and I used a clear nylon beading thread to join and suspend the frames. Of course you don’t have to use foam board for the frames. I chose it because it was light and fairly easy to cut as long as you have a very sharp knife and a cutting board. (Be warned, foam board is very unforgiving of blunt knives!) I used white, which is the most readily available colour, but it is also available in black which I think would look rather good too. You could of course use thick card instead, and even create some ‘gilded’ frames. You can cut the frames any size you like – (a variety of sizes can look good, used in mixed formats – i.e portrait and landscape), just make sure you leave the frame wide enough to give a reasonable level of rigidity. The sizes will of course be at least in part dictated by the size of the artwork you want to frame. I had quite a lot of work created on A4 and smaller sized paper which I sorted out, paired up and stuck back to back on pieces of stiff coloured card, leaving a small border around. The window of the frame was cut to be slightly larger than the mounted artwork so that it could be suspended freely within it. Once you have cut your frames, you can either leave them plain or paint or decorate them in any way you choose. I chose to leave mine plain and minimal so as to place all the focus on the artwork itself. To assemble the mobile, start by punching a single hole at the centre top of each mounted artwork, and threading a length of the nylon through it. I then used a needle threaded with an end of the nylon to take the thread through the top inside edge of the frame, and secured it with a knot. Having done this for all the frames, I then laid them all out on the floor in the order I wanted them, and again used a needle threaded with the nylon, to join the individual frames together with equal spaces between. Bear in mind where it is going to be placed so that you don’t create it too long. Your mobile will then be ready to hang, so stand back and admire!
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I think these are the 5 best apps for online teaching, to create engaging and interactive lessons. Try these, your students will thank you.
