Beyond the “Bells and Whistles”: Toward a Visual Rhetoric for Teachers’ Digital Portfolios.
Author(s): Troy HicksSource: English Education, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Apr., 2005), pp. 200-222
Published by: National Council of Teachers of EnglishStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40173191
Based on what I’ve read of the excerpt detailed above, It would seem that even teachers need to take time to reflect upon the body of knowledge they possess. As a teacher it becomes even more important to spend time reflecting upon how knowledge is implemented into his/her teaching practice, the effectiveness of said implementations and above all, to become transparent about these ruminations through the use of a digital teaching portfolio.
A part of the this reading that really stuck out to me was where it said, “The more I thought about the nature of constructing a digital portfolio and the process of publishing it openly, the more I began to realize the complex rhetorical task in which I had placed myself and my students.” Aside from “I know right?!” My first thought when considering this was “to back away from portraying myself as an intellectual and focus on technical skill, but as I progressed through my Degree here at ASU, I began to openly consider things like “Who’s reading your work and why?” Also, it’s important to be careful not to provide information that can be weaponized against you. This kind of information is tough to spot since everyone has their own ideas on Danger and Purity, and one-way personal disclosures are all the rage on YouTube nowadays, the intention behind that is clear, to build social and parasocial relationships. The value of Para sociality isn’t clear to me, as an introvert so that’s yet another problem to consider with regard to the complexity of this rhetorical task.”
Another part of the reading I really liked was where it said; “By keeping the focus on the process and not the end product alone, much like good composition instruction does for writing, a digital portfolio can remain a place for growth and change and not just a storehouse for exemplary artifacts alone.”
This is really hammering the point that “we need to just get the job done, don’t bother focusing on how good it looks because then the emphasis would be taken away from the process of writing, learning & mentorship itself.”, Essentially, we need focus on deepening our understanding of things, style be damned. Treat it like a Blog that other professionals, hiring managers and students will read.
References:
Hicks, T. (2005). Beyond the “bells and whistles”: Toward a visual rhetoric for teachers’ digital portfolios. English Education, 37(3), 200-222. National Council of Teachers of English. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40173191
Revising Our Practices
How Portfolios Help Teachers LearnBy Irwin Weiser
The first thing that jumped off the page at me when reading the above excerpt was the part that says: “For these new teachers, many of whom were undergraduates only a few months earlier and are often only a few years older than their students, a major concern is their authority in the classroom.” That’s literally half the reason I’m even here at ASU. Whether as an Entrepreneur, as a Programmer, as a Business Consultant or even a manager at Starbucks; I need to teach people. The problem with that is, I don’t know that I know enough to do so. Perhaps if I had a body of work that I could use to prove to myself what I know, then perhaps persuading others to listen would come at a lesser cost to either party.
References:
Weiser, I. (n.d.). Revising our practices: How portfolios help teachers learn.
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