1

MSED ELEMENTARY

MSED Elementary Portfolio Project

Brooke Keogh

September 17th, 2018

An Elementary Portfolio Project submitted to the

Faculty of the Graduate School of Education of

Medaille College

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Education

Brooke Keogh
______________________________

Medaille College Graduate Student

Professor Belete Mebratu

______________________________

Project Director
 2
MSED ELEMENTARY

Table of Contents

Section One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project……..… 4

Section Two: Teacher Candidate Background Experiences………………………………

Section Three: Teacher Candidate Artifacts……………………... ……………………… 6

Artifact #1: Title ……. …………………………………………………………….

Artifact #2: Title……………… ……………………………………………………

Artifact #3: Title…………………… ………………………………………………

Artifact #4: Title…………………………………………………………………….

Artifact #5: Title …………………….………………………………………………

Artifact #6: Title ………………………………………. ……………………………

Artifact #7: Title ……… ……………………………………………………………

Artifact #8: Title ………………………………………..……………………………

Artifact #9: Title ……………………………………………………………………..

Artifact #10: Title ……………………………………………………………………

Section Four: Alignment to Curriculum & Professional Standards ………………………

Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection …………………………………………..….

Section Six: Teacher Candidate Interview Video ………………………………………..

References ……………………………………………………………………………….
 3
MSED ELEMENTARY
Section One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project

Introduction, Overview and Rationale

The purpose of a teaching portfolio is to document and share my professional,

educational and personal development towards becoming the prepared and competent teaching

candidate I am today. I’m pleased to be able to take you on a detailed and informative journey

that will explain how I have formed my own personal teaching philosophies, methods, and

approaches that will allow me to become an effective teacher. Throughout the portfolio you will

view evidence of my strong work ethic, learn the theorists and theories that influenced and

contributed to the development of my teaching philosophies and practices, and witness my

eternal commitment to be a lifelong learner, embracing every opportunity possible for a chance

to reflect, adapt, learn, improve and evolve.

My journey that led me to becoming a teacher was not a straightforward simple

path. Even though I aspired to becoming an educator my entire life and applied to teacher’s

college upon graduating university, I decided to live out many chapters before beginning this one

now. Those chapters included many roads less travelled with lots of twists and turns, risks and

achievements, mountains to climb, adversities I conquered, and endless adventures throughout

the world providing me with an incredible amount of perspective, appreciation, passion,

patience, resiliency, drive, determination, tolerance, open-mindedness, compassion and

empathy. I feel beyond fortunate and privileged to be able to use the personal and professional

experiences prior to teacher’s college and apply these profound lessons and perspectives I have

gained towards becoming a thoughtful and thought-provoking teacher.

I look forward to beginning each school year by reading the book, Ish, by Peter Reynolds

as it will immediately establish a safe, welcoming, inclusive, and positive learning

 4
MSED ELEMENTARY
environment. It’s important to me that I’m able to create a classroom environment that allows

for every student to: feel comfortable and safe to be authentic and express themselves freely; feel

encouraged and inspired to think out of the box and become innovative creators; establish the

ability and desire to use and enhance their critical thinking and problem-solving skills; always

kindly and respectfully consider their peers and surrounding environment.

The six sections through my portfolio will help demonstrate my readiness to deliver the

best teaching practices that have been derived from incorporating theories from the experts in the

field of education. By teaming my work ethic and creativity with my knowledge in curriculum

standards I have found a deep passion for developing and planning engaging and challenging

lessons and instruction. Throughout my MSED program I have learned that accurate

assessments, consistent observations, and fair evaluations are critical in being able to properly

accommodate and assist each student so that they’re able to experience the most beneficial

academic journey and achieve their own personal best. In the classroom fair does not mean the

same. It means that each student is receiving what serves them best for each student to be

successful.

Portfolio Development

Each six sections throughout my portfolio have been carefully selected by the Medaille

Teachers College professionals who have bestowed upon me their knowledge and experience

allowing me to develop the stepping stones and foundation that I will build my teaching career

upon. The sections include: Teacher Candidate Portfolio Project Introduction (Section One),

Teacher Candidate Background Experiences (Section Two), Teacher Candidate Artifacts

(Section Three), Alignment to the Curriculum and Professional Standards (Section Four),
 5
MSED ELEMENTARY
Teacher Candidate Reflection (Section Five), Teacher Candidate Teacher Interview Video

(Section Six). Below I will summarize and highlight the importance of each section.

Section one: Teacher Candidate Portfolio Project Introduction will be to prepare the

reader for the in-depth professional portfolio experience that will unfold throughout the pages to

come. I would like to highlight the fact that I take great pride in sharing my educational and

work experiences, pedagogical evidence, philosophy of education, and knowledge acquired

throughout my journey during my MSED program that lead me to confidently state my readiness

to become a professional teacher. In this introductory section I’m highlighting the subsections to

come and what the relevance of each of them within my portfolio.

Section two: Teacher Candidate Background Experiences will give me an opportunity to

share my educational and work experiences that have provided me with the strong skill set and

frame work that my teaching education and career will grow from. I will discuss my Bachelor of

Arts Undergraduate degree, along with my education and certifications that allowed for a

fulfilling and exciting journey as a young female entrepreneur in the fitness, nutrition and

wellness industry. Section two will also encompass my observational volunteering experience in

the classroom and the reflections I obtained from receiving such an enriching and informative

experience. My philosophy of education will be included to showcase how I have been able to

apply the knowledge of various theories and theorists throughout my MSED program and

formulate my own philosophy of education. Lastly, an updated resume highlighting my

education and work experiences, accomplishments and certifications, and all the detailed points

necessary to display my preparedness to become an excellent teaching candidate.

Section three: Teacher Candidate Artifacts will be comprised of artifacts that will prove

my competence and readiness for teaching in an elementary school classroom. The ten pieces of
 6
MSED ELEMENTARY
evidence I have chosen will represent my various knowledge and skills demonstrating my

strengths in being a caring and effective planner able to take the needs, interests, and diversity

among the students into consideration. I believe my artifacts will prove my ability to create and

provide an environment that will elicit the highest engagement, most positive learning

experience and challenge the students to their individual optimal level for progress and

success. There will be items chosen to bring attention to my keen tech savvy skill set and

passion for using technology to heighten and expand the students’ learning experience. As well,

my Weebly website will demonstrate that technology will play a critical role in the consistent

open communication I believe is essential to maintain between the teacher, students, and their

families. Additional artifacts have been selected to provide evidence of my capabilities of using

curriculum standards and Bloom’s taxonomy objectives as the pillars of my lesson planning and

instruction. The connections between effective classroom theorists and the best teacher practices

that I will demonstrate will contribute to proving my knowledge of theorists and my teaching

talents.

Section Four: Alignment to the Curriculum and Professional Standards is my opportunity

to explain and justify knowledge and ability to connect the curriculum and standards to each of

my artifacts outlined in section three. This section will demonstrate my comprehensive

understanding of the New York State and Ontario curriculum and professional standards and

furthermore how I’m able to correctly and optimally use them as the driving force behind all

learning in the classroom. A graphic organizer will help visually display this information by

using the following headings: INTASC Standards, NYS Code of Ethics Standards for Educators,

NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards, NYS Learning Standards, DOE Claims & CAEP

Standard, ISTE Standards for Teachers and/or Students, ILA International Literacy Association
 7
MSED ELEMENTARY
Professional Standards, CEC Standards, Ontario Curriculum Standards, Ontario Teacher Ethical

Standards.

Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection will represent my mindfulness, willingness

and commitment towards constant personal and professional evolvement. The compilation of

my professional portfolio will allow for the continual enhancement of my perspective to broaden,

my values and philosophy of education to deepen and further materialize, and to gain even

greater insight into the entirety of what's required to be an effective and caring professional

teacher.

Section six: Teacher Candidate Teacher Interview Video will showcase my proficiency in

best teaching practices and competency in pedagogical practices while displaying my incredibly

professional disposition and my strong responsive teaching skill set. Through the teacher

interview I’ll verbally and visually present my technological skills and preparedness as a teacher

candidate by exploring and explaining connections, practices, theories, and experiences that

contribute to the skills, strategies and practices required to be an effective teacher. By creating

the screen-o-cast interview I will further develop my professional image and reputation and

further solidify my preparedness and passion towards becoming an educator in an elementary

school classroom.

Theories, Theorists and Experts in the Field of Education

You will find in my instructional methods that I have adopted many of Lev Vygotsky’s

concepts from his Social Development Theory. In my philosophy of education, I reference the

importance of using the zone of proximal development and scaffolding while engaging the

students in guided instruction. My goal with each lesson plan is for the students to be able to

perform tasks independently without assistance. According to Vygotsky, this will occur with the
 8
MSED ELEMENTARY
teacher providing guided instruction and gradually removing more assistance and resources from

the students as they proceed to master the required skills. The furthest distance from the students

only occurs once they have shown to be proficient in completing the task without requiring

assistance. Scaffolding is another term I use to describe my instructional methods for the

focused questions I will ask students to guide their learning experience.

I will ensure I maintain positive interactions with the students especially during guided

instruction as a method to further establish a relaxed, safe, and enthusiastic learning environment

in the classroom. Maintaining positive interactions throughout guided instructions stems from

Lev Vygotsky’s concept of scaffolding, as well has been taken from Edward Thorndike’s Law of

Effect. Thorndike’s theory supports my belief that positive reinforcement and encouragement

will help strengthen the reinforced behavior, and eventually through consistency this established

behavior will develop into a positive habit.

Thorndike’s Law of Effect has contributed to my classroom management along with

Doug Lemov. Teach like a Teacher exposed me to incredible classroom management tools and

strategies that I have tried to consistently implement in my work during this program. In

addition, I have witnessed firsthand many of Lemov’s strategies to be very effective while I was

observing in the classroom completing my 100 hours of volunteer experience.

Paulo Freire and his contributions to critical pedagogy has had one of the most influential

impacts on my philosophy of education. His concept of conscientization and emphasis on action

being a critical part in the learning process. Freire believes through learning you can create and

recreate yourself. His rationale behind the role of the teacher is one I firmly believe in, which is,

that as the teacher teaches they are also learning, and as the students learn they are also

teaching. Critical pedagogy strongly encourages and supports the teacher being in a state of
 9
MSED ELEMENTARY
constant reflection and growth which directly aligns with who I am as a person and how I’ve

practiced living my life for some time now.

Conclusion

I hope as you read along it’s apparent how prepared, excited and competent I am to

become a teacher. I also hope you are left understanding that reflection, mindfulness and

ongoing personal development are things I take very seriously and already practice in my

everyday life. My drive and passion towards bettering myself will continue throughout my

teaching career through daily reflective journaling, collaboration with colleagues and

professional development courses and opportunities. Even though my academic pursuit towards

being certified as a teacher is coming to an end, the learning process is only just beginning.

Please continue to section two where I will share my background experiences and explain

exactly why I would make an excellent teacher candidate for an elementary school classroom.

[Back to Table of Contents]

 10
MSED ELEMENTARY
References

1. Vygotsky | Simply Psychology. (2018). Simplypsychology.org. Retrieved 16 September

2018, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygo

2. (2018). Open.edu. Retrieved 17 September 2018, from

http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/plug

3. Paulo Freire: dialogue, praxis and education. (2012). infed.org. Retrieved 17 September

2018, from http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/

4. Paulo Freire - Freire Institute. (2018). Freire.org. Retrieved 17 September 2018, from

http://www.freire.org/paulo-freire/

5. Plug and Plays - Teach Like a Champion. (2018). Teach Like a Champion. Retrieved 17

September 2018, from http://teachlikeachampion.com/training/plug-and-plays/

6. Conditioning | psychology. (2018). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 September 2018,

from https://www.britannica.com/science/condit

[Back to Table of Contents]