More than a résumé
Welcome to Portfoliomaker.com! The intention of this interactive website is to support educators in building their own professional teaching portfolios. Beginning the process of creating a portfolio, oftentimes seems like a daunting task. Hopefully this site, with its templates, suggestions of words and phrases to consider, and samples of portfolio entries will compact the amount of time you spend retrieving information. Portfoliomaker.com will help you create your entries more quickly and also free your mind for the most important aspects of creating your portfolio – your reflections on your practice and your presentation of the teacher-person that you are.
Although portfolios differ in important ways from résumés, the two do share certain things in common.1 Like a résumé, a portfolio (i) provides an overview of your experience; (ii) introduces you in your professional capacity; and (iii) describes your competencies in relation to the expectations of the profession. However, your portfolio is much more than a résumé. In addition to the above, a portfolio also (a) presents specific details to make your practice visible; (b) articulates your beliefs about teaching and learning and the values that underpin those beliefs; and (c) through your reflections and professional learning plans, shows not only your present practice but also indicates your vision of your future teaching practice.
It becomes a celebration of the kind of unique contribution that you make to education, as well as a celebration of your students and their learning.
1 From van Tartwijk et al (2008). Using an analogy in the introduction of a portfolio. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24: 927-38.