"Me" Portfolios - Ch. 10 Daniels and Bizar

     During my weekly reading assignment, CH. 10 in Teaching the Best Practice Way (Daniels & Bizar, 2005) caught my attention and gave me the most to think about.  During summer break, I tend to think ahead to what will happen next year.  One of the first tasks that must be completed each year is to turn my classroom into a community.  My students enter CMS from different feeder schools and we spend the first few weeks completing activities that help them learn more about each other.  It is necessary that we build this foundation in order for the many cooperative activities I like to do throughout the year to work. The "Me" Portfolios would be a fun, new way to start building this sense of community.  I've used the same old activities for too many years  now, and reading about a new way to accomplish my beginning of the year goal was exciting.  I like the way the activity incorporated writing as well, so I can assess writing skills as I learn about my students.  Getting to know more about my students personal lives will be interesting for me and for the students' classmates.  I also think it is neat that I get to share my own portfolio with students so they can learn about me from the start as well.  Students love to ask questions about my personal life, and this is a way to share things that I want them to know and allow them to feel as if they know me as well as I know them.  I'll be "real" to them.