Do You Collect or Do Your Portfolio?

[Baan Dek Lek]

I am just curious if anyone does it. What do you collect in there? Like work in the past, lesson plans, parent comments/referrals, art that you provide to kids..something like that?

[WImom]

I do portfolios. They go home to the parents twice a year (December and June)

I do a "this is me" page every month to two months where they draw a pic of themselves

I do letter, number,shape and color assessments

I include misc. art work and drawings the kids have done

I keep a running assessment of scissor cutting and a few pages of cutting worksheets.

I include photo's I have taken

At the end of the book is a age assessment and I fill that out both times as well.

This is all stored in a binder.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by Baan Dek Lek

I am just curious if anyone does it. What do you collect in there? Like work in the past, lesson plans, parent comments/referrals, art that you provide to kids..something like that?

If you are referring to a work/career portfolio, I collect certificates for all the trainings I have taken, references from parents or written comment/opinions from licensors, college advisors and professors, parents and training staff that show or refer to my work or trainings and courses I have completed.

I also include samples of my lesson plans and sometimes photos of the end results or of myself participating in certain activities such as field trips or even lessons that have no tangible outcomes other than the experience of it.

I also include books and resources I may have read that pertain to early childhood education as well as material about professionalism, organization and small business management.

Lastly, I include any organizations and clubs I belong to and any community work I may have been involved in that is connected to the ECE world such as volunteering at the Children's Fair or Kindergarden Round-up. I also sponsored a couple high school students who needed to do some on-site training hours for a child development class they were enrolled in. I am also on a list of seasoned providers who are available to mentor new providers who are just entering the field of child care.

[Countrygal]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

If you are referring to a work/career portfolio, I collect certificates for all the trainings I have taken, references from parents or written comment/opinions from licensors, college advisors and professors, parents and training staff that show or refer to my work or trainings and courses I have completed.

I also include samples of my lesson plans and sometimes photos of the end results or of myself participating in certain activities such as field trips or even lessons that have no tangible outcomes other than the experience of it.

I also include books and resources I may have read that pertain to early childhood education as well as material about professionalism, organization and small business management.

Lastly, I include any organizations and clubs I belong to and any community work I may have been involved in that is connected to the ECE world such as volunteering at the Children's Fair or Kindergarden Round-up. I also sponsored a couple high school students who needed to do some on-site training hours for a child development class they were enrolled in. I am also on a list of seasoned providers who are available to mentor new providers who are just entering the field of child care.

Hmmmmm.....never thought of this. How stoopid of me!!! This is such a good idea!

[STARSHINE852]

It's good to have one.I have one but haven't updated it for a couple of years.Ive been doing the STARS program so it has me backed up on other things. Its good to have a career one for yourself and one for the children to show their progression

[WImom]

I thought you meant kids portfolio but I see you didn't. I really should do one of my own though, never thought of that.

[Baan Dek Lek]

Yes, I meant for ourselves. I was thinking about how to get customers so portfolio would be the thing to show your work and make the new prospect to choose you. I work in a center so we have PDR which pretty much collect all the certificates and trainings. I'm thinking about showing my real work, activities I did with and for the kids, maybe with their photos. FYI: I don't own a family daycare yet.

[Baan Dek Lek]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

If you are referring to a work/career portfolio, I collect certificates for all the trainings I have taken, references from parents or written comment/opinions from licensors, college advisors and professors, parents and training staff that show or refer to my work or trainings and courses I have completed.

I also include samples of my lesson plans and sometimes photos of the end results or of myself participating in certain activities such as field trips or even lessons that have no tangible outcomes other than the experience of it.

I also include books and resources I may have read that pertain to early childhood education as well as material about professionalism, organization and small business management.

Lastly, I include any organizations and clubs I belong to and any community work I may have been involved in that is connected to the ECE world such as volunteering at the Children's Fair or Kindergarden Round-up. I also sponsored a couple high school students who needed to do some on-site training hours for a child development class they were enrolled in. I am also on a list of seasoned providers who are available to mentor new providers who are just entering the field of child care.

DO you have any form of the references you collect or you just ask the parents to write it for you?

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by Baan Dek Lek

DO you have any form of the references you collect or you just ask the parents to write it for you?

I will usually ask my parents if they would be willing ot write up a short paragraph in regards to my servicces and whether or not they were/are happy with me as a provider and my program.

Nothing too fancy but I do want it to be in their own words since I think it means much more that way. I ask current and past clients to do this whenever I am looking to update my portfolio which is usually about every 2 years or so.

I have used a few of these references on my web-site (like testimonials).

One of the things we were taught in our Professional Relations course was the more handwritten (typed) or non-form items we include the better as it is much more personalized that way.