For this session, we continued our discussion of last semester’s reading of John Zubizarreta’s  essay, “The Learning Portfolio: A Powerful Idea for Significant Learning” with specific emphasis on: Reflection + Documentation + Mentoring = Learning!; Levels of Blooms Taxonomy and the distinction(s) between “complexity” and “difficulty”; and the successful use of Learning Portfolio.

As a group, we decided to encourage one or more students  in one of our classes to take up the Zubizarreta portfolio project. We would: 1) mentor students in the process, 2) engage them in “thinking about thinking,” 3) build a portfolio, 4) provide all our students an opportunity to present their work, their thinking, their experiences at our last FIG Honors meeting (with faculty and students engaged in our Honors FIG group); and mentor students in their writing of a meaningful extensive reflective essay crafted with care and from a metacognitive lens. Though our students are not initially “Honors” students, they are given the opportunity to opt for an Honors Enrichment Component (HEC) of our class and given an Honors notation on their transcripts if they successfully complete HEC requirements.

Without being overly prescriptive and using Zubizarreta’s ideas, we are interested in seeing/observing what kind of REFLECTION his method encourages. We are asking, “How does Zubizarreta’s portfolio work/concepts help students grow, move forward, value education all the more, and become lifelong learners? ”  In addition, we want to know how students “think about their thinking” and how it changes them.

Session 2: We will discuss where we are as a faculty in this process with students.

Session 3: Students will present at their forum.

Additional Readings Handed Out:

John Zubizarreta’s essay, “The Learning Portfolio: Reflective Practice for Improving Student Learning” (2004)

Jack Rosenthal’s New York Times essay, “150th Anniversary: 1851-2001; So Here’s What’s Happening to Language” (14 Nov. 2001)