Assessment for Learning: How to Make Clip Board Writing Portfolios

Over the years I have tried many forms of writing portfolios with my learners.  Single file folders in bins, pizza boxes and writing process portfolios have all been great places to store work however, were not very effective as a daily learning and reflective tool for children.  Single file folders stored alphabetically in bins were easily forgotten and work samples remained private rather than public; pizza boxes required too much storage space and were too bulky for children to carry with them during independent writing; process portfolios in folders (one space in the folder dedicated to each part of the writing process: ideas, drafting; revision; editing; publishing) allowed for easy storage but again were less effective because they remained private rather than public. 

 I continued to search for a portfolio that would allow for the following:

• Easy access for children to use their own portfolios for reflection and examples.
• Easy for children to access examples of work from others in their own classroom.
• Visible in a public area.
• Used as a ‘living portfolio’, meaningful, regularly used.
• Clearly demonstrates growth over time.
• Demonstrates a clear connection between Success Criteria, personal goals, self-assessments, peer and parent feedback, teacher’s descriptive feedback, the accomplishment of goals and new goals.
• Be a learning tool children could be proud to use.

The answer for me came in the form of Clip Board Portfolios.  Clip Board Portfolios allowed me to accomplish all of my above wishes and children enjoyed using them as a learning tool.

Creating a Clip Board Portfolio:

• Each child receives their own clip board labeled with his/her name.
• Published pieces of writing are clipped to the board with the most recent piece on top.
• Each piece of writing clipped to the board has attached: Success Criteria for the piece, self-assessment, teacher descriptive feedback, peer/ parent feedback and personal goals, rubric where appropriate.
• Clip boards stand in plain view, easy reach for children located along a shelf or chalk board shelf.
• As each published piece (only a select few pieces of writing are published – I like children to choose at least one of each of the writing forms) is written, the child places it on his/her clipboard.
• Clip boards are cleaned out only after each report card and parent/teacher interviews.
• Use Clip Board Portfolios for student-led conferencing with parents and teacher.
• Clip boards stand in plain view, easy reach for children located along a shelf or chalk board shelf.
•   As each published piece (only a select few pieces of writing are published – I like children to choose at least one of each of the writing forms) is written, the child places it on his/her clipboard.

Encourage children to use their own portfolio and the portfolio of others by:

• Using another child’s work as an example when conferencing individually about their writing. This will encourage children to use the writing of their peers as support during independent writing.
• Encourage children to read parts of their writing during sharing time and ask for feedback from the class.  Asking for feedback encourages children to invest in each other’s writing making them more likely to seek out that piece as an example.
• Children bring their Clip Board Portfolio when meeting with the teacher for one-to-one conferencing.  They are asked to demonstrate progress over time, reflect on previous writing and set new goals.
• Refer to Clip Board Portfolios during Status of the Class.  Remind children to have a plan about how they will work on their learning goal that day.

From the different portfolio styles, I have had the best success overall with Clip Board Portfolios.  If your current style of portfolios are not accomplishing all of your wishes, give these a try and see if they work for you.


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