💼 The power of student portfolios

Student growth, demo of skills, and Wakelet

Author

Matt Miller
January 30, 2024

💼 The power of student portfolios

I’ve seen it, and I’ll bet you have, too.

We give students assignments all the time — throughout the school year, across many school years.

What happen to those assignments? They end up in a trashcan … or the bottom of a locker … or a bonfire at the end of the school year. 🔥🔥

What if those assignments meant something more?

What if we could help students showcase their skills in a meaningful way for college, employers, and others?

Two words: Student. Portfolios.

You have to see what students can do to make student portfolios with Wakelet.

Inside:

  • 🎙️ My “Tomorrow Glasses” keynote speech

  • 👀 DTT Digest: Digital Learning Day, Microsoft, Google

  • 💡 The Big Idea: Unleash growth with Wakelet student portfolios

  • 🗄 Template: Beat the Bot

  • 😄 Smile of the day

  • 👋 How we can help

🎙️ My “Tomorrow Glasses” keynote speech

Today isn’t our students’ future. Today was OUR future. We can’t prepare students for the future looking at school through our "today glasses.”

We have to look through our “tomorrow glasses.” But how?

This keynote speech will make you laugh. Make you think. Make you learn. Make you see our students’ future differently.

Starting the morning off learning from @jmattmiller made my whole week!!! 🤯🤓 We have to teach with our “tomorrow glasses!” 😎 — Keiondra Simpson (@SyncWithSimpson on Twitter/X)

I can bring my 👓 Tomorrow Glasses keynote speech to your school, district or event. Openings this summer and for back-to-school … but they’ll fill up quickly.

Email [email protected] for availability, pricing, and details.

DTT Digest

4 teaching resources worth checking out today

  • 🔦 Share YOUR lesson for Digital Learning Day! — The DLD showcase invites educators to design a digital learning lesson plan (template included), teach it to their students, and submit it for recognition. Selected lesson plans will be featured on the #DLDay platform and shared with educators worldwide as exemplars of digital learning excellence.

  • 💻 Get FREE digital content for your class — Whether you’re preparing a lesson for Digital Learning Day or just looking for some good, quality digital content for your class our library of 20 sources is a great place to start.

  • 🪞Get started with Microsoft Reflect — Microsoft Reflect is a tool, accessible through the web, Teams for EDU, or OneNote, that helps students build important social, emotional, and academic skills. The goal of Reflect is to foster a happier, healthier, and more balanced school community with age-appropriate reflections and brain breaks. Visit the guide to Reflect for Educators to learn more.

  • 🎥 ICYMI: Disable submissions after the due date in Google Classroom — Last week we shared an update to our post 20+ tips to use Google Classroom effectively and efficiently. It now includes 10 NEW tips for 2024. Learn how to disable submissions, mark assignments as excused, use the random student selector, plus lots of great features for those with Edu Plus licenses.

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

Unlock the power of student portfolios with Wakelet

This message is sponsored by Wakelet

Students show us how much they’ve learned every day.

But what if they want to show someone else — like a college or an employer?

Or what if they want to compare their previous work with today’s work to see how far they’ve come?

Answer: Student portfolios.

Students show their skills AND clearly see their growth — all in one place.

Wakelet helps you move from a bunch of one-off assignments to a thoughtful, meaningful collection that shows students’ true abilities.

  • why you should use student portfolios

  • what students can include in their portfolios

  • how to use Wakelet to create great portfolios

  • LOTS of example student portfolios in Wakelet

PS: Wakelet has a free plan. You and your students can use it.

But you miss out on assignment management features, collaborative classroom areas — and the ability to let students take their portfolios with them post-graduation.

Wakelet is letting me offer a Ditch That Textbook / Wakelet special …

… a student portfolio pilot for schools and districts at just $2 per student. 😱😱

At that low price, why not unlock all of the features and put the full power in the hands of students and teachers?

👀 Interested? Email [email protected] and ask for the Ditch That Textbook special for more details.

🗄 Template

Beat the Bot: Analyze and improve AI responses

Months ago, we shared our Be the Bot template — an activity where students predict what an AI assistant like ChatGPT will say about a topic they’ve been studying in class.

It’s one of my favorites. I use it regularly in teacher workshops and professional development.

At the FETC Conference last week, Crystal Uhiren shared a new twist on this activity …

BEAT the Bot. 🤖

Predict what AI will say. Analyze the response. Then improve on it.

(Not a Canva user? Download both pages as images with the "share" button. Then throw the images into Google Slides or PowerPoint … or download as PDF and mark up with a tool like Kami.)

😄 Smile of the day

Or that you forgot to make copies for the next class and you’ve already had your prep period 🤦🏻‍♂️

h/t Teacher Nation and Cupcakes and Curriculum via Teacher Memes Facebook group

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

  1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

  2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

  3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!

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