Portfolios

Portfolios

Students create storage for their artwork

One of the courses I teach is a general 6th grade art exploratory.  I teach three sections of this on a three day rotation (I only see one 6th grade class each day) so after we got our syllabus, rules and beginning of the year activity out of the way I started the kids off with portfolios.  I think it is important for my students to have a place to store their artwork whether it is in progress or complete.  It helps keep them  organized (not to mention, my classroom organized too!)and it teaches them responsibility and ownership.  It their responsibility to come to class, find their portfolio and get out whatever we may be working on.  I also find it helpful to build the portfolio with them so that they get used to taking directions, watching demonstrations and working independently all in the same project.  I ask that their names be large and legible on their portfolios and that they create a decorative border.  They only have one class period to make and decorate their portfolio so it also teaches them to spend their time wisely.  Some students get further than others and so I always let them know if they finish another project early they can continute their design on the portfolio.