2 – Work file 9: Working with journals, logbooks, portfolios37

Living Democracy » Textbooks » Educating for democracy » Part 2 – Teaching democracy and human rights » Unit 5 – Assessment of students, teachers and schools » 2. Task and key questions for assessment of students, teachers and schools » 2 – Work file 9: Working with journals, logbooks, portfolios37

Reflecting on one’s own teaching with the use of journals, logbooks or portfolios can be an ideal method for self-assessment and a good basis for starting didactical and pedagogical discussions.

Journals

Usually, a journal is constructed in a way that allows some kind of dialogue (with a peer teacher, a colleague from another school, etc.). In a journal the teacher writes about his or her experiences in a diary-like way also expressing his or her personal interpretations and feelings about a certain lesson or a certain behaviour or way of interaction that he or she showed. A journal leaves room for personal remarks and is open to another person’s remarks. The act of going into a dialogue with somebody else and reading another person’s remarks, interpretations and thoughts about something one has already thought about creates a high level of reflection about teaching and learning processes and gives further room for discussion. For reflecting on EDC/HRE lessons it is recommended that the peer-teacher or colleague herself or himself is familiar with EDC/HRE.

Logbook

A logbook is a description of a process without any comments or personal remarks. In a logbook pure facts find their place and can be read again by the teacher and thus create a degree of reflection. In this sense, a logbook can be compared to a diary or a journal without the element of personal interpretation and dialogue. Using logbooks only makes sense when the teacher really goes through them again relatively soon. As a logbook does not include any kind of remarks or interpretation it can become rather difficult recalling certain elements of a lesson which took place a long time ago.

Portfolio

A portfolio for teachers is a collection of materials that have been created and put together by the teacher. It is meant to show the strengths of his or her EDC/HRE lessons as well as his or her identified fields of further development. A portfolio is meant to be an instrument that shows the competences of a teacher in a certain field. In modern teacher training and in-service training portfolios have become a common instrument for qualification. In a second sense, a portfolio is an instrument of reflection. It gives room for criticism and evaluates the effect of lessons, methods, interaction with students, etc. Things that can be included in a portfolio:

  • short biography of the teacher;
  • description of the class;
  • chosen lessons (including worksheets, students’ materials);
  • evaluated products of students;
  • test results (if there are any);
  • personal statements about the teacher’s philosophy of EDC/HRE teaching;
  • products such as videos or photos from certain EDC/HRE lessons;
  • peer feedback of colleagues who visited EDC/HRE lessons;
  • project documentation if the teacher has conducted any in relation to EDC/HRE.

37. The suggested methods in this work file can also be used for students and are common tools in the teaching and learning culture of various European countries.