SBG Portfolios

This post is just on something small I do to organize all the kids' papers and stuff. In all honestly it's something I've done for awhile, I just kin
da made things more specific. The short explanation is that they keep all their graded work (which is their skill quizzes) in a folder. I love a good organizational strategy though so I'm picky.

At the start of the unit the kids get their skill list. It gets taped into the back of their ISN. Each kid also has their own pocket folder that stays in the room. Whenever I hand back a quiz they go get their folder and take a minute or two to update their skill lists in. Quiz goes in folder and then goes back where it came from. At the end of a unit they use all their old quizzes as study guides. When the unit is done they take the colored in skill list out of their ISN, all their skill quizzes and the unit exam and staple it all together. Essentially creating a little packet for each unit. The stapling helps to keep it organized. This folder does not leave the room. If someone asks to take it home for some reason I don't mind so long as it comes back. This ended up being really helpful when they studied for finals. All I had to give them was which skills to focus on and they just looked back at all the old quiz problems. They also knew to spend a little extra time in any skills that they were low in.

A lot of people say that they've tried things like this and the kids won't do it, but I'm just really picky and annoying about it. I really haven't had any complaints either. Nothing else besides skill quizzes are allowed in these folders...I check. I make it a point for everyone to go get their folders when they're getting a quiz back (usually one or two kids actually hand them all out- but still) and the quizzes need to go in there. At the end of the unit I tell them exactly how to organize the papers before we staple them. I pass around the staplers. And it really doesn't take more than a few minutes.

Their folders tell a much better story of how they're doing than my gradebook most times so fairly often I'll go grab a kid's folder to check on how they're doing. Also any time they come for extra help their folder is the first thing they take before coming to sit with me. That way we can look through and decide where is best to start working. It's really nothing major but just a nice little thing that seems to be working fairly well.