New Portfolio Carts Come In Handy At

The Newtown Middle School

By Susan Coney

With the help of technology educator Don Ramsey, Newtown Middle School Assistant Principal Kathy Boettner is achieving her goal of providing an organized system in which to accurately document student work. Ms Boettner has encouraged the seventh and eighth grade teachers to have each of their students compile a portfolio of their work for that academic year.

The portfolios for each student, which are contained in a binder, include the most important papers, reports, persuasive essays, projects, and samples of tests for each of the core subjects of math, science, language arts, and social studies. During the school year the students file away the most exceptional examples of their work and write reflections to be included in their portfolios.

Since each student has four core teachers, however, keeping the portfolio binders in an easily accessible location proved to be cumbersome. That was when Mr Ramsey came to the rescue by offering to build carts specifically designed to house the portfolios.

Mr Ramsey credited Ms Boettner, saying she was the brains behind the design and that he was just simply helping out. Mr Ramsey built two portfolio carts last year and tried them out during the past school year. They proved to be extremely helpful in organizing and making the portfolios portable so that they could be moved from room to room along with the students. Since the first two carts turned out to be so successful, Mr Ramsey spent a little of his summer vacation time building six more carts for the upcoming school year.

“There are various clusters of teachers who will be using the portfolio carts. They are mobile and can be wheeled from class to class, they have nice casters on them. The shelves are custom designed to fit this particular job and they are built to last,” Mr Ramsey said.

The carts will be ready to be used this fall and will help to make the portfolios transportable from teacher to teacher. The portfolios provide an excellent opportunity for students, parents, and teachers to reflect, track strengths and weaknesses, and have a tangible record of the work each student has accomplished throughout the year.