Table of Contents
Planning For Using Technology in Your Student Teaching
The COATT Portfolio: Technical Requirements
What goes on the Opening Page?
What goes in the Background section?
What goes into the Standards Narrative?
What should I include as artifacts?
COATT Portfolio Manual for Student Teachers
A guide to becoming an outstanding technology-using teacher and earning the COATT Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology
Introduction – The Basics
Note that this manual is periodically updated. Be sure to check the Web site to be sure you have the most current version.
What is a COATT portfolio?
To earn the COATT Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology for Student Teaching, you develop an electronic portfolio that describes your experiences in using technology during student teaching. You begin by teaching a unit that integrates technology (more than a single day lesson) during your student teaching experience, then write about what you did and show how you and your students used educational technology.
Your COATT award portfolio is a carefully selected and developed collection of your work that presents your achievements in teaching with technology. You put these materials together to create a web site that presents your work. The portfolio is based on a multi-day (more than three days) unit of instruction that you have designed, developed, and taught to students, which demonstrates your thinking about appropriate use of technology in teaching. When completed, the portfolio will contain a home page/introduction, background, standards narrative, multiple evidences, and a final summary and reflection.
What are the steps needed to win the COATT award?
The award is given to pre-service students who can demonstrate through a portfolio that they effectively integrated technology in a unit taught during their student teaching experience. Developing a portfolio is a multi-step process that begins during your student teaching. If you plan to work for this award, you will find it useful to talk to your cooperating teacher and the COATT faculty sponsor at your university or college before you begin your teaching. The main activities involved are listed below, but the details are found throughout this manual.
- Contact the COATT Representative at your university (list available here.) Each of the COATT member institutions has a contact person. You will find it useful to do this before you begin your student teaching so you have up-to-date information on what you need to successfully complete the COATT portfolio. Some of the universities also have their own web sites with COATT information for their students along with helpful resources.
- Fill out the initial COATT award notification: This initial notification will tell us your interest in applying for the COATT Award. All information on the application is required. This helps COATT determine how many judges are needed to evaluate portfolios and helps our institutions know who is working on a portfolio so they can provide assistance.
- Take a look at the COATT award rubric, to see the kinds of educational technology knowledge and practice that you will want to possess and demonstrate. Think about different experiences in your academic career or in extracurricular activities that could be used as evidence. Be sure to develop and teach a unit during your student teaching experience that integrates technology. While teaching the unit, collect examples of the work you and your students do.
- Develop your COATT Portfolio. Your COATT portfolio is an online portfolio showcasing your teaching experience and showing how your unit has met the COATT standards.Your portfolio should demonstrate your proficiency in the usage of technology in and outside of the classroom.
- Fill out the final portfolio form. Once you have completed your portfolio, you will need to submit a final portfolio form, which gives us specifics about your portfolio and teaching (title, subject area, grade level, etc.). This form will tell us you are ready for your portfolio to be judged. This form also requires signed verification from your cooperating teacher and your institution's faculty sponsor. These signatures indicate that your unit plans and related items were indeed used in the classroom. (COATT does not require the cooperating teacher to render judgment on the quality of the applicant’s work or on overall performance in practice teaching).
What are the benefits of the COATT Award?
Earning the COATT award has several benefits. It shows that you are one of the stateʼs top technology-using teachers based on a merit review process that goes beyond your local institution. It can help you to be more marketable because your credentials show your achievements. Previous COATT Award winners have found that employers value candidates who, through this award, can demonstrate their proficiency with technology. COATT winners receive an award of achievement and are invited to a special awards ceremony for them and their families. The awards ceremony will be held at the MACUL conference, the leading gathering of technology-using teachers in the state of Michigan.
Do I need special courses to earn the COATT Award?
No, the courses you would normally take during your pre-service education cover the material you need to know. What makes this award unique is the fact that you put into practice all that you learned in the classroom. In your portfolio, you will show how your learning made a difference in your teaching.
How will my portfolio be evaluated?
COATT portfolios are evaluated by a three-person team of judges who are educational technology experts from K-12 and higher education. The judging is done using the rubric in this manual. You will find it and additional information on evaluation in section 6, Portfolio Evaluation.
How much does the application/portfolio process cost?
There is absolutely no cost to you to apply for this award.
When are awards presented?
COATT Awards will be presented at the MACUL conference each spring.
Is there someone at my institution who can talk to me about the COATT portfolio process?
Each of the COATT member institutions has a contact person. You can find the name of your institution's faculty representative on the COATT web site.
Planning For Using Technology in Your Student Teaching
Standards and Technology Integration
How does COATT recognize a teacher who is outstanding at integrating technology into his/her teaching?
While many of you learned about integrating technology into your teaching during your teacher education coursework and fieldwork, many student teachers are still not putting this learning into practice. This guide not only will help you think about developing a portfolio for an award, but aims to enhance your thinking about how you might use technology most effectively in your student teaching. Based on our years of experience in reviewing student teaching electronic portfolios, we know that what makes for an outstanding use of technology during student teaching includes the following:
1. An active effort to have students use technology in ways that go beyond simple word processing, worksheet fill-in-the-blanks, or basic Internet information searching.
2. The use of more than one kind of technology application during the implementation of a content unit.
3. Recognition that technology enhances communication with students, parents, other teachers, and members of the educational community at large.
4. A willingness to learn from experienced educators (including best practices gleaned from the Internet, discussions with experienced teachers in your school beyond your coordinating teacher, and learning what technology is available early on in your student teaching experience).
5.Paying attention to standards, including content standards and educational technology standards for teachers and students.
6. The ability to be flexible when things go wrong or differently from what you planned.
The Michigan Seventh Standard and the ISTE standards
The starting point for the COATT portfolio is the State of Michigan’s Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers. We refer to the Seventh Standard because it is the seventh of seven standards approved by the State Board of Education, and because it deals most directly with the minimum skills, understanding, and practice you must have in educational technology for initial teacher certification as well as ongoing development.
The Relationship between the ISTE Standards and the Michigan Seventh Standard
Several universities use the ISTE NETS-T Standards in their teacher preparation programs. ISTE, or the International Society for Technology in Education, is the specialty professional organization for educational technology. The NETS-T (National Education Technology Standards - Teachers), while not identical, share much with Michigan’s Seventh Standard. If your university requires you to use the ISTE NETS-T standards when you develop your portfolio, you can still use it for the COATT award. Simply develop a “key” that shows where each of the items on the rubric are shown in your portfolio. We have provided this document to help you do this.
How does the Michigan’s Seventh Standard relate to other standards?
As a teacher in Michigan, you are also responsible for implementing content and learning standards in the Michigan Curriculum Framework that were approved by the State Board of Education. For example, you may reference METS (Michigan Educational Technology Standards) for student knowledge and use of technology in either lower elementary, upper elementary, middle school, or high school. You may also reference GLCEs (Grade Level Content Expectations) for elementary and middle school content, or HSCEs (High School Content Expectations) for high school content. When you plan your unit, you will be expected to consider these content standards. Your goal isnʼt to teach technology but to use technology to help students learn about the content areas. A good unit plan focuses on organizing learning around topics and content goals, with technology used to enhance that learning in new and creative ways that encourage higher student achievement.
Achievement Beyond the Basics
Proficiency Levels and Continuing Professional Development
When the Department of Education created the Seventh Standard, the committee members recognized that proficient use of educational technology in teaching and learning is an ongoing process. You begin learning about educational technology as a student in K-12, and continue to increase your skills and knowledge through your college courses and into your student teaching and beyond. As a practicing teacher, you will continue to learn both through your own experiences and self-improvement efforts, as well as through formal professional development courses. There is no expectation that you will be as skilled as an experienced teacher when you first begin to teach. So the Department of Education created proficiency levels that show what you should have learned and accomplished at each level in your career. COATT used these levels from the Seventh Standard in crafting the rubric for the COATT award.
Gaining Experience during Pre-service Coursework and Pre-student Teaching
All Michigan teacher preparation programs include course work on integrating technology as the result of state requirements related to the Seventh Standard. Some of you may have taken a separate course on educational technology while other institutions integrate this throughout your professional education classes. In addition, you probably had exposure to technology in the classroom during your pre-student teaching clinical experiences. Beyond the formal classroom learning, you also had exposure to resources on the Internet that can help you think more deeply about ways to apply technology effectively to your teaching. What you learned during this time are the practices you will be implementing during your student teaching to earn the COATT Award. Take advantage of what you learned and talk to teachers and technology leaders at the school where you will be doing your student teaching. You will continue your learning as you implement your unit, becoming a more focused, responsible and reflective teacher.
What if Iʼm not a technology expert?
What may surprise you is that earning the COATT Award doesnʼt require that you be a technology guru. In fact, some students who are clearly very advanced in their own technology use have not earned the award because their portfolio is focused on what they could do rather than how they used technology to improve their studentsʼ learning. If you focus on what students can do and how technology can improve learning, you can earn this award even if your own skills are developing. If the classroom in which you student teach does not have the most advanced technology, you may still teach a quality technology-infused unit by fully using the resources that are available. You need to demonstrate exemplary performance in teaching a unit that seamlessly integrates technology during your student teaching. You donʼt need to show that you know all the bells and whistles to earn this award. Any student teacher willing to make a serious effort at creating a unit that has students using technology for their learning in active ways may qualify for this award. We recognize that you are still learning to be an expert teacher, but the COATT goal is to encourage you to use the best practices you learned in the classroom. Even if some parts of your unit donʼt go quite as planned, you may still be eligible for the award if you review the strengths and weaknesses of your approach in your narrative. Success is more the result of careful planning and willingness to adapt to circumstances that arise in your own classroom than in having high-end equipment or state-of-the-art applications. Review the rubric in Section 6 to get a better idea of what is required.
Developing Your Unit
For the COATT Award, a unit is defined as a multi-day set of lessons and accompanying materials that you have designed, developed, and taught to students. This unit should demonstrate your thinking about appropriate use of technology in teaching and should seamlessly integrate technology. You may use materials, activities, and strategies designed and developed by others, but you must clearly cite your sources. Further, you must redesign or develop them so that real value is added in terms of enhancing teaching and learning for you and your students. Carefully document how you modified any preexisting curriculum. Failure to adequately cite your sources or document your modifications will disqualify you for the COATT Award.
Your unit should focus on a single topic (it may be multidisciplinary) in depth. Exemplary units typically use several technologies but focus on the content rather than on teaching students how to use computers. A critical issue is that you have students use technology as part of the unit activities. The amount of use may vary depending on the level of technology available in your classroom and school, but even with a single computer you can do more than just show a PowerPoint presentation or print a worksheet you developed (for example, a classroom pen pal project via email, an interactive game played by the class, or a group activity where one group uses the computer while others work on non-computing activities related to the unit).
The unit should be planned by you, but that doesnʼt mean you canʼt build on materials and lesson plans developed by other experienced educators. In fact, you can learn a lot by modifying materials you find so that it fits your classroom resources and the specific abilities and interests of the students you teach.
Do I have to create my unit from scratch?
You can take advantage of examples on the Internet or previous work done by your cooperating teacher. Just be sure that if you are using materials from others, you give credit for what you used and indicate in your portfolio narrative how you modified this material to make it work for your situation. If the COATT judges find that you have plagiarized material (used other peopleʼs work and claimed it as your own), you will not receive an award.
What if I teach several one-day lessons rather than a unit on a particular topic?
The COATT Award requires that you use technology in several different ways as part of a single content unit (a specific topic or theme). The idea is to show depth of practice in developing curriculum for your classroom. This means you will need to think carefully how to show you have used technology over a several day period. Note that you can still use other lessons that integrate technology to enhance your portfolio by showing that you can do more.
Are there any special requirements for the content of the unit I teach?
No, you can develop your portfolio around any unit you do during your student teaching. The important thing is that you plan carefully so the unit shows good teaching practices in your content area. Donʼt be afraid to get feedback from experienced educators on your lesson plans before you teach the unit. The best teachers are not afraid to learn from others, and this is a good habit for you to begin while student teaching. This is your chance to put into practice all the excellent tips you got during your coursework and pre-student teaching clinical experiences. At the same time, do be sure the unit you are developing isnʼt just to show off your technology skills. It should fit into the curriculum you are expected to implement at your school.
Submitting Your COATT Award Application
What do I have to do to start the COATT Award process?
As a first step, you will fill out an initial online notification letting COATT know that you are planning on submitting a portfolio for judging. This helps COATT determine how many judges are needed to evaluate portfolios, helps our institutions know who is working on a portfolio so they can provide assistance, and allows COATT to document that you have finished your coursework and student teaching.
Where to I find the application form?
You will find the form here.
When should I apply?
You can apply any time before the posted deadline, but you will do best to apply at the beginning of your student teaching. This is when you need to be planning your unit. Students who do the advance work are most likely to be successful in winning the COATT Award. In addition, by applying early you let your universityʼs or collegeʼs COATT advisor know you are working on a COATT portfolio and will have more help if you need it.
Why two forms?
The first is a notification to let us know that you are in the process of working on a COATT portfolio. The second is the actual application, which gives us the details about you and your portfolio, provides a URL so that we can look at your work, and has signatures from both the faculty sponsor and the cooperating teacher that verifies the originality of the work and that the portfolio is ready for judging as far as the institution in concerned.
The COATT Portfolio: Technical Requirements
Portfolio Basics
What do I need to do to create my portfolio?
Your portfolio should be electronic and organized in a way that an initial review of the materials can be completed in approximately 30 minutes. It is therefore critical that you organize your materials well and address each main point briefly. Although evidences may be longer (for example, a video or audio clip) and exceed the 30-minute limit, it should not be necessary for the evaluators to examine details of each item.
All elements of your portfolio must be posted in a format that evaluators can access and view in a web browser, and all elements should be viewable using a standard web browser with the most popular plugins. Materials which require a player may be included if a link is made so that the player can be immediately downloaded. If you are including video clips, it is preferred that you include samples rather than long segments. (Note: in some special cases, a portfolio may be submitted that is not accessible on the web. See the question on the next page - “What if I have materials that I am not allowed to post on the web?”)
You will also be expected to utilize proper grammar, spelling, and design so that your portfolio is easy to read, functional, and professional. Be sure that all your hyperlinks work.
Your portfolio is basically a web site with several web pages that correspond to the required sections you need to complete.
Are there any special technical concerns for making the portfolio?
One reason students donʼt get the COATT award is because their portfolio has serious technical problems. In order for the judges to evaluate your work, they need to be able to see all the materials you submit. When links in your portfolio donʼt work, they canʼt tell if you have completed all the requirements. To be sure your portfolio works correctly, try it on a computer that isnʼt your own after you put it on the web. Go through all the links and be sure they work properly.
Are there resources to help me make my portfolio?
One help would be to check out the successful portfolios of past winners. Although you will be using the updated standards, it would be helpful to see how other people organized their portfolios.
In addition, your university or college may have its own resources online to help you. You develop the portfolio using the materials you have created following the format for the COATT portfolio.
Do I need special software to make a portfolio?
You can use any software that will allow you to create documents that are viewable in a web browser. Even some word processors can do this.
What if I donʼt know how to make a web site?
COATT doesnʼt offer regular training sessions on making Web pages since most of our applicants learned to do this as part of their coursework in college. Sometime special workshops are offered; see the COATT web site for lists of upcoming events. If you need to learn how and no workshops are available, see if your institution offers free classes or online training to students. Many free tutorials are available on the Web that are excellent resources both for this portfolio and for your future professional development or for you to use with your own students. Some institutions are doing special sessions with COATT on developing portfolios, so watch the COATT web site to see if any of these are being offered near you.
Is there web space for me to put my portfolio on the Internet?
Check with your institutionʼs COATT contact. Most institutions will provide space for your portfolio so you can post it on the Internet. Some students have found space at the school in which they student taught, sometimes sharing with their cooperating teacher. If you have web space through your Internet provider, you can post your web pages there for judging. Some free Web providers exist on the Internet and may be used. Be sure you have a web space that doesnʼt add pop-up advertising or add other content that you didnʼt create or your portfolio will not qualify for an award.
What if I have materials that I am not allowed to post on the web?
In a few cases, students teach at schools that have restrictive policies designed to protect student privacy so that any student work or picture may not be posted on the web. If this is true in your case, review the evidences section for ideas about how to develop a web portfolio you can post. But if you feel that there is no way to put your portfolio on the web with the evidences you need, contact COATT or your institutional COATT contact to work out an alternative way to submit your materials.
What goes on the Opening page
What are the required elements on the opening page?
The opening page has two required elements: a navigation bar with links to the other sections and some basic information about you. This format is designed so that the COATT evaluation team can rapidly locate each of the required sections. There is also space if you want to add something creative like images or words that provide a welcome or give a hint of what is found in the rest of your portfolio.
What goes on the navigation bar?
Your navigation bar should have links to the five main sections in your portfolio:
- Opening
- Background
- Standards
- Evidence
- Summary
Even though the opening page is your starting point, you want to use the same navigation elements on all pages. You can use a highlight color in the navigation bar to indicate what page someone is on, but this isnʼt required.
What basic information is required on the opening page?
Without any extra words, your information section should look like this:
- Name
- University or College
- School where you student taught
- City in which the school is located
- Grade/subject you taught
- Unit topic: the area your unit covers
- Portfolio date: Semester 20xx
Can I make this opening page more interesting?
Yes, but remember that you are creating a professional portfolio, so you want it to reflect the way you want to portray yourself as a teacher. So this isnʼt a place for lots of personal information or clever graphics that are not related to the focus of your portfolio.
Some good examples of extra items to add might be images related to the topic area of the unit you taught, a quotation that fits your philosophy of teaching, pictures of the school and classes where you did your student teaching, or anything you think might add to the overall statement you want your portfolio to make.
What goes in the Background section?
What goes in the introduction?
This section is where you briefly give background information that will be needed so that someone who has not met you nor worked in your school can learn about you. The background section must include:
- a short description of who you are, what and where you attend college, your major, and where and when you did your student teaching (professional background)
- an explanation about the technology environment which was available to you and your students (technology background)
- a brief description of your students and any relevant factors that affected your classroom (learning environment)
What should I include about the class environment?
Remember that the person looking at your portfolio has probably never been to the school where you taught. In addition, each class that you teach will be unique because it has students who are individuals with particular skills and personalities that affect how you work with them. A paragraph in the background section should carefully describe the teaching and learning environment in which your unit was presented.
Helpful topics to cover include the size of the school and your class, the kind of curriculum requirements you encountered in the district where you student taught, particular goals your cooperating teacher may have set for your teaching, and special student characteristics that may have affected your unit plan (for example, significant numbers of students with reading skills below grade level). This is the place to tell the story about where you taught and the special considerations you needed to deal with in developing your unit.
How much do I need to say about the school’s technology?
Because the technology available at your school has a major impact on what you can do in your unit, it is important to help the judges understand what was available to you and your students. The judges understand that the things you can do in a class that only has one computer will be very different from what happens when you have unlimited access to a computer lab with a computer for each student. If there is a lot of software available for science but none for math and you teach the latter, you may have to think differently about your class activities. If the students have limited access to the Internet, that will also affect your plans. But if you donʼt tell the judge about this, he or she will not be able to tell if you have done a good job using what was available. It may also be that there was no technical support so that equipment often didnʼt work or by contrast, the school not only had excellent technical support but also offered you regular professional development opportunities. Tell us anything that impacted the way you were able to teach your unit, particularly if that made some of your lesson activities difficult or impossible to implement as planned. A good way to begin thinking about this is to interview the tech support staff and experienced technology-using teachers early in your student teaching. In fact, this can be used as an example in your narrative about planning for your teaching that will help show you understand how important advanced planning is when using technology.
What goes into the Standards Narrative?
What standards do I need to address?
The web pages in this section correspond to the seven major sections of the State of Michigan’s Seventh Standard for Michigan teachers. The seven main sections are:
- Understand the equity, ethical, legal, social, physical, and psychological issues surrounding the use of technology in K-12 schools and apply those principles in practice
- Successfully complete and reflect upon collaborative online learning experiences
- Demonstrate an understanding of and the ability to create an online learning experience, and demonstrate continued growth in knowledge of technology operations, resource evaluation for quality, objectivity, and reliability and concepts including strategies for teaching and learning in an online environment that include methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning.
- Plan, design, and evaluate effective technology-enhanced learning environments and experiences aligned with Michigan’s Content Standards and Grade Level Content Expectations and Michigan Educational Technology Standards for each student
- Implement curriculum plans that include effective technology-enhanced methods and strategies to maximize student learning
- Apply technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies
- Use technology to engage in ongoing professional development, practice, productivity, communication, and life-long learning
While the standard has multiple benchmarks for each of the seven areas, you are not required to address each of these in a COATT portfolio for student teaching. As mentioned previously, if your school uses the ISTE Nets Standards as its organizing structure for an educational technology portfolio, you may submit that portfolio along with a key document showing how to find material relating to the Michigan standards listed above.
What is included in the narrative text that I will need to write?
In this section, you will describe how you achieved the required proficiency level for the "COATT-Award winning student teacher" for at least four of the seven standards, and the "expected standard for Michigan student teacher" for the other three. You will have seven short narrative pieces - one for each of the standards - with links to the artifacts that establish your capabilities as demonstrated through the unit you taught. This is where you explain to the judges how you have shown your advanced skills in each of the areas required. One way to do this is to take specific indicators from the rubric and explain why your work is an example of that area.
When writing your narrative, please bear in mind that it will be reviewed in approximately thirty minutes. Be concise and professional in your writing.
What does it mean to have links to the artifacts?
You should have links to artifacts that are directly related to your accomplishments from your teaching. Some students provide links through words in the text; others write a paragraph and have links to the evidence at the end – either way is acceptable. While the artifacts themselves form the core of the portfolio, it is the narrative section that will describe your achievements. The written narrative should be used to highlight the most significant aspects of your work and the relationship to your ability and proficiency. Together, the artifacts and narrative are evidence that support your COATT portfolio.
How can I get a better idea of what should be included in my writing?
There are several sources you will want to look at before you begin writing your own narrative. The first is previous winning COATT portfolios. Do note that over time, the standard has become more rigorous as the overall level of accomplishment of students during their student teaching has improved. Be sure you look at more than one example so you are drawing from the best of the materials online. Note that the standard has changed as well to reflect the requirements by the State of Michigan. This means that what you see on the COATT site may not be an exact model for what is now required.
What should I include as artifacts?
What is evidence?
Items of evidence are real-world materials such as handouts, student work samples, or Web pages from your classroom experiences that demonstrate what you and your students have done. An item of evidence can show a technology-based teaching or learning process in action. Much of the strength and interest in your portfolio will be contained in this section. Items of evidence are essential for demonstrating proficiency beyond your written description by showing the products and high quality of the work done by you and your students.
What are the required evidence sections?
The evidence section of your portfolio is divided into four sub-sections that make it easier for you to group materials and be sure all required resources are included. These four parts are:
- Unit Lesson Plans
- Materials I Developed
- Student Work
- Other Support Materials & Resources (optional).
The first three are required: you must include your lesson plans showing learning goals and objectives, planned activities, and assessment strategies; have samples of materials you created that show how you used technology in your teaching; and student work samples that show how your students used technology in their own learning. The fourth section is for additional materials that you think will help the judges better understand your capabilities that donʼt fit in the other categories.
What kinds of things might I include as evidence?
Your portfolio can include any kind of material that you can digitize. Items of evidence may include, but are not limited to:
- copies of units of instruction that you have designed, developed, and taught to students and which demonstrates your thinking about appropriate use of technology in teaching
- lesson plans
- examples of student work
- handouts you have used
- concept maps
- web resources that support your curriculum
- photos, video or audio clips of classroom activities
- letters written by a teacher, student, or administrator that describe the effects of your work
- assessment instruments
You may use any materials that will provide evidence that you have appropriately integrated technology in support of student learning. In addition, an important element in any lesson taught in Michigan schools is inclusion of objectives related to the Michigan Curriculum Framework.
You can get a good idea of the kinds of materials you might include by looking at winning COATT portfolios on the COATT website.
Do I need to include student work?
Yes. All winning portfolios include examples of student work. The judges will be looking for evidence that your students used technology as part of the learning experience you designed.
A critical element in your items of evidence is showing how you were able to get students to use technology in the course of the unit. While you must demonstrate your own achievements in technology to receive the COATT Award, you do this in part by showing that your performance made a difference in student performance and outcomes. You will show how you used technology to teach the unit and how your students used technology as part of their learning experience. This means it will be important to collect examples of student work to include in your portfolio. Sometimes this appears as actual student work samples like a copy of a spreadsheet or the results of research using the Internet. In other cases, this may be pictures or a video of students working on your project activities. Some students have also taped their students’ reactions to the lesson or had them write about their experience in working with technology as part of the lesson. You can enhance this material by describing in more detail what the student work is about.
When should I collect student work?
One of the reasons you need to plan ahead for doing a COATT portfolio is the need to collect student work. You canʼt wait until you are done with student teaching or you will find you donʼt have what you need to make your case. As a result, you will want to be thinking about collecting materials throughout your student teaching experience. In addition, some students have added student work from units that are not part of the primary focus of the portfolio to show the range of things done in their classrooms.
Do I need to include formal lesson plans for my unit?
Yes. It is expected that you will include the lesson plans as this is the best way to help the judges know what you did and how the technology use was integrated into the overall unit plan. Be sure you explain the full range of activities, including those parts of the unit that did not involve technology as well as the sections that do. What the judges need to know is how the technology was used as a meaningful part of the total experience you created. If there are things about the lesson plans you want to highlight, you can also add text to explain more about what you planned and how it worked.
Do I need to write anything for this section of the portfolio?
You will want to link the items of evidence to your narrative in the Standards section, but should also include descriptive text in the evidence to explain further what the artifact is. Without some context, it can be difficult for someone who is working as a judge to know how the materials you included fit in.
In addition, include an index or list for all the items of evidence included in your portfolio so these are listed in one place and the index is hyperlinked to the set of items of evidence.
What does it mean to link my evidence to the standards?
Because this is an evidence-based portfolio, it isnʼt enough to just say you did something. You need to have “evidence” that you accomplished what you described in your standards narrative. You do this by putting links to appropriate items of evidence. So, for Standard D, you would have a link to your lesson plan showing how you have designed learning. For Standard F, you might have a link to a rubric you designed to assess student work from your unit that includes appropriate consideration of the technology parts of your assignments.
Is there a need to have evidence for every part of the narrative?
No, not all standards require items of evidence. The focus in the student teaching portfolios is on your unit design and implementation. Some standards do not lend themselves readily to the presentation of evidence. As a result, only Standards A, D, E & F need items of evidence.
Further, even as you plan for these, some things may not be appropriate for inclusion. An example might be an electronic gradebook used by teachers at the school where you do your student teaching. You learn to use this and may decide to include a written description as part of the material you write for Standard F, but it is never appropriate to show your studentsʼ names and grades to the public.
If you have many examples of ways you use technology in your teaching, you may show only a few of these that are more advanced, for example, a newsletter with columns, graphics you drew, word art, colors, and images of your classroom gives a more complete picture of your capabilities than just a digital photograph straight out of your camera or a word processed text document. You might also include a part of a video or audio rather than the whole thing if it is very long.
In addition, you probably have samples from every student in your class. The judges donʼt need to see work from every student. Choose a representative sample (this may require more than one to show the variation). The goal is always to keep the portfolio small enough so it can be reviewed in about 30 minutes. You can check this by having a friend look to find out if you have too many examples.
Are there any technical considerations for the items of evidence section?
Yes, you must use standard file formats that you could expect most users to have. This would include the standard graphic formats used for the web (.gif and .jpg), Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) rather than word processor files, and Quicktime or Microsoft Media formats for video. Avoid files produced by special programs that may not be available to most users (for example Inspiration of KidPix). If you have a question, check with your local COATT representative.
Are there any tips I should know as I work on the evidence section?
As you organize your items of evidence, these are some hints for developing this section:
- Describe the evidence: What is it? What were the circumstances under which it was created?
- What do you think are the most important or significant aspects of this evidence?
- In what way(s) does this evidence address the competencies required for certification?
(Note that this is the key component of the standards narrative - you must demonstrate why a particular item of evidence accomplishes the competency.) - Would you like to acknowledge anyoneʼs assistance or input in the development of this evidence? If you used or modified materials you found on the Internet, for example, you should include a credit for where you found it and whoever created it originally. If you revised a lesson taught by your cooperating teacher in the past, explain how you have improved it to better integrate technology.
- You may use materials, activities, and strategies designed and developed by others, but you must clearly cite your sources and you must redesign or develop them so that real value is added in terms of enhancing teaching and learning for you and your students. Carefully document how you modified any preexisting curriculum. Failure to adequately cite your sources or document your modifications will disqualify you for the COATT Award.
- Additional items of evidence of your choice may be included that demonstrate achievements related to the use of information technology in teaching and learning that are not a part of a specific unit or lesson.
If my school has a policy that doesn’t allow putting student names or pictures on the Internet, how do I include student work in my portfolio?
As a technology proficient teacher, you should be aware of the rules in your school about using materials on the Web. A number of districts do not allow student photographs on the Internet. Most do not allow posting of full names. You will want to respect these rules in your own work and are expected to as part of the standard on ethics.
There are some work-arounds. In some cases, pictures that do not include student faces can satisfy the requirement. Or some teachers have used digital photo editing to “blur” faces so that students cannot be recognized. In all cases, you will want to protect the privacy of your students by not including full names on student work.
If you feel you cannot present your case in your portfolio because you must use materials that would violate your studentsʼ privacy by posting on the Web, contact the COATT advisor at your institutions. You may be able to make arrangements to provide your portfolio (or just problematic items) on a CD so that it is not public on the Web.
What do I need to say in the Summary and Reflection?
What should I include in this section?
In this section, you have an opportunity to provide your own assessment of how the unit went during your student teaching and what you learned as a result. As a student teacher, we recognize that you are still learning your craft and not all will necessarily work as planned. The reflection section is the place to provide a short narrative about what went well and what you might do differently if you teach this lesson again. This is a key element in showing your understanding of teaching with technology. You will answer a set of questions that are mandatory to accomplish the refection and summary in your portfolio.
What are the parts of the section?
In this section, you will need to answer FIVE specific questions.
- How did the use of technology help my students to learn this subject matter in a way that is more effective or would not be possible otherwise?
This is where you explain why you made the choices you did in your unit, and whether your choices produced the expected results in terms of student learning. - What worked and didnʼt work in the lesson you planned?
Remember that the judges donʼt expect your initial teaching experience to be perfect. At the same time, you need to show that when things were less than ideal, you are able to reflect on that experience so that it wonʼt happen again. Donʼt try to hide what went wrong. The judges will be looking for what you learned from your teaching so that you show how you will improve in future endeavors. - What would you change to improve the lesson in the future?
Focus here on what you learned from this experience. The goal is to show that you not only did many of the things you planned, but you have learned from this experience in ways that will make you a better teacher when you have your first teaching job. - How has teaching this lesson changed the way you think about integrating technology into teaching?
You will not only be thinking directly about the unit you taught, but more generally what you need to do to be the best teacher possible. As a result, the portfolio becomes a learning experience. - As a result of this experience, what learning (both formal professional development and informal self-teaching) do you think you need to continue your professional growth?
Consider the areas where you may have been weak or didnʼt know all you needed. How will you improve your skills? What more should you learn? How will you do this?
How long should this section be?
Keep this section short. It should not distract from what you have already shown in your items of evidence. In other words, donʼt use it to defend your successes or give excuses for failures.
You should present your work as part of a learning experience and show how you have grown. Show that you are on track in terms of continued professional development.
Will a good reflection save my portfolio if my unit was very unsuccessful?
Unfortunately, in a few cases the unit you planned doesnʼt work at all. Perhaps time constraints forced you to eliminate the most important lessons, or your school had a crisis like snow days that reduced the time you could spend on the topic. Another problem that arises is that the technology fails completely, and you are not able to do much that you planned. A good reflective piece can help when some part of what you planned didnʼt work but not when the whole unit fails. You canʼt create a portfolio without solid evidence and that requires most of your unit to work.
How will my portfolio be judged?
What are the indicators in the COATT rubric?
The rubric is listed below to give you a good idea of what level of proficiency will be used by judges in reviewing your portfolio. Your portfolio must show that every standard is at least at the proficient level; at least four of the seven standards must be at the award level. This rubric should be your guide in deciding what to include to prove your achievements.
What does it mean to be proficient?
To win the COATT Award, the judges must rank you as “Proficient” on all standards as defined in the COATT rubric below, and you must be at the award level for at least four of the standards. This is a higher level of achievement than is expected for other newly certified teachers. It sets you apart as you have not only achieved this high level of performance, but have actively demonstrated it through your teaching and documented it in an electronic portfolio.
What if my unit doesn’t show that I am proficient on every indicator listed?
We recognize that you have learned many things in your preservice classes that wonʼt be included in your portfolio. To be awarded the Student Teaching COATT , an applicant must achieve the stated proficiency level on each indicator of the COATT rubric. Basic proficiency is shown by having your institutionʼs COATT faculty contact sign the application form indicating you have successfully completed (or are nearing completion of) an approved program in teacher certification at a Michigan university or college. Because your institution is responsible to the State to show you have met the Seventh standard, the signed form is sufficient to show you have the required competency. Your portfolio shows how you went farther.
How many indicators do I need to use to prove I am proficient?
The judges will be looking for evidence that you have shown your expertise on a range of indicators that prove you are proficient, but there is no exact number. The rubric gives examples that will help you understand what it means to be proficient, but you wonʼt be using every one.
You should use the listed indicators in the proficient and award columns to guide your writing. How did your teaching show that you can do this? Donʼt just assert that you know how—give concrete examples from your classroom. What you must do in your portfolio is demonstrate that you understand the full range of indicators and have accomplished the appropriate ones for your particular unit.
Can I just list each indicator and then describe how I did it?
No. The written section should be an overview of what you did and how you did it. The indicators can help by giving you words and phrases that will guide you as you write this description so that it directly supports the standards. But donʼt just copy the sentences from the rubric. Describe what happened in your classroom and how your students learned. This is the strongest evidence of your accomplishments.