A child portfolio is a form of assessment that can and should be shared with families. From past experience, my boys both had portfolios that I got to take home for keepsake. I appreciated having drawings and pictures of my children while they were in school. I keep them for memories that I still go through once in a while with them now. I take some of their past works and talk with them about it to see what they remember and any experiences they had that was either good or bad. Seitz & Bartholomew state that, "A portfolio is a collection of items that celebrates the child.
The portfolio includes a variety of artifacts, documentation,
and reflections that are developmentally appropriate for
young children and includes evidence of understanding and
ability(2008, pg 1)." With this being said, I would like to share an experience I had with my oldest son at a preschool in my area. It was not a good experience at all, so I wonʻt share the school name. It started with his first year of preschool. My son was a very active child. As a young mother, only 22 years-old, working and going to school part-time, and having to raise him on my own (living on our own in an apartment and dad was incarcerated), I had no idea what I was doing. I was excited for his first year of school, being able to learn and play by meeting new friends. A teacher who seemed like she had many years of experience with children (I assumed and never asked of her educational background). In all honesty, I was young and struggling to work and go to school, so I honestly felt relieved that he had some place to go where he would "learn" while I was busy living my new adult life. So my son was basically a boy. Always wanting to play, very active and unable to stay still, or at least is what he was portrayed and viewed as, "naughty" and "bad." I thought I was doing the best I could with all that we were going through, only to be told that my son was, basically, "just like his dad." Those words were never said, but thatʻs how I felt at the time. Not knowing how to raise a child, being a child myself, I would punish my son almost daily because the teacher would write in a book that we kept as communication, of how his day went. This is how his days would be..."CHILD was very disruptive in class today. He could not stay still and would not listen. I found him playing in the bathroom. " Some where along those lines, is the messages I would receive on a daily. I would feel disappointed in my son for not being able to "control" himself in school, or not "play" when he shouldnʻt be. I thought I was a failure as a parent and that I didnʻt know what to do at that point. That went on all year long. The next year, new teacher, new experience. Nope! Same thing, different year. Only that time, I had to pick him up from school on several occasions. One occasion that has stuck with me to this day, and has made me feel as low as low, as you can imagine. If only, I could help my son back then and knew what I know now.
Hereʻs how it went: I got to his school, opened the door with all the lights off. It was nap time, the teacher sitting at her desk on her computer and my son standing next to her desk, standing and looking like heʻs been crying. I gave him a very disappointing look, thought "Oh no! What did he do now?" The teacher opened the communication log that she was sending home that day which shared how my son was playing with other boys in the bathroom, looking under the stalls. He was not able to go to the bathroom because he did not listen and he was only playing in there. I looked at my son and at that point I was steaming upset with him. The teacher told me he soiled himself in poop and pee because instead of him going to the bathroom to do his business, he only played so he had an "accident" in his pants during nap time. Furious at my son, not at the teacher for helping my son by teaching him what he SHOULD be doing in the bathroom, I take my son home and punish him. It was a daily communication with the teacher of all his "bad" behaviors, and hardly hearing any good behaviors that he showed. They had me take him to be evaluated professionally, where he was diagnosed with ADHD and many other disorders. I refused to put my child on meds, because of the addiction his father had with drugs. Instead, I put him in sports, 2 or 3 at a time. He played basketball, baseball, track and football. I remembered how the first teacher shared how she noticed that he was good with playing ball at outdoor play, therefore, I wanted to focus his energy in sports. Fast forward to 10 years later. I am furious with myself that I could not advocate for my son back then, and look at him now. On a traveling team with basketball that goes all over to compete. Theyʻve been to neighboring islands, California and Las Vegas competing. Heʻs at Kamehameha Schools averaging a GPA of 3.4. He was mvp for his baseball team when he did play through T-Ball, Coach Pitch and was even chosen to be apart of the Pony League that one year. He plays receiver for football and has made many touchdowns and won many games for him teams. My son has had so many accomplishments since that last year at that school. I see it now as them pushing him, pushing us to be better and for that, I am thankful. That 2 years of experience has changed me in so many ways. I am so angry with what they put us through, yet thankful that it made us push ourselves to be better. I went to school, got educated and when my second son came along, I was more prepared to advocate for him and his rights to his education. He was a lot more challenging than my first, but this time, I was ready to fight for him! With all that I went through with these 2 boys, it really has changed my view on early childhood education and it was opened my eyes to be more sensitive to what our families, our children may be going through when they school. Things really do happen for a reason, and for that I can say, has made me a stronger mother, teacher, and advocator for those who will need me in the future.
As for child portfolios, I appreciated all the positive work that my son did do at this school. I got to see and still have those special memories of his artworks, his pictures and everything he did accomplish while at that school. Children are with their teachers for most of their days while parents are working or going to school. Those are times lost that parents miss, unless you provide evidence of what their child is learning and can see their progress throughout the school year. Luckily, with my second son, I started working at his preschool and got experience first-hand what he was going through and what he was learning at school. In a sense, I was grateful, but in a sense, I feel like me being there as teacher/mom, only hindered his preschool experience. I can only wonder, but I do know that I did do the best I could for him and supported him when he needed it, spoke for him when he couldnʻt, and learned along side of him for those 3 years of preschool. Luckily, he also got that extra year of preschool, which he very much needed, because that is the year when the law passed that he needed to be 5 before entering Kindergarten. He had that much longer to build his social skills and having the support to help him when he needed help to self-regulate. A child portfolio can tell the story of a child, itʻs up to the teacher and parents on how or what they are going to do with all their hard work:)
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