math portfolio assignment

Getting the Most Out of Math Portfolios

For fifteen years I taught in a district that stood firmly on the premise that all teachers were teachers of reading. As a middle school math teacher, I was also given a reading block each day. As is often the case in ELA, my students kept portfolios in which they collected evidence of their growth as readers.

I appreciated the teachable moments using portfolios provided. My students had many opportunities to track growth, identify points of understanding/confusion, explore personal reading/writing preferences, and reflect on strategies that scaffold reading success.

It didn’t take long to realize I wanted this same experience for my math students; hence, the birth of a math process-folio.

I used the term “process-folio” because I wanted my students to identify the practices and processes necessary for good mathematical thinking to flourish. My goal was for students to view themselves as capable in math, where they see and insist that math makes sense. The process-folio would provide that evidence where students could track their growth in analysis, relational thinking, and problem solving.

I intentionally created and found tasks that promoted reasoning, good number sense, and estimation.  Students wrote journal entries with questions, connections, and representations they used to help make problem solving easier. I made sure to provide ample time for reflection as they discovered points of progress. Students identified growth by selecting pieces over time identifying where and how they went from confusion to understanding.

An even more important goal was for students to appreciate effort as a means to success in math. I took time each week for students to recognize and reflect on how effort and hard work made a difference in their confidence and success in math. It was important for my students to discover that anyone can be smart in math with effort and care.

Always My First Assignment:  A Math Autobiography

The first entry for students every semester/year was a Math Autobiography. I believe students can learn much about their feelings about math from reflecting on their personal math histories. An example of my assignment is included below:

Upon reading the math autobiographies, I would write back to each student responding and reflecting on their math stories. I would ask them to consider how their math history might be impacting their math future. I challenged my students to use this experience to help form personal goals for the year. These goals would be included in the process-folio and revisited several times over the year. Collectively, we would create a class chart of principles to abide by so every student would have the opportunity to achieve their goals.

Suggestions for Additional Submission Pieces in a Math Process-Folio:

The following are other possible pieces that can be included in a math process-folio. Some years, I used them all; other years, I was more selective. It all depends upon the individual class and your intention as the teacher.

The choices do not matter as much—it is really the student’s reflection on those choices that matter. I have found some students do not know when their own learning occurs. They need to recognize their capabilities and pinpoint those moments of clarity. Success breeds success and getting students to recognize they can succeed in math increases their motivation, confidence, and self-efficacy.

25 Suggestions for Additional Submission Pieces in a Math Process-Folio

• A table of contents – if the teacher is setting the pace for submission pieces
• Journal entries – with time to reflect on the reasoning behind the math and personal progress and/or struggle
• Exit tickets – student choice and/or teacher directed
• A challenging problem showing good reasoning and problem solving skills
• Proof of how the student went from confusion to understanding
• Student preference of his/her best fit strategy with explanation
• Representations of good math reasoning
• Assessments with reflections and/or corrections
• Proof of good math collaboration, with justification of why it is considered good
• Samples of best/worst work with explanation
• Personal math strengths with samples
• Personal math struggles with samples and action plan
• Reflections on personal progress (revisit and/or revise goals)
• Attitudes changes towards math with revisit of math autobiography
• Student submissions by choice
• Noticing & Wondering Brainstorms
• Celebrations where hard work really paid off
• Problem-based learning opportunities and/or projects
• Proof of growth in one or more of the Standards of Mathematical Practices
• Relevance of math topics
• Something the student is really proud of, with explanation
• Something the student would have done differently and what the experience taught him/her
• Something the student wants the teacher to notice
• Connections recognized between math topics with explanation/sketches
• A parking lot of continued questions and answers discovered along the way

A Final Reflection on the Math Process-folio: Student-Led Conferencing

I always ended the semester with Student-Led Conferencing. Many districts are implementing student-led conferencing during parent/teacher conferences. As a consultant, I have seen the benefits of this experience as students take an active role in their assessment of their progress in learning. I believe all opportunities we offer where students gain a sense of agency, interest, and motivation to learn, are always worth the effort.

My student-led conferences were similar but without parents. For students to get the most out of the experience, I would take time in class throughout the year for them to prepare. Part of the planning time was used to identify and reflect on how, when, and why learning occurred. The conferences then provided the opportunity for them to showcase those discoveries.

Below is a template for how my students would prepare for this conference:

Student-Led Conference: Reflecting on your Growth as a Mathematician

Name __________________________________

During the last week of the semester, you will meet with me concerning your math process-folio. Prior to this meeting, we will take time in class to sit and reflect on your learning in math this semester as is evident in your math process-folio. You worked hard and you should be very proud. I want you to discover those points where your best learning occurred.

At the conference, you will lead the conversation that shows your growth points as a learner as a result of our time together. This meeting should take 15 minutes and will be led by you.  It will take preparation and reflection to make this conference a worthwhile time of learning.

If you miss this meeting, 20 points will be immediately deducted from the process-folio grade.

This is also the opportunity to share your unit plan. Be prepared to show revisions and growth moments and parts that really make you proud!

YOUR MEETING TIME IS AT ______________ ON JUNE 7 TH , 8 TH OR 9 TH . THIS MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE IN ROOM ________________ AT __________________.

Feel free to use the following questions/sentences to help you in making our meeting meaningful.

• What is something you are most proud of?
• What is something you would do differently next time?
• Show one of the Standards for Mathematical Practice and how that standard is reflected in your work. Discuss how this helped you in your mathematical thinking.
• What shows an ah-ha moment for you?
• Show evidence of how________ is like _______________.
• Show evidence of how _______ is different than ____________.
• What two things show growth? (Show a beginning understanding to a deeper understanding)
• How will you use your math process-folio?
• What would you like me to know about your process-folio?
• What advice would you give next semester’s students about the process-folio?
• What is something that was tough at first, but then you got it? Show evidence of that progression.

You do not need to answer all of the above questions, but using them as a framework for leading our meeting will make it much easier for you. Another good idea is to post-it where you will find the answer to the questions so you can find them with ease.

Best of luck! See you at the meeting!

Mrs. Pearse

Written by Margie Pearse

Margie Pearse has over 30 years of teaching experience with certifications in mathematics, elementary education, English as a Second Language (ESL), and Pennsylvania Quality Assurance Systems (Certified Instructor – PQAS 2014). She is presently at First Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School as their K-12 Math Coach and in higher education, training pre-service teachers how to create deeper, more numeracy based lessons.

Margie’s educational philosophy can be summed up as such, “Why NOT reinvent the wheel! Yesterday’s lessons will not suffice for students to succeed in tomorrow’s world. We need to meet students, not just where they are, but where they need to be. There is great potential in every child. It is our job to empower students to discover that potential and possess the tenacity and self-efficacy to reach it.”

Published Books: Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking , released by Corwin in 2011; Learning That Never Ends , released by Rowman & Littlefield in 2013; and Passing the Mathematics Test for Elementary Teachers , by Rowman & Littlefield, February 2015.

Three Things I’ve Learned From Being a Math Editor

Pig wings and kite strings: math practice #1, latest comments.

Katie / January 10, 2018

Do you give a grade for the portfolios? If so, how to you come up with the grade?

Margie Pearse / January 15, 2018

I did not give a grade for the portfolios but I did allow students plenty of time to reflect on their learning. I sometimes used this self-reflection guide for students to track their progress and practices as mathematicians https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6yPXMN3TwzzZHgzeEtXUXRHb1E/view?usp=sharing

Margie Pearse / September 6, 2016

Thanks Kate! I am glad you found the article useful. Yes, isn’t Twitter wonderful for professional development! What great learning and collaboration.

Kate Gallagher / September 5, 2016

Margie, This is a great article! I enjoy reading your work and seeing you on Twitter! Thank you!

Olivia Bartlett / September 2, 2016

Hello! This post was recommended for The Best of the Math Teacher Blogs 2016: a collection of people’s favorite blog posts of the year. We would like to publish an edited volume of the posts at the end of the year and use the money raised toward a scholarship for TMC. Please let us know by responding via http://goo.gl/forms/LLURZ4GOsQ whether or not you grant us permission to include your post. Thank you, Tina and Lani.

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Throughout our assessment journey we’ve continued to ask ourselves: “How can we track student learning and achievement in an organized way that promotes growth?”

One tool we were introduced to, and still loving is Google Slides and their ability to create Math Portfolios.

In this video you’ll learn how to create a math portfolio so you can capture student learning and organize it in a way that promotes growth for your students.

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Math Portfolios

by Stephanie Forsman

posted by Stephanie Forsman

At the start of every school year, I always have it in my mind that this is going to be the year that I create the ultimate math portfolio. A fluid place where the children’s entire math worked is housed; a place where all of their previous work is easily accessible and they can refer back to review or to aid them in solving a problem; a neatly organized, sequential archive that includes technology, reflection, and assessments. And every year, the idea of this “perfect” math portfolio becomes too daunting and I end up spending the year avoiding such an undertaking and putting it off until the following year.  Well, this upcoming school year 2017/2018 is the year! With the help of our Math Specialist, I am going to work on creating the ultimate math portfolio for elementary children. Wish me luck!

The problem with creating such a math portfolio is that we have so many different ways in which we record our mathematical thinking.  They have a math notebook, individual papers (worksheets, puzzles, scrap paper) that goes into a math binder, a math workbook that compliments our TERC math curriculum, math projects, math games, and math work that they record on their iPads either in Google Classroom or in the Explain Everything app. I understand that this portfolio is not designed to house ALL of the math work they do in 4 th grade but rather, be a mindful collection of work that best highlights a student’s efforts, progress, and achievements.  And I want the portfolio to be an ongoing conversation between our Math Specialist, the student, and myself.

Before school ended last June, the Math Specialist and I decided that we would try and create a digital math portfolio. We have a one-to-one iPad correspondence program at my school and we already do a fair amount of our math work on the iPad.  I can also send them PDFs of assessments or worksheet that I want them to work on through a PDF Annotator on Google Classroom.  Explain Everything is the iPad app that we use most for our math work so I think that this will continue to use this app to create our math portfolios.

“Create, share, and present on any device using Explain Everything Interactive Whiteboard. Use real-time collaboration, a cloud sharing portal, infinite canvas and a wide range of tools to present your ideas and express your creativity.”

The children can draw and annotate; import images, files, and videos; record everything; add text and math equations; share cloud projects; collaborate; and it works with Google Drive. I love the idea of students having video of them talking about math strategies and their mathematical thinking.  Parent/teacher conferences are an added bonus of that video feature.

Now that I have pretty much decided on my format, what goals do I want to accomplish with this math portfolio?  I stated earlier that I wanted a place that houses all of their math work but is that necessary?  A math portfolio should help the children recognize quality work and take some time to select entries that best reflect their effort and process.  Writing this blog has helped me to work out some issues and specifics that I’d like to include. For instance, I think that setting aside a time once a month or once a unit to go through our work would be most beneficial.  The first session, the Math Specialist and I could model how to go through our math work and chose pieces that ill go into the portfolio. We need to communicate our expectations of what kind of work needs to be collected. (and what not to collect needs to also be communicated) A reflection should accompany the work. Work they are proud of and why, work they really worked hard on, worked where they made a mistake and learned from that mistake and where able to correct their work through that mistake.  The reflection can be a PDF that can accompany the work that will then go into a file or a verbal explanation using the actual work as a visual that can be done on Explain Everything.  How great would it be for report cards, assessments, and Parent/Teacher conferences to have a recording of the student explaining their process and mathematical thinking?  Children also love to hear and see themselves on video and will most likely look at and listen to the reflection several times throughout the year further solidifying concepts and skills.

Another important aspect that I want the children to be able to include in their portfolio is the Exemplars they do for weekly homework.  Exemplars are open-ended questions that engage students and help them to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills to solve real-world problems. An example of a weekly Exemplar:

A big part of our math program is cooperative collaborations, projects, and playing games.  Occasionally I like to give the kids team building challenges.  I get these challenges from the Internet, professional workshops that I have attended or from Odyssey of the Mind – www.odysseyofthemind.com .

Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem solving competition with teams from all over the United States and they have practice problems on line.  Several times a year, I  present the children with a problem and give them a time limit to figure out that problem.  Divided into groups, each group receives materials, guidelines, and a time frame that is divided into planning, execution and review.  The last challenge we did was “The Newspaper Tower” challenge. Each group got a stack of newspapers and two meters of masking tape. The challenge was to build the tallest structure they could using the given materials.  The children love these challenges and ask to do them often.  I take picture of them at work but they very rarely see all the pictures and I end up sticking them in an end-of-the-year slideshow.

So, what if I made the photos available during our Math Portfolio time and the students could choose what photos they wanted and add them to their own portfolios? This serves not only as evidence of their experience but, if accompanied with a recording, serves as a way to document their learning in ways that do not lend themselves to traditional assessment. I really like the idea of the student’s math portfolios including lots of pictures that include captions or recordings.

In the same ways that we have Writing Celebrations and Parents as Reading Partners, I’d like the children to have an opportunity to celebrate their progress and set future goals.  Math Portfolio Monday? Maybe twice a year where parents, other teachers and students can come into our classroom see the math work we’ve been doing.  We can project some of the work onto our whiteboard via Airplay and others can show their work on their iPad.  And maybe there could be some place where people could comment on the portfolios?

I will not only need the help of my Math Specialist with this endeavor but the help of our IT person and our Director of Library and Research (technology) While writing this blog, I have become very excited about this digital math portfolio and already know that I am going to have my students include the beginning-of-the-year math questionnaire that I hand out on day one. That will be our starting point.

On last thing that I’d like to mention is that I make my own academic goals known to not only my students but to other faculty members and to parents. The children tend to be more technologically savvy than I am and they usually help out a great deal in that area. Colleagues can help you out with ideas or resources and by telling the parents, it keeps me accountable.  Writing this blog will also keep me accountable!

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3 Replies to “Math Portfolios”

Ms Forsman you are such an innovator, what encouraging work you do.Keep the blogs coming.

Thank you Loretta! I love to learn and keeping activities fun and current for my students benefits everyone!

Such a great way to keep things relevant and interactive!

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A Portfolio Project in Math

Brad franklin (math 130 ).

TA Brad Franklin’s Portfolio Project asks students in a course for future math teachers to reflect on their own learning process during the semester by preparing a cover letter, selecting their best work, extending their earlier “reflections,” and writing a short paper linking their experiences to math-teaching research.

The main point of this project is to address the fourth of the goals for this course that I gave at the beginning of this semester (look it up). I hope that it also provides you with an opportunity to bring together much of what you have learned during the semester and to highlight what this course has made possible both for you and for your future students. As a bonus, you may end up with something you want to show to prospective employers!

• A cover letter summarizing the contents of the portfolioand stating the purpose of it in your own words.
• Four of your strongest problem write‑ups, along with an explanation of why you chose each one: either because you solved a hard problem, you were creative or had an original solution or nice explanation, or whatever. You may also mention how you might still improve on the report.
• All of your “reflections” from throughout the semester, along with any further thoughts you have on the topics.  Also, write a reflection on: what do you personally find valuable about cooperative learning as a pedagogical method as it was used in Math 130, and what do you find problematic about it? (be critical and frank)
• Write a short paper in response to an article in math-education research. I have suggested some below. It should be at least two but no more than four pages. The object here is to bring your own experience to bear to assess the claims made by fellow researchers in math education.  You have something valuable to contribute to other teachers’ understanding of how math is learned and how it can be taught effectively! Explain yourself with clear, well‑formulated arguments, specific examples, and careful explanations (and pictures, even), just like in your problem reports.

Important: once you have chosen the article you want to respond to, you must get my approval. Only five people can write about each paper, and it’s first come, first served!

The grade on your project will be three-pronged:

• The thoughtfulness and thoroughness of the work.
• The clarity and overall effectiveness of the arguments that you make (remember, specific examples used to illustrate all general statements).
• The overall presentation of the portfolio.

If you want to do something in place of this portfolio which fulfills the same purpose, such as creating and using a cooperative learning lesson plan and writing up a report on your experience, or observing a cooperative learning elementary/secondary classroom, you are highly encouraged to pursue this! See me and I will help you make it happen.

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The Student Portfolio: How to Use This Powerful Tool in Your Classroom

Written by Jeanne Sager

Student portfolios are a bona fide assessment tool with countless other uses in the classroom. From tracking development for students in special education to providing parents a more transparent look at their child’s accomplishments to helping students become more self-directed learners, student portfolios could be your new secret weapon.

Studies have even shown employing the student portfolio in the classroom can help you spot learning gaps so you can address them and course-correct your teaching methods along the way to meet your students where they are at. Sounds like a pretty big win, huh?

Equally important, when kids create their own portfolios or play a role in creating them, they get to play a more active role in how their learning journey is reflected. Think of it this way — you put together everything that goes into a report card from recording grades to the comments. But students who get to put together a portfolio of their work are able to tell their own story about how they learn!

The teachers on the Teach Starter team — they’re the ones creating and reviewing all the resources teachers are using in their classroom! — have done a deep dive into the who, the what, and most importantly the “how” of using this piece of your teacher toolkit in the classroom. Read on for their tips on how to use this teaching tool to have a real impact on your students!

Explore our teacher team’s favorite must-have teaching tools now!

What Is a Student Portfolio?

OK, let’s start at the beginning. The student portfolio has been around since the 1980s as a tool for teachers, and because its usage is so varied, you’ll find that there are a lot of different options for how to put one together, and even who does the creation. What is included in a student portfolio will differ from school to school and teacher to teacher, and most importantly is dependent on the goal of the creator.

In general, portfolios can be used for any of the following:

• Student assessment
• Displaying learning processes
• Showcasing a student’s best work

That means a portfolio could include anything from samples of writing the child has done, tests the student has completed, pictures of the child in the classroom, notes from a teacher about things the child has said or accomplished, self-assessments by a student , and more.

While some teachers prefer a student portfolio that is all kept together in a physical binder, more and more are moving to a digital portfolio set-up which is easier to share with parents or even handed over to the next year’s teacher.

Student Portfolio Examples

A learning display.

When the goal of a student portfolio is to display the learning process for a specific unit of study or across a specific period of time, putting the student in charge of creating the portfolio is a great means to ensure they have buy-in on the process.

Before assigning a student portfolio:

• Explain the goals of the portfolio
• Explain how it will be graded
• Supply a checklist of items that you will be looking for when the portfolio is handed in

By putting the portfolio in your students’ hands to create, you give them a chance to reflect on the learning process and make important choices about what they feel best represents the journey they’ve been on. A science class student portfolio, for example, might include a student’s research notes done prior to an experiment, their experiment report, follow-up charts that show data from the experiment, and finally conclusions they drew — truly showcasing the learning process.

One of the benefits of using student portfolios is the opportunity for self-reflection. With this in mind, be sure not to end the project with the portfolio itself but assign a self-assessment, challenging students to explain why they chose the items they did or to reflect on a particular challenge they overcame during the unit of study.

These portfolios become great assessment tools for you as a teacher as you’re able to evaluate not just each individual piece of work but assess a student’s holistic learning journey. As a bonus, students can bring their portfolios home to show off to their parents just how much they’ve learned and all their successes during the school year or unit.

Teach Starter Teacher Tip: Make creating a student portfolio more fun by allowing students to use digital tools like Google Slides , KudosWall , or FlipGrid (they’re all free!).  

Best Work Showcase

Students may also create portfolios to compile their best work from a unit or period of time, again allowing them to reflect on the time they’ve spent learning a particular topic and choosing the items they think best showcase how they’ve put that knowledge to good use.

For example, an English language arts student portfolio may include a selection of a student’s favorite writing samples throughout the year, showing off how they developed as a non-fiction writer and a poet both.

This kind of portfolio is typically more about the portfolio as a product rather than a method for assessing learning, but it has its own place in the classroom. Students track their own growth and share their accomplishments with family and peers.

Special Education

One of the many uses for a student portfolio comes in special education, where they can be used to design accommodations and modifications to go alongside a child’s IEP. By tracking student growth and development and identifying specific strengths and weaknesses, a well-maintained portfolio can serve as a comprehensive representation of a students’ abilities at any given time.

Once again, it’s important to put students in the driver’s seat whenever possible, allowing them to gather the work they think best encompasses their learning journey and to reflect on their progress. Students can write journal entries, fill out self-assessments, or fill in learning logs to be included in their student portfolio. You may also want to include your own notes taken while working with or observing the student , checklists of skills they’ve become adept at, and even videos that record student progress.

One final word: A student portfolio is a powerful tool for teachers, but it’s a tool for you to use the way you see fit. Follow these suggestions, or make up some of your own. Don’t be afraid to unleash those teaching superpowers!

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The Mathematics Portfolio: An Alternative Tool to Evaluate Students’ Progress

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The Mathematics Portfolio: An Alternative Tool to Evaluate Students’ Progress

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Tools for Creating Digital Student Portfolios

Portfolios are a good way for high school students to see and share their learning growth over time, and digital tools make it easy to set them up.

In assessing student work, one of the challenges that teachers face comes when students have created a product for a project. Ideally they’ve had a chance to share their work with each other because that has numerous benefits: It allows them to see how their peers interpreted the project content or questions differently, and to reflect on their own learning and their learning process, which can help them improve future projects and processes.

Sharing students’ work more widely, with their families or with outside experts, for example, has benefits as well.

So how do we get student work in front of as many eyes as possible to increase the impact of their ideas? One of the best ways is to have students create digital portfolios, which can help students track their personal growth and share their work with classmates, the community, and the world.

Considering Student Privacy

Before creating digital portfolios with our students, we should consider student privacy and be aware of our district and school policies around sharing student work with third parties.

Sharing student work is powerful, but it’s also vital that students and their families consent to that sharing, which includes posting student work to third-party platforms—platforms that students must log into outside of the school’s internal systems. Before using such platforms, review the Student Privacy Pledge . Signatories of the pledge—which include all of the tools listed below—have taken the time to consider student privacy and data on their platforms.

You can also check with your school and district to see if the app or website you want to use is approved by your district.

Digital Portfolio Tools

Portfolios can serve different purposes, which dictate what goes in them and how they’re shared. For more public-facing portfolios, students generally create fine-tuned products. These are portfolios that students may use to showcase their work for awards, internships, jobs, and college applications. Work shared here may connect students with experts and add their voice to larger conversations around issues they care deeply about, while also validating their agency as members of a global community. These portfolios may also be a place for them to celebrate their work with their family, friends, classmates, and school or district. No matter how they’re used, these portfolios can help build confidence and excitement around student learning.

Sometimes, however, portfolios are shared less widely, with just the teacher and the student’s family. In these portfolios, rough copies of student work may be included to show growth. If students are able to create a portfolio that spans multiple years, they can see growth over a longer time. These portfolios are a great window into what students are learning, showing what they understand and what they’re struggling with so the teacher can plan accordingly. Families can see their child’s progress in real time and celebrate successes or provide support at home for areas of struggle. Portfolios also help students reflect on their progress and make connections to their own learning process. There may be pieces that move from this internal portfolio to be shared more widely in a public-facing portfolio.

Once you’re ready to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on and share their work with an authentic audience, there are several tools you can use.

For sharing inside the classroom: Students can use Google Slides to create a digital portfolio that showcases their progress on a project, posting their work as well as their reflections on the work. You can have them start from scratch or create a template for them to use. You can have students share this portfolio with you alone or embed it in a blog post or post it to a Google Drive folder shared with the class.

You could instead use Google Classroom to create the portfolios: A student can add documents to their portfolio that can be viewed by both you and the student over the course of the year.

For sharing with the outside world: Students can post their Google Slides to a public-facing class blog or use a tool like Flipgrid to post video journal entries about their learning. These videos can be summative, or they can act like checkpoints as students work through the project. Flipgrid is free, and the company provides a sample consent letter to send home. Videos can be shared publicly, with only the class, or with only the teacher.

Another tool, Book Creator , allows students to create digital portfolios that can include text, images, audio recordings, and videos. The books are contained in a class library, and students can browse each other’s books. Students can review their books to reflect on their growth in critical skills , and their books and the class library can be shared publicly. BookCreator can be used for free, but if you want to create more than 40 books you’ll need to pay for access.

The tool Seesaw allows teachers to create activities that students can work on and share to a class portfolio. These activities can be designed by the teacher, or they can be imported from an activity library curated by Seesaw. An activity might ask students to explain their reasoning while solving a math problem, reading and reflecting on an article, or reflecting on their progress on a recent project. Seesaw allows teachers to provide family access to student portfolios so parents have a window into what students are learning.

Benefits of Digital Portfolios

Digital portfolios—as repositories of evidence of learning and growth—can be used in multiple ways. They’re helpful to the teacher for planning instruction and gauging student understanding, and for communicating student progress with families and sparking conversations at home.

They can also be helpful in creating a culture of learning in the classroom, where students look to each other for knowledge and understanding. And they’re a useful tool for students to reflect on their own personal growth over the course of the year.

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Common Principles for Uncommon Schools

• Common Principles
• Year of Demonstration
• CES Centers
• CES Schools and Organizations
• What goes into a Mathematics Portfolio? One Team Decides What Counts Most

The most effective way to put less is more into practice, a math team at Heathwood hall Episcopal school in Columbia south Carolina decided, was to decide together what should go into the mathematics portfolios of their algebra and geometry students. Using the guidelines of the National council of Teachers of Mathematics, Daniel Venebles, Amelia Havilnad, Allison Venables and Carlo Haigler made up the following instruction sheet for students compiling their portfolios. (For a complete evaluation form encompassing each category, contact Daniel Venables at   803-343-0425    803-343-0425 ).

Point of Focus Your math portfolio will focus on the following:

• problem solving(developing and executing strategies)
• connections relating math to other subjects
• mathematical communications reading and writing in mathematics
• technology using computers and graphing calculators
• teamwork working cooperatively with others towards a common goal
• growth over time learning from your mistakes
• mathematical disposition developing healthy attitudes about the subject

Overview for each of the first three quarters, your portfolio will contain five entries. This fourth aerate substitutes a mini-exhibition for portfolio work. Two of these (entries #4 and $5 will not vary the other three called floating entries will vary from one quarter to the next. You will have five types of floating entries to choose from: all five are to be completed by the end of the third quarter. Individual entries will be assigned due dates throughout the quarter, and your teacher may collect and grade entries anytime after the specified due dates. Approximately every other double period, you will have class time to work on your portfolios, with your teacher as a coach. Producing quality portfolio work is a requirement to receive credit for this course, and counts for 20% of your quarter grade.

Floating Entries

Non-routine problem or puzzle These problems or puzzles, require you to combine or invent problem solving strategies that are different from textbook procedures in order to solve them. They may or may not be related to topics studied in class. A detailed solution, complete with sources, will be submitted.

Application This entry will demonstrate an authentic use of mathematics in another subject area, including the fine arts. Math concepts, principles, and procedures will be employed in a well grounded, real world context. Some aspect of this entry will explain the math content, the content from the other subject and the connection between the two.

Mathematics in a historical context This entry requires researching and summarizing in your own words either 1)a biography of a famous mathematician 2) the mathematics o of a particular nonwestern culture 3)the evolution of mathematical ideas in some branch of mathematics. Sources must be cited.

Math lab This entry is an inductive search for an answer to a question of yours, a guided exploration leading to a generalization, a concept, or a mathematical relationship between variables. This will require c conjecturing, gathering data, examining models, viewing examples and counter examples, an drawing conclusions based on your evidence. a report of your process and your findings is required(all students work on their math labs during a week set aside for this entry)

Reading and Writing you will read a math-related essay, then explain w hat you read by writing about it in your own words. Use examples from the reading and at least one example of your own, or make some original connection from this topic to some other topic.

Fixed Entries:

Progress Entry With each portfolio submission all tests and quizzes taken to date will be submitted in chronological order with corrections. Complete all test and quiz correction on a separate paper, including a detailed revised and hopefully accurate solution to any problem in which full credit was not awarded. Questions with problem numbers must also be written out

Contents Entry This entry should be placed first in the portfolio. It must include 1) a table of contents 2)a scatter diagram depicting entry types and methods 3) a letter to the reader addressing why you chose these topics, what you enjoyed learning, what difficulties arose and your reflections about the collection of entries; and 4) a work log sheet detailing the tasks along with the dates you worked on each

Method Types As you complete your entries each quarter, you must also vary your methods using all the following methods by the end of the third quarter 1) making use of math related software or graphing calculator 2) constructing physical models or manipulatives 3) working without peers 4) working with peers using your scatter diagram, keep track of your method for each entry.

Horace Volume 11 | 1995, Issue 2

In this volume.

• Getting Students to Do More with Less: One Teacher Whittles Down her Humanities Curriculum
• John Dewey from “How We Think” (1933)
• Less Is More: The Secret of Being Essential
• Questions to Shape a School’s Curriculum
• Topics that Generate Understanding
• What Counts Less, What Counts More: Math Teachers Set New Priorities
• What Defines a Good Thinker?
• What’s Worth Memorizing? An Exhibition that Combines Performance with Memory
• William James (1888) from “Talks to Teachers on Psychology”

Related Articles

• “Student as Worker” Applied Outside the Classroom
• “The Perfect High School”
• A Network to Help Out Mentor Programs
• A Student and Her Exhibition: One Teacher’s Portrait
• Adventures in Web 2.0: Introducing Social Networking into My Teaching
• At This Summer School, Teachers Learn Too
• Boosting Achievement by Reporting It Better
• Change with Our Help and Change for Our Sake
• City Schools and the American Dream: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education
• Classroom Discourse: The Language of Teaching and Learning Second Edition

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MS Word Cover Page Templates

Download, personalize & print, mathematics assignment cover pages.

Posted By: admin 14/11/2018

Cover pages of assignment play a vital role in attaining high grades in studies. Therefore, the students are advised to design a cover page with the assignment. It is important for the cover page to be relevant to the assignment it covers.

A student has to put a lot of efforts in making math assignment. This assignment requires the student to stay to the point and accurate. The cover page of the mathematics assignment plays an important role in impressing the teacher.

Tips to create the cover page:

Here are a few tips that can help a student design a cover page for the assignment

• The student making the cover page should follow the format which is being followed by the entire institutes. The subject area should be indicated on the cover page clearly so that the teacher can readily know about the basic details of the assignment and the student submitting the assignment.
• The cover page should be signed by the student. The student should make sure that he signs the cover page at the right bottom corner of the cover page.
• The cover page should be in A4 size and it should be well attached to the assignment. It should be kept in mind that the cover sheet should be the first page to be seen by the recipient of the assignment.
• The cover sheet should include the details such as student’s name, the subject of the assignment, roll number, class and section name, the topic of the assignment, name of the instructor of math subject.
• The student can add a decent colored background on the cover page and some borders to enhance the beauty and elegance of the cover page.

Many students believe that the most important part of the assignment is its content. They put a lot of emphasis on assignment and don’t pay much attention to the cover page. Such students often fail to get good marks because their representation of assignment does not impress the teacher.

Your teacher may not have asked you to prepare the cover page with the assignment but when there are few students who create the cover page and make their assignment stand out. Such student’s assignments compel the teacher to give them high grades than those students who don’t create the cover page.

Some students often forget to mention their name or roll number in the assignment. It creates a problem for the teacher during grading. The students are asked to create a separate to give the information about the author of the assignment, the subject details to make it convenient for the teacher to grade the student.

Importance of creating cover page:

Creating the mathematics assignment cover page makes the student well-versed with the format and techniques with which, a cover page is made attractive and professional looking.

The students of mathematics find it easier to make the cover page of the engineering or architectural projects when they enter their professional life.

The first cover page shown here is simple and easy to comprehend. The color combination is nice and trendy. The top image has some formulas written over that shows it is a mathematics assignment. The center white portion has enough space to give headline of the assignment with its little introduction underneath, while the rest of the space can further be utilized for details about the student or the teacher. There is a professional hint provided in this cover page.

Cover page format: MS Word 2007 | 2010 | 2013 File Size: 827 KB License: [Only for personal use] Download

This cover page is stylish and modern having an interesting appeal to it. The shades of blue and a lighter background give the cover page an elegant look. The heading of the assignment can be followed by the name of the student presenting it, while the right margin can be utilized to state the important facts about the assignment topic. Overall this cover page gives a comprehensive look of both being smart and descriptive.

Cover page format: MS Word 2007 | 2010 | 2013 File Size: 2 MB License: [Only for personal use] Download

The third cover page shown here is a unique combination of aqua green, white and black. The look of the cover page is impressive and pleasant with a nice choice of colors. The background image shows that the assignment belongs to mathematics. The heading of the assignment and title can be easily placed at the top, while the rest of the space is utilized with the name of the writer, date of submission, and a brief abstract of the assignment at the bottom. This is a must go to cover page.

Cover page format: MS Word 2007 | 2010 | 2013 File Size: 848 KB License: [Only for personal use] Download

Another well-designed cover page. It has a distinct look, dividing the cover page into two halves. The upper white portion for mentioning the title heading of the assignment, while the lower blue portion for giving a brief abstract regarding the work. The center design is enhancing the impression of the assignment, making it look warmer and more elegant.

This last cover page is smart, attractive having vibrant colors, and thus eye-catching. The design of the cover page pushes the text toward the right, bringing the focus of the reader towards the text. The heading of the assignment is highlighted on the dark pink background that enhances the font. Further important definitions or details can also be mentioned in the space below. This cover page can be the first choice of students liking trendy colors and styles.

Cover page format: MS Word 2007 | 2010 | 2013 File Size: 806 KB License: [Only for personal use] Download

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What has Kamala Harris accomplished as vice president? Here's a quick look.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her meteoric rise as the successor to President Joe Biden, 81, as the Democratic presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election is the most significant seismic shift in presidential politics in recent history.

As she gears up to secure the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago this August, we examine some of Harris’ most significant accomplishments and policy initiatives.

More: Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race: What to know as America looks to election

Immigration

In response to immigration concerns, Harris’ call to action was the public-private partnership Central America Forward (CAF). The idea behind CAF is to support the creation of local jobs and other measures in order to slow the flow of mass migration.

CAF has generated more than $5.2 billion since its launch in 2021, and its partners include more than 50 companies and organizations that have committed to supporting economic growth in the Central America region. The entities represent the financial services, textiles, apparel, agriculture, technology, telecommunications, nonprofit sectors, and others, according to the White House.

Voting rights

Harris was at the forefront of the administration’s pursuit to enshrine voting rights protection throughout the U.S. according to White House transcripts . She pushed for Congress to pass the John R Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act , which would’ve extended the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and required federal approval for some local election law changes.

In 2021, the bill did not receive the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster, preventing the start of debate on the Senate floor where Harris would have cast the deciding vote in the evenly split chamber.

Harris visited a Planned Parenthood clinic on March 14, a historic first for any president or vice president while in office, according to previous reporting by USA TODAY.

Walking through the clinic in Minnesota, the vice president spoke with staff members and health care providers as part of her nationwide “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour earlier this year.

Gun violence

In September 2023, Biden established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to reduce gun violence, overseen by Vice President Harris, as announced by the White House.

The Office of Gun Violence Prevention builds upon actions taken by the Biden-Harris administration to end gun violence, which include the signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Heralded by the White House as the most impactful gun violence prevention measure in almost three decades, the now law bars individuals under the age of 21 from buying firearms, grants the Justice Department additional powers to prosecute gun traffickers, provides mental health services in schools to assist youth affected by gun violence trauma and grief and funds community-based violence intervention programs.

Maternal health

In her previous role as U.S. Senator for California, Harris introduced the Maternal CARE Act and the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act , which would direct multi-agency efforts to improve maternal health, particularly among racial and ethnic minority groups, veterans, and other vulnerable populations as well as maternal health issues related to COVID-19.

The vice president’s prior work on maternal and infant health care was a key component of the Build Back Better Act , passed in 2022. The legislation expands access to maternal care and makes new investments to drive down mortality and morbidity rates.  

Broadband expansion

In 2023, Harris and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin to celebrate the announcement of new electronics equipment production made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s “ Investing in America ” agenda and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires the use of American-made materials and products for federally funded infrastructure projects, with the goal of bringing hundreds of new jobs to the U.S. The law also notably includes a historic $65 billion investment to expand affordable and reliable high-speed Internet access in communities across the U.S.

“Our investments in broadband infrastructure are creating jobs in Wisconsin and across the nation and increasing access to reliable, high-speed internet so everyone in America has the tools they need to thrive in the 21st century,” said Harris.

In 2021, President Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday. Often referred to as the “Second Independence Day,” it commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when 2,000 Union troops reached Galveston, Texas, to announce that enslaved African Americans were freed by executive order two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture .

“As a United States Senator, I was proud to co-sponsor a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday,” said Harris during the Juneteenth concert at the White House. “This [day], we will hold a national day of action on voting.  And I call on all the leaders here to please join us in helping more Americans register to vote.”

Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.

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