The Promise of Portfolio: Teacher Perspective

When we talk about a portfolio in the realm of finance, we're talking about a collection of assets that, depending on their value, contribute to your net worth. For those who are risk-adverse, it is generally advised that one diversify their investments so as to increase the possibility of reaping dividends in a fluctuating or otherwise unpredictable market. Those with a greater tolerance for risk might choose to invest in a single or specific type of asset. Either way, continued investment and risk managed according to the market is promised to produce growth over time.

In examining this idea, it's important to define that promise not as a foregone conclusion, but rather an indication of what may be expected.

A professional portfolio should offer that same promise.

Like a financial portfolio, a professional portfolio is a collection of assets, the sum of which offers a subjective interpretation of the value of your skillset.

If you have a low tolerance for risk, you might choose to diversify your portfolio, not just in terms of the assets you curate, but also in terms of the skills you invest time in learning. Alternatively, if you have a strong desire to specialize in a given field, someone who chooses to go all in, then you will be the mercy of the market and its demand for that skill or talent.

Just like a financial portfolio does not determine one's worth as a person, neither does a professional portfolio. The promise, once again, isn't a guarantee of success, whether to be measured in wealth or ambition.

The promise lies in the potential.

Moving away from the comparison to a financial portfolio is necessary to more closely examine and appreciate the unique potential of a professional portfolio.

So, who should have a professional portfolio? The short answer - Everyone!

A more contextualized answer - Anyone who would benefit from showing where and how they've invested in themselves so as to communicate their professional value to a client, employer, or team.

When discussing professional portfolios most people default to thinking about a website or some other form of digital presentation of their best work. Traditionally, portfolios have been leveraged by those of us with a visual output to our work. Think designers, photographers, videographers, musicians, and writers. It’s easy to imagine how and why such creatives would choose to showcase their skills in such a format. In recent years, a whole new crop of professionals have been leveraging portfolios, from strategists to salespeople, from doctors to data analysts. While it might be hard to conceptualize how these folks might utilize a portfolio, storytelling is always at the heart.

Given the ubiquitous access to free content creation and distribution tools, crafting a story around your work is easier than ever before. These days, most professional portfolios take the form of a simple, informational website. As a platform to share text, photos, videos, audio, data, [ETC.], it’s common, albeit shortsighted, to believe that’s all there is to a portfolio— a digital collection of content. As an educator, it’s crucial to examine both the process and product in exploring the true possibilities of a meaningful portfolio.

For the purposes of this discussion, the process of building a portfolio could be considered the introspection that focuses the direction of the work or the self-exploration that guides future personal and/or professional development. Whereas the product is the output of those key learnings, in essence, the articulation and demonstration of that self-exploration.

In recognizing the interdependence of process and product when building a meaningful portfolio, the question becomes: how do we, as educators, design a learning experience that not only allows for, but that ignites that kind of self-discovery? From here, it’s easy to jump to vague constructs that offer a conceptual foundation for the work. Trending topics like “student-led” or “personalized” learning offer a compelling explanation of the WHY, but often fall short of detailing the HOW.

So much of the talk about portfolios lives in theoretical abstracts, but what’s missing is any real guidance on practical application. Before we begin dissecting the component parts of a meaningful portfolio and how that might translate into the design of curriculum, a disclaimer is warranted.

What follows is one approach.

Although proven to produce positive outcomes in my classroom, educators are encouraged to consider the individual needs of their learners, their objectives, and the goals of their administration or institution. 

As previously mentioned, the foundation of a meaningful portfolio is built on personal discovery, professional articulation, and ultimately a demonstration of skill that affirms ones aptitudes and ambitions. In other words, students first need to engage in a series of guided explorations to help discover a little more about who they are and who they want to be in the world. Once they get a better idea of that, they need help articulating what they learned about themselves in a way that communicates the greatest impact or contribution they can offer a future employer, a potential lead, or a new team. Finally, and most commonly recognized as a component part of a meaningful portfolio, is the curated collection of assets and artifacts that showcases applied ability. 

If we were to write these out as objectives they might sound like the ones outlined below:

Upon completion of a meaningful portfolio development experience students will be able to:

• Describe the component parts of a portfolio and the importance of approaching them in an intentional order.

• Define and work toward completion of a series of personally and/or professionally relevant goals.

• Articulate any personal and/or professional development achieved during the execution of those goals.

• Collect and display assets that showcase valuable skills and growth over time.

As an educator, there’s less instruction and more coaching demanded by this model. Student portfolios should be as unique as the individuals themselves, thus a personalized approach is needed. Rather than hard rules about what a portfolio should or shouldn’t be, educators might choose instead to establish guidelines, explain their intent, then allow each student to thoughtfully interpret how to build something supportive of their needs.

Once again, the promise of a professional portfolio lies in its potential to tell a story - one of self-discovery and continued development. When done well, it’s the story of both where you’ve been and where you’re going and the value that you bring along the way. A meaningful portfolio shows the rich accumulation of all the ways you’ve invested in yourself and the dividends that investment yields to yourself and others.