ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY PORTFOLIO 2013-2014

According to Merriam Webster, a portfolio is a selection of a students work that is compiled over a period of time and used for assessing performance or progress. As part of your experience in ALA, you will assemble and present a digital portfolio that shows your mastery of essential academic skills and growth in leadership. Though you will begin this portfolio your first year, it will be a living project during your tenure at Chapin High School. You will present it in draft form at the end of each academic year. As a senior, your final portfolio will represent your robust academic and leadership experiences in the ALA.

A portfolio of work is a curated experience. Its an applicants chance to shape the way that Im viewing his or her approach, methods, process, and best thinking; but oftentimes, a portfolio only contains final pieces, as applicants are overly concerned about presenting perfection. Polish doesnt communicate process though, and therefore Im left with only part of the story. Messy problems and how applicants work through them can show a great deal more in a portfolio than one finished, airtight solution. Its then the applicants job to curate those into an experience for the portfolio viewer. Liz Danzico from Great Advice for Job Applicants

ARTIFACTS Each year, you will select artifacts that show your mastery of essential academic skills and growth in leadership. Artifacts should be chosen deliberately, that is, they should reflect important components of your learning and growth. Any artifact included must be accompanied by 1. a well-written description stated in your own words so that community members, parents, and other interested parties would understand assignment expectations, 2. the artifact itself (text, image, video, ppt, etc), preferably embedded so that a user does not have to download content, and 3. a thoughtful reflection about how you grew and what you learned.

REQUIRED PORTFOLIO CONTENT

(The student is ultimately be responsible for organizing his/her page layout, but the headings below should be used as the skeletal structure and navigation.) ACADEMICS: Core Academics - What have you done? What did you learn? By the end of your first year in ALA, you should include 10-15 artifacts from among your classes. You must have at least ONE artifact for each academic core and academic elective class; however, you may choose to feature more than one for certain classes. You will repeat this selection process and include 10-15 new artifacts by the end of your second year in the ALA. During your third and fourth years in the ALA, your portfolio requirements will become more focused on your service and research. COMMUNITY SERVICE Service Hour Topics Sophomore Project: What did you do? Why did you do it? How did you grow? How did it help the community? RESEARCH This section could potentially become your research portfolio or could highlight portions of the capstone research project. Some students may produce a PLTW webpage separately. LEADERSHIP DEFINED THROUGH STUDY So what? Synthesize leadership logs from your courses. How do you define leadership? What does this mean for you as a growing leader? From a scientific standpoint, what are the implications for humanity?

Highlight certain leadership log experiences that have helped you synthesize a definition of positive leadership. ABOUT/EXTRACURRICULAR SELF Include a blurb about you and the ALA (Explain ALA to someone who has never heard about it.) Include a curriculum vitae (CV) - no personal contact information except for email DIGITAL PRESENTATION TIPS Make sure your site is visually pleasing (use a good combination of text, images, sound, video) Design a product that is professional and clean. Use consistent design and layout (set expectations about where to find things and meet them consistently among/across pages). Organize in a way that makes sense to the viewer. (Remember the two click principle.) While you must have certain tabs, how you choose to organize and present information within those tabs is up to you. Refer to previous tip. PRESENTATION You will be expected to present your portfolio in a professional manner. You will need to develop a list of talking points so that you can speak facing the audience and refer to elements of your portfolio behind you. You will need to PRACTICE talking through your presentation so that the navigation is smooth. Keep in mind that your audience may be extended beyond our classroom to administrators, other ALA teachers, parents, community members, etc. EVALUATION Complete portfolios (all required elements included) will be evaluated in a holistic manner. Note: This means that portfolios that are missing components will not be evaluated until they are complete. Portfolios that are not submitted on time will receive a late penalty (10% per day late).