Curating Student Work

(Part of @teachthought 30-day Reflective Teaching Blogging Challenge) more info here.

Day 20: "How do you or your students curate student work?"


In the past, I used to post a lot of work in the hallways. I'm not sure why I don't do this as often anymore, but it may be due to the fact that a lot of the work that we do isn't necessarily printed or presented in an art-gallery style.

Here are a few new ways that I'm curating and sharing student work:

*Blogs
     We have a class Kidblog account, and I've paid for the upgrade to allow students more choices in personalizing their blog page. Students are able to post their reflections, ideas, and comments. Later this year, they will also post some of their stories and writing pieces. Just this last week I was able to figure out a way for students to add in photos from Google Drive. I uploaded pictures of their work and now they will be able to write about it and insert a picture to put on their blog. Sharing beyond the classroom is an excellent way to showcase student work and make it available to an authentic audience.

*Portfolios
     Simply a collection of work that I collect to help me reflect on student growth or to review when grading time is near. I will often make copies to collect in a portfolio so students can still take home their work with feedback/grade in a timely fashion. Portfolios are often something I will share at conferences or parent meetings. I don't just hoard all of their work and send it home at the end of the school year!

*Class Books
     Last year I started taking student writing projects and creating a class book. This allows students to share their writing with the rest of the class and add the book to our library for reading during the year. This year, the class books will be able to serve as a model when this year's students do similar projects.

Each of these methods allows me to not only look closely at student work, but celebrate it by sharing it as well.