Professional Portfolio Presentations

Last Monday, May 4th the Physical Education department hosted it's presentation of the best portfolios from the senior class of 2009 at Park Center. This was a great oppertunity for me as a Physical Education major, who is early in the program, to get a good look at what I should model my professional portfolio after. The presentation was from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm which gave me enough time to look at multiple portfolios. I didn't, however, have enough time to look at all the portfolios, but I did have a chance to look at some of the best ones.

I was able to look at portfolios from: Alicia Thomas, Richard Rolo, Caitlin Cruschow, John Fresetch, Jonathan Billing, Kevin Tripp, and Mallory Cogen. Every portfolio was impressive but there were some aspects of different ones that I liked. For example, Alicia Thomas' included many pictures which really added and showed that she had experience. It's one thing to just have a resume that says you have experience but to show pictures of yourself teaching really adds to it. I also liked how Mallory Cogen put time into making creative dividers for each NASPE/NCATE Standards. I liked how John Fesetch color coded his Standards with different color card stock so that you easily knew what section you were in.

Also, Kevin Tripp had a very impressive resume that caught the eye with a red border and Cortland logo. If I was an employer with an opening and was going through resumes to narrow down the candidates, Kevin's resume would catch my eye and make me take a second look at him. Finally I really liked Jonathan Billing's portfolio. You could tell that he took the time to make the graphics for his dividers and his cover art. It really put his portfolio above the others.

What I learned from talking to the different students who were presenting their portfolios was that I need to save everything. I need to save not only hard copies but also back up the computer files as well. Richard Rolo mentioned that I should create a folder on my computer for pieces of work that I want to put in the portfolio and keep everything organized by what semester I took the classes in. Luckily I already do this, but I still need to make a backup copy by burning the files onto a cd and keeping them seperate.

Overall it was a good experience for me observing the portfolios and I will attend future presentations so that I can continue to develop my portfolio and hopefully be presenting mine to faculty, staff, and students when I'm a senior.