2 – Work file 9: Working with journals, logbooks, portfolios³⁷

Reflecting on one’s own teaching with the use of journals, logbooks or portfolios can be an ideal method for self-assessment and a good basis for starting didactical and pedagogical discussions.

Journals

Usually, a journal is constructed in a way that allows some kind of dialogue (with a peer teacher, a colleague from another school, etc.). In a journal the teacher writes about his or her experiences in a diary-like way also expressing his or her personal interpretations and feelings about a certain lesson or a certain behaviour or way of interaction that he or she showed. A journal leaves room for personal remarks and is open to another person’s remarks. The act of going into a dialogue with somebody else and reading another person’s remarks, interpretations and thoughts about something one has already thought about creates a high level of reflection about teaching and learning processes and gives further room for discussion. For reflecting on EDC/HRE lessons it is recommended that the peer-teacher or colleague herself or himself is familiar with EDC/HRE.

Logbook

A logbook is a description of a process without any comments or personal remarks. In a logbook pure facts find their place and can be read again by the teacher and thus create a degree of reflection. In this sense, a logbook can be compared to a diary or a journal without the element of personal interpretation and dialogue. Using logbooks only makes sense when the teacher really goes through them again relatively soon. As a logbook does not include any kind of remarks or interpretation it can become rather difficult recalling certain elements of a lesson which took place a long time ago.

Portfolio

A portfolio for teachers is a collection of materials that have been created and put together by the teacher. It is meant to show the strengths of his or her EDC/HRE lessons as well as his or her identified fields of further development. A portfolio is meant to be an instrument that shows the competences of a teacher in a certain field. In modern teacher training and in-service training portfolios have become a common instrument for qualification. In a second sense, a portfolio is an instrument of reflection. It gives room for criticism and evaluates the effect of lessons, methods, interaction with students, etc. Things that can be included in a portfolio:

• short biography of the teacher;
• description of the class;
• chosen lessons (including worksheets, students’ materials);
• evaluated products of students;
• test results (if there are any);
• personal statements about the teacher’s philosophy of EDC/HRE teaching;
• products such as videos or photos from certain EDC/HRE lessons;
• peer feedback of colleagues who visited EDC/HRE lessons;
• project documentation if the teacher has conducted any in relation to EDC/HRE.

37. The suggested methods in this work file can also be used for students and are common tools in the teaching and learning culture of various European countries.