How to Make a Teacher Portfolio That Gets You the Job!

When you walk into an interview for a teaching job, you want to feel confident in your skills but also your ability to show them off!

In some careers, a resume’ listing experience might be enough, but in teaching, I think it’s a huge boon to go into an interview with a portfolio that really shows the details of that “elementary teacher” position you’ve had (or student teaching).

It’s been awhile since I added my On The Hunt for a Teaching Job series, but I know seeing others’ portfolios really helped me (especially as a new teacher!) so I want to share mine.

For my portfolio, I picked up a professional binder. Yes, it’s expensive, but you want the cover to say, “I’m credible and you need to look at me!” I used a pre-made Word template to make a cover page and added a photo of me with my class as well as my contact information.

In the pocket, I include a resume, and the inside has a matching cover page that works sort of like an informal cover letter.  I started with my favorite teaching quote, and used it as a springboard to describe my passion for teaching. I didn’t  rehash my resume’ here- but instead wanted to get them interested in me.

(Note: Please feel free to use something similar, but please DON’T copy exactly what I wrote. You want it to be unique to YOU!)

Another option is to make a brochure. This is really great to leave after an interview, especially if it has a picture so they remember which face goes with which name!

Inside, I use dividers to make it clear where I can find certain things. Notice that I said “I can find,” not “the administrator can find.” Administrators may never ask to see your portfolio or have time to do much with it, but if you happen to be in for an interview, a portfolio can be SO helpful! You can see my dividers here, now that I have a few years of experience:

Here, you can see my dividers before my last update, when I hadn’t taught in my own classroom.

In the past, I just stuck in pages of things I’d done. Most were printed out worksheets, assessments, parent notes, etc. And that was okay, but this time around I decided to show a little more.

One HUGE benefit of blogging is that I take lots more pictures of the things going on in my classroom. So, for instance, when I wanted to show my creative lessons, ta – da!

I wanted to showcase classroom management, and again, I already had the photos. It’s a great way to not just tell what I would do, but show it. I want principals to be able to imagine me and my classroom in their school!

I still kept examples of work and other things behind each section, but these pages made it look really polished.

Even if you’re not going to post them on a blog, I’d recommend finding a cheap point-and-shoot camera (or even a smartphone, if you have one) to take photos of your classroom and projects you do. It really helps when a principal wants to imagine you not in a suit, sitting in the office, but in classroom working with students.

What’s really great about these pages is that you can print another copy (or go to FedEx Office for more color copies if you just have way too much money) and leave a mini-portfolio at schools without having to leave your nice binder. I used these mini-portfolios when I dropped off resume’s in person, too!

When you consider what to include, make sure you think about the basics (classroom management, reading, math, engaging instruction, differentiation, assessment and data, organization), but don’t forget to include a section with your credentials and any honors/ certificates/ professional development/ licenses you may have! (Page protectors will keep you from having to hole punch those important papers.)

Think about what makes you unique as a teacher. When they say, “What are your strengths?,” what will you show them?

Don’t be afraid to make it unique and bright! For some other professions, you might not want to add color or any element of cute, but I think as long as it looks professional, colorful works really well for standing out.

If you’re new here, be sure you check out the rest of this series and my new teacher tips!

Next in the On The Hunt series: How to Stand Out (Even Before a Teaching Interview)

Thanks for visiting!

What I’m Loving Lately

Today has been a long day. I had a sub this morning so I could go to a computer training, subbed in the afternoon, finished up some prep for our Family Reading and Math Night, and stayed at school until we cleaned up from that at 8.

Any other teachers pulled a 12-hour-workday lately? Whew! Good thing I love teaching.

I am feeling tired, but still thinking positive- so I wanted to share some of my favorite things lately.

My Daymaker gave me the cutest little package of Post-Its and my favorite candy—peanut butter M&M’s. I may or may not have eaten a lot of these instead of dinner tonight when I stayed at school!

Jolly Rancher Watermelon soda? Crazy delicious. I’ve been trying to drink less soda lately, but this is absolutely worth the calories once in awhile!

I’m usually not a designer girl, but I found this on sale because it’s “last season’s pattern," and I just loved the bright colorful design. Even better, this is basically just a wallet with a strap, so I can’t really stuff way too much in it!

Victoria’s Secret Sparkling Citrus—Lemon Escape hand & body cream. I’m not usually a fan of coconut, but this lotion makes me smell like a yellow Starburst!

Picked up this elephant necklace from Target. It’s random, but I love it!

I also got these at Target- cute flats that are actually comfortable. I normally can’t really do flats, but I am wearing these constantly because I can actually wear them all day and they are so CUTE too!

Oh, and I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of Candy Cane Hershey kisses! I can’t wait til they come out every year, and this year I didn’t know they were out yet until my husband surprised me with some. So sweet- and delicious!

The last thing I’m loving?

I posted my November edition of Super Text Detectives on TpT, and people have been leaving me such sweet feedback! Thank you— I get an email whenever there is a new sale or piece of  feedback, and it truly makes my day!

If you liked my freebies for Finding Text Evidence, be sure to check out this Super Text Detectives pack! It includes 10 non-fiction and 5 fiction passages.

What are you loving lately? :)

Giving THANKS for Teacher Time-Savers!

I’m teaching half-time this year and still feel like I never have enough time to do everything I’d like to do! I’ve figured out a few ways to save time as a teacher and they really help me fit it all in. Here are some time-saving tips that you might be able to bring to your classroom!

1) Create your own forms for anything you create on a regular basis.

My lesson plan format saves me SO much time every single week. (Pick up free planning template and lesson plan tips here.)

 

Here are my data forms from last year and this year- so worth the time investment!

2) Don’t give yourself too many things to change each day or week! Remember- keep it simple!

    

This Must Do board was so easy to change out each week for Daily 5 Accountability, and back when I did more traditional “centers,” having a rotating wheel was SO much easier than moving a ton of cards! (I even kept centers as simple as I could, like the Word Detective center—free in my store if you don’t have it yet!)

3) Do things ahead of time!

                           

Okay, maybe this isn’t exactly saving time, but I like to set myself up for success later. Rather than worrying about morning work copies each week, do them ahead for a month or two. Rather than having to prepare birthday certificates and things one at a time, fill out all of the certificates in order for the year at the beginning, and then stick everything together in one spot so it’s easy to grab that morning!

4) Use Post-It notes to move seating charts.

It’s so much easier than moving a million desks- and bonus, if you make your seating chart in a file folder and stick it in your sub folder, it’s one less thing to worry about for a sub!

5) Use your storage to minimize transition time!

This year, as a reading specialist, the two of us who share our room put together this little supply station. It’s right next to our table, so it’s easy to grab the basket we need and put it where students can easily access supplies.

    

Last year, in the classroom, I concentrated a lot on making manipulatives easy to hand out quickly. (Shower caddy for our math journals and reading response notebooks, and Target Dollar Spot boxes for place value blocks- I can let one student from each group get their supplies and it’s quick and easy!)

    

Cups, bowls, recycled materials, and of course Target finds worked really well for easy, cheap, stackable storage. The ones below were perfect for when my students played games—everything they needed in one easy grab!

                                           

6) Put frequently dialed, important numbers right on the phone so you never have to look them up!

Also PERFECT for subs- just in case someone gets sick or they have a question.

What are your time-saving teacher tips?

Link up your time-savers with Blog Hoppin’!

Five for Friday! TGIF :)

Happy Friday! Whew- what a week! My schedule was much more packed than usual!

We had a chance to dress up last Friday for school. My team decided to go as Dr. Seuss characters and I loved how easy this costume was!

I borrowed a hat, added a Christmas bow, and drew whiskers on my face with some eyeliner- and the kids knew instantly that I was the Cat in the Hat! I wore it Thursday night to pass out candy, too.

It’s almost time for our next round of data meetings already. I finally fixed up my data sheet to match the data we’re using at my new school, and I am loving having my data organized in one place.

I am sad that it’s already time for my groups to change! I miss having the same “class” all year.

My school has a “Daymaker” program where every staff member that signs up gets paired with another staff member and twice a month, they try to “make their day” with little surprise gifts. My daymaker got me some Pumpkin Cupcake soap and a Pumpkin Pecan Waffles candle. The soap is good, but the candle… oh my goodness, incredible! SO sweet- and I really needed a little love this week.

One day this week, both of my coworkers’ kids suddenly got sick- so I spent the day doing my job plus preparing their sub plans, subbing for one of them in the afternoon, and then teaching an after school program before rushing downtown where I’d committed to volunteering at a jazz event.  Amazing music, but an exhausting day!

The next day I was still worn out and had an awful headache, so I came home, lit the candle, and relaxed on the couch for a couple of hours. Ahhh.

Last weekend, my husband took me on a weekend getaway without telling me where we were going!

We ended up in Hocking Hills, Ohio, staying in this sweet 100-year-old cabin.

We also went horseback riding through the woods at the Spotted Horse Ranch and went on a “cowboy cookout.” So gorgeous! I LOVE the fall.

We went hiking the next day too, and the caves and rock formations were every bit as beautiful. Such a great way to celebrate 8 years together (and did I mention my husband planned it all himself?)

It was a great week, but busy! I’m excited to say that this weekend is blissfully free and I have some time to relax and get things done. Hope you had a fantastic week too! :)

If you blog, be sure to link up with Five for Friday at Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Trick or Treat- SALE! :)

Happy Halloween! :)

If you have been interested in my fluency folders (or any other product!), be sure to stop by my store tonight and enjoy a 20% off "treat"! :)

P.S. -- Thanks to Becca of First Grade in Foxwell Forest for the cute logo!

Classroom Organization DIY- Cover Shelves and Adding a Usable Surface, Too! - a guest post

I love seeing awesome classroom DIY, especially when it helps the classroom be better organized and make students less distracted! When I read about Erica's DIY project to cover her storage space, I was blown away and asked if she would share more about it here in a guest post.

So, without further ado... please welcome Erica! :)

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Hey all! I am really excited to be taking a quick break from Mrs. V's Grade Threes to come on over for a guest post about my sliding bulletin board project from this summer.

This is my second year in my current classroom and last year I had such a hard time managing all my storage space. I know I know - What teacher complains about storage space? The problem I have is my tendency to simply pile stuff wherever it fits which left me with a bunch of shelves that were a pretty far cry from being organized.

I may not be the world's greatest organizer but I do like to have my work space as neat and tidy as possible. So I came up with a plan to cover the shelves in bulletin boards but of course I didn't want to lose the storage. The solution was fairly simple since I had seen sliding bulletin boards in a few newer schools and thought it was a great idea. Of course I don't have a budget to match that of a newly built school so I had to think a little outside the box.

After a little creative thinking and some physical labour I figured out a way to do it and I am super happy with the results!

See more pictures below.

The first step was figuring out what materials I would be able to use (and afford) and how I would put everything together. Here is a quick list of the basic materials I used:

• 2" x 6" boards
• dual sliding door tracks (purchased at a hardware store)
• 4' x 8' donacona boards (typically used for insulation they are not super durable but they are nice and lightweight which made them easy to hang and maneuver)
• metal J-trim (hardware store)

Putting them together took a little bit of trial and error but now that I have them up I am in love with them. There are still a few glitches - one of the boards could be trimmed since it rubs against the counter which makes it hard to move - but overall they are serving their purpose beautifully. 

Having the counter was really important since it gave me a place to put the guide-tracks which keeps everything in its place and prevents the boards from being able to swing away from the cabinets. I am not sure if it would work as well in other situations but hey you never know until you try. 

So now for a basic run-through of how I put it all together:

#1 - I used the 2" x 6" boards to create an overhanging ledge where I could attach the sliding door. I attached one of the tracks (I had to use 3 8-foot tracks for my boards) to the board so I could make sure the edges were flush and the track would fit fairly tight to the cabinetry.

#2 - Once all the boards were in place I installed the closet door tracks by following the instructions in the box.  

#3 - My donacona boards were slightly too tall (I needed to shave off about an inch) so I whipped out a saw and trimmed em down. It's a really soft material and the saw cut through it like butter.

#4 - The hardest part of all of it was attaching the sliding door hardware (the little wheely bits that slide in the tracks) to the boards. As I mentioned before the boards are made of a pretty soft material so I had to find a way to anchor the screws in. This is where the metal J-trim comes in. I cut the J-trim into 3-inch pieces using metal cutters so I could use it as an anchor for the hardware. Wherever I attached a slider I first put a piece of the J-trim so that when I put a nut and bolt through the hardware to attach it to the board it was going through a piece of metal. The screws would break out of the donacona board pretty easily. The picture isn't super clear but hopefully it helps.

#5 - Carefully put the boards into the sliding tracks. In my case I couldn't angle the boards in from top to bottom since the sink faucets were in the way. We had to leave one of the sliding tracks off, put the boards on and then attach the final piece of track.

Once the boards were up and in place I painted them (it takes a few coats) and added some decor to make it pretty as well as functional. Here is what they look like today:

I believe teachers know best what they need from their classroom space and unfortunately not every classroom is built to order. I loved all the storage in my room but didn't have any space to display anchor charts or student work. Lucky for me I have an administrator who gives me the chance to try some DIY projects and when they work out like this it is even better! I love having the extra wall space in my room to display student work, curricular content, and anchor charts among other things. Yes the boards are far from perfect but they have made my classroom more functional, more organized, and generally improve the overall feel of the room.

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Wasn't this an AMAZING project to DIY in her classroom?

Make sure you check out Erica's 3rd grade blog! She's new to blogging but already sharing some amazing ideas and great classroom photos. (If you're anything like me, you love seeing photos of other teachers' classrooms!)

Thanks for sharing such a great project, Erica! :)