So You Have to Have a Portfolio : A Teacher's Guide to Preparation and Presentation

Robert L. (Bob) Wyatt III is Professor of Education at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, where he has taught for the past 13 years. He also taught education courses as a graduate instructor at the University of Oklahoma while completing his doctorate. He taught at the secondary level in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, and at the college level in New Mexico and Texas for 25 years prior to achieving his master’s and doctorate degrees. He has led more than 150 workshops and seminars for staff development during the last 15 years. He has twice been named Teacher of Excellence at East Central, an honor that can only be awarded every four years and is usually nominated by students and elected by peer review. He was among the top five teachers contending for Oklahoma Teacher of the Year while teaching secondary school. He has partici-pated in the Oklahoma Commission for Higher Education portfolio review committees for several colleges in Oklahoma as part of their preparation for NCATE reviews. Wyatt is a language arts specialist with a Ph.D. in both the elementary and secondary levels of language arts. He has taught undergraduate courses in methods for language arts, social studies (both elementary and secondary), and natural science (elementary); Clinicals I, II, and III; strategies for effective teaching (elementary and secondary); Portfolios I, II, and III; children’s literature; young adult literature; psychology of education; foundations of education; Composition I; and grammar. He teaches graduate courses in modern philoso-phies of education, contemporary issues of education, advanced language arts problems, techniques of research, and public relations for school administra-tors and librarians. Wyatt has two other books published: The History of the Haverstock Tent Show: The Show With a Million Friends, published in 1997 by Southern Illinois University Press, and Making Your First Year a Success: The Secondary Teacher’s Survival Guide, coauthored by Dr. Elaine White and pub-lished by Corwin Press in 2002. In addition to his teaching, Wyatt is a selling artist of watercolor and oil paintings. He also has three novels out for publisher review, is a former owner/editor of a weekly newspaper, and is the author/publisher of three books of local history and several journal articles in national, regional, and state journals. He is the president, a director, and an actor at Ada Community Theater, ACT II.

Sandra Looper is Adjunct Professor at North Seattle Community College in Seattle, Washington, in the Parent/Family Division. She currently teaches two online education classes: Special Topics for Parents of Young Children, and Violence and Children Through UniversalClass.com. She also provides inde-pendent consulting and speaking for various organizations and serves as an online expert for The School Page. She has been a presenter and speaker for more than 150 professional development programs, with special interests in the areas of positive school climate, parent involvement, attitude and motiva-tion, team building, technology, effective teaching, and portfolio development. She began an independent consulting business, Teaching From the Heart, in 1992, and is a certified trainer for On the Way to Success With Early Prevention of School Failure as well as an instructor for Parenting With Love and Logic. An educator for 31 years, Looper has a B.Sc. in elementary education and an M.A. in counseling. She is certified as an elementary teacher, principal, and counselor, and has taught graduate and undergraduate university classes in school administration, early childhood and parent education, and curriculum and portfolio development. She served as Associate Director of an innovative elementary education program called Teachers Educating and Motivating Students (TEAMS), in which public school mentors, university students, and faculty worked collaboratively to better prepare education students for the “real world” of teaching. She has presented numerous papers on the role of portfolios through the TEAMS Project, as well as on the importance of mentoring. She has written articles for The Teacher Educator, Principal, Connections in Education, Baseball America, Learning PK-8, and many local newsletter and online articles.