I‘m fortunate to be able to visit our schools on a daily basis and whenever I pass by artwork, I’m drawn in. I have a great deal of admiration for creative minds and how the arts can harness this creativity. Today, I visited the Groton-Dunstable Regional Middle School and came across an art display in our lobby, with photos that were taken during the creation process.
Often times, art projects, which take massive amounts of energy to pull off, don’t receive the attention they deserve. Even worse, projects don’t have the staying power unless they are archived “somewhere” by a photo or video.
When I created our GDRSD Student Portfolio Network (“GDRSDSPN” for short…I kid), I loved the idea of capturing the collaborative process and progress towards an end goal/project. Often times, we just are able to see a final product and not what took place behind the curtains. A digital portfolio can be this “somewhere” that captures all learning, growth, and efforts by students as well as allowing for connections to be made outside the school walls.
Showing students collaborating during their project and then being able to see the depth/dimensions/finality of the final product is what learning is all about. Even if just a snapshot in time, the photos that captured the learning process was really exciting to see.
Below are just a couple highlights that I snapped and edited using my iPhone, and they wanted to showcase on this portfolio.
