This series began with an overview of the Outside Resources section of the Professional Portfolio developed by each Teacher Assistant. In the second post, Brock, one of our TAs, shared his Outside Resources entry, and I admitted that I evaluated it incorrectly. The purpose of this, the final post in the series, is to explain what led to my error in evaluation and how the exit interview helped me to correct my misconception.

The previous post introduced the assessment used to evaluate Teacher Assistants' ability to supplement their curriculum with outside resources. Typically, this entry includes an NCTM article related to the content addressed in a TA's unit plan. Issues only arise when TAs select resources that are either unrelated to the mathematics in the unit or are not from NCTM.

Last week 17 GVSU math majors completed their Secondary Teacher Assisting placement.  The final activity of the semester is an individual exit interview during which we meet with each teacher in training to go over his or her professional portfolio. Each portfolio includes 14  entries: Introduction Letter; Resume; Teaching Philosophy; Equity Project; Technology Project; Unit Plan; Learning Objectives; Assessment Plan; Curriculum Evaluation; Outside Resources; Lesson Planning Memoir & Recount; Decision Making; Analysis of Student Work; and Reflection & Self-Evaluation.