Liberal Studies 495, Portfolio Class
PROFESSOR SHELLEY STONE OFFICE: DDHC108 (Tel. 665-6029)
OFFICE HOURS: M 5:15-5:45, TR 1-2:00, by appointment.
E-Mail:
Liberal Studies 495 will create the student’s portfolio. This serves as the primary means of assessing each student’s mastery of the subject matter taught in the Liberal Studies degree program, and documents the student’s academic career.
Grading: This class is pass-fail, but if you do not pass it, you will not be able to enter a Program of Professional Preparation that will lead to you becoming a certified classroom teacher in California. Passage of this class is based on your assembling a portfolio of materials that demonstrate your successful completion of designated classes in the Liberal Studies major. These courses directly relate to the subjects that you will teach and are called SMC courses (Subject Matter Competency courses). The instructor of your course will not read your final portfolio, rather the instructor of another section of the class will read it. But if you turn in your weekly drafts of your portfolio to the instructor of your class, you will receive feedback on your submissions (your instructor will be reading the portfolios from another section of the same class). Information on each assignment is available in the Liberal Studies Office or at the Liberal Studies web site (
Syllabus
Each week you will turn in a segment of your portfolio, determined by you. You will pick a different subject each week, for which you will write a response to an assigned topic, provide a syllabus, some graded examples of work, and complete an assessment form for the course. The final assignment will be your Personal Statement, an essay of several pages discussing why you wish to be a teacher.
This is a largely a self-directed course for each student. Students meet with the instructor in the first week of classes, and thereafter communicate with the instructor by mainly by e-mail. In the first class meeting directions on materials needed for the portfolio and format will be distributed and gone over. Thereafter each weekly assignment will be turned in at the Liberal Studies Office, or sent to the instructor as an attachment. Students may then pick up the assignment a week later at the office, or it will be returned with comments as an attachment. A second and final class meeting will be scheduled in the fourth week of classes. In that meeting each student will come to class with their three ring binder, and three completed components of the portfolio (from two classes, and the computer technology elements demonstrating CTAP Level I proficiency completed in LS290 or GS390). At that time, the instructor will provide each student with a transcript of their academic record to date, and make suggestions about the student’s presentation of the materials. At the scheduled time of the “Final Examination” for the course or before that time, each student will submit her or his completed portfolio to the instructor at the Liberal Studies Office.
There are 12 assignments to be included in the portfolio. One of these is your computer literacy, which was completed in LS290 or GS390. This should be place in your binder, together with the other assignments and materials for each course. At the end of the course, you should have completed drafts of 9 of the twelve assignments, as well as the computer literacy section. During finals week, it is your responsibility to revise the drafts, and to write the final two sections of your portfolio and turn it in to the Liberal Studies office. It will then be read, and you will receive your final grade.