Name: Veronica Santos Manzo

Class: ECED 1010

Assignment: Journal Article Review
Source: Priest, Cheryl “The Benefits of Developing a Professional Portfolio” Young
Children January 2010

Highlights:

When people hire new workers they often interview them to see if that person is what
they are looking for. Interviews no matter how many times you do them can always be
nerve-racking. So as a way to make the interview flow smoothly and allow it to not be
less stressful. Individuals can create a professional portfolio which consists of
“documents reflecting our philosophy and goals” (page 92). A portfolio can help display
professionalism which can be an aspect people hiring look for. There are many things to
remember when creating a portfolio. A person creating a portfolio may keep in mind that
a portfolio can have a picture but that the placing of them is important. The photo should
be purposeful meaning it needs to make sense for what is being shown. Though a
portfolio should be well put together and should be attention-getting it should be more
about what’s inside. It “should highlight your skills, not distract from them.”(page 92) The
reason for the portfolio is not to have a book but to use it as a visual aid and can help
you not forget things you plan to talk about. When you are nervous your brain can be
running all over the place so this can be used as a way to help you remember what you
want to say. In an interview, you will still need to be prepared to answer the questions
they ask. It can be beneficial to take time and think through every scenario that could
take place and prepare your portfolio around it. The portfolio should include a reference
letter, a resume, and a lesson plan to help answer questions and more. You want to
make sure everything is well protected so that it can last a long time. You can do this by
“inserting all contents into plastic sleeves “(pg 95)Carefully design a cover page that will
work so that your name is the thing that pops out the most. Make sure to add a table of
contents as it is a way to show organization. Group your items in a specific way and
label them so they are easily found. Once you do all this you can continue to add things
to it along the way.

Critical Analysis:
When the thought about having to go through an interview comes to mind I instantly feel
nervous. I as many other people who get nervous tend to talk fast and struggle to
remember things and keep on track. Having a visual aid is something I strongly support
because it keeps me on track and it allows the person interviewing you to see more of
what you have done. They can see activities you have put together and they can see
what the children got out of the lessons. I never thought about how the attention
needing to be dimmed from the look of everything else and pointed more towards the
contents. I knew both things were important but I never thought the outside looking
being super eye-catching as being a possible negative and now I know. I also never
thought about the portfolio being durable and it makes sense that it should be but I
would have never thought about that. I am a very social person and can sometimes be
over the top. I could see myself making it more like a book but I realize now and agree
that it shouldn't be a book but should show the most important things. I didn't really
disagree with anything because it's all pretty logical and very well explained. The only
thing that I would say is that I don't see plastic sheets as being very durable I would
laminate and hole much documents. I understand that you will need to update them but
lamentation is a better way of making them durable and you should be keeping copies
in other places so like a drive and you can easily edit them and prepare them to put
them in your binder.

Concluding Summary: This article gives a lot of information but there are a couple of
things that stand out. The first is one that the article discussed a lot and that is that
organization is very important. It said things like “ divide your portfolio into sections “(pg
95) and “use section titles “ (pg 95). Another thing often talked about in the article is the
fact that it should be durable. I don’t agree with durable counting as plastic sheets but I
do agree it needs to be durable. In the article, it frequently mentioned that the contents
need to show the important things. Examples of activities and children’s work is helpful.
It needs to include your resume, Certificates showing your accomplishments, reference
letters, and more. I believe the reference letter is important because when you are hiring
someone to work with children you probably want to hire someone with good references
because that can show that they are trustable. To summarize it all the article said for it
to be professional, organized, durable, visually appealing, and purposeful in its content.