The Student Teacher Portfolio as Autobiography: Developing a Professional Identity

Abstract

In this study, we argue that student teacher portfolios are a viable, effective, and appropriate tool in documenting teacher growth and development and in promoting reflective, thoughtful practice. We show that the concepts of mediation, history, and conscious reflection, embodied in Vygotskian theory, provide a theoretical framework in which to understand and analyze portfolios in professional development programs. Specifically, this study traces the unique paths of two preservice foreign language teachers who, through anchored reflection mediated by the portfolio, constructed a professional identity out of the historical and cultural conditions of their classroom experience. Therefore, portfolios can go beyond a gatekeeping function to a means of informing teacher educators and forming the identities of novice teachers.