Reflective portfolios

Each day, Stacey Jordan was joined by six preservice student teachers. This arrangement helped ensure a very high teacher-child ratio. There was always an available lap or ear for the preschoolers. Current research stresses the importance of such frequent, highquality teacher-child interactions. "Teachers who are sensitive to children's needs and who encourage, engage, and verbally communicate with them appear to be nurturing more optimal cognitive, language, and socioemotional development" (Kontos & WilcoxHerzog, 1997). The almost 2:1 ratio in this preschool allowed for optimal teacher-child interactions.

The children's day began with circle time, followed by creative play at centers, including: dramatic play, woodworking, manipulatives, sand /water table, art, puppet theater, and library corner. The students' daily responsibilities included choosing the centers to visit, feeding class pets, and arranging the calendar. During the school day, preschoolers often were asked to make decisions and choices. For example, while each child's first center was assigned, for the remainder of center time they could choose where they would go and what they would do. Teachers and high schoolers sought to enhance each child's awareness about their options, whether the decisions were as simple as whether or not to have granola on their yogurt snack or as complex as how to settle disputes.

Each day, I heard Stacey ask students to choose whether to put a completed project in their portfolio or to take it home. She also asked them to explain the reasons for their decisions. This choice and awarenessbuilding contributed to each child's ability to reflect and plan. Stacey told me, "It's so important for me to respect the child's choice. It's a direct reflection on everything that happens in this classroom. I try not to dictate or tell children what they must do." Stacey said that she is sometimes criticized for running her program in this way, but she believes that, "From the time they enter kindergarten through grade 12 they'll be faced with far too many decisions that are made for them-they need to make decisions on their own."

This is not to say that the preschoolers were left entirely to their own devices. They were nudged when appropriate and encouraged to try new things and expand their abilities. It does mean, however, that the children were respected and viewed as capable decisionmakers. This environment, coupled with the view of everyone as teachers and learners, provided the firm foundation that made reflective portfolios possible.

In her book Children's Minds (1978), Margaret Donaldson wrote about reflection in terms of Piaget's findings:

One point that emerges clearly is that awareness typically develops when something gives us pause, and when consequently, instead of just acting, we stop to consider the possibilities of acting which are before us. The claim is that we heighten our awareness of what is actual by considering what is possible. We are conscious of what we do to the extent that we are conscious also of what we do not do-of what we might have done. The notion of choice is central. (p. 97) Consequently, Stacey made it a point to offer many possibilities for the children so that they, in turn, could make choices.