The Portfolio Group

The Portfolio Group met at the State Grille on Wednesday, September 26, for our end of year celebration. Present were Cheryl, Michaelann, Ron, Gayle, Michael, Tim, Allison, Janet, and Donna.

Before dinner, we discussed several items. Here is a summary.

Budget
The remaining funds from the Teacher As Researcher Grant will be used as follows:
1) Cover AERA travel expenses for the two members who went
2) Purchase 6 tickets for the U of H Showcase of Stars
3) It is OK to purchase a projector for presentations

Be sure to turn in any outstanding receipts by the end of May.

Books
Tim and Cheryl have ordered books for us. We will all get a copy of Narrative Inquiry by Lyons and a selection of other titles. The books will be delivered at our meeting on May 18 and should help us deepen our work next year.

Proposal
Cheryl has written a proposal for continuing to fund the work of this group next year. It includes funding for meetings and travel to AERA. It also includes journals and high quality tape recorders to better record the work of our group. We also talked about ways to better utilize the blog. There were concerns that maybe a blog is too public for some of the conversations people would like to have between meetings so we can look into alternatives such as bulletin boards or listservs. However, it seemed like the main barrier to people writing more frequently was forgetting how to log in and just forgetting to check other members' entries and comment. I will work on getting us all "subscribed" to the blog so we get automatic email alerts when one of us posts.

Publishing Opportunity
We have accepted an offer to be discussants for a yearbook that Cheryl and Louise are editing. We will be writing an Overview and Framework as well as a Summary and Implications for a set of three articles about accountability. We are meeting on May 3 to brainstorm and outline and on May 18 to edit. Look for email reminders for exact time and place.

Showcase of Stars
Six of us will attend the Showcase of Stars at the U of H Hilton on May12, This is both an opportunity to show off our work as well as seek funding. Ron and Michaelann are working on a brochure and timeline to pass out. Ron will work on a display, and Tim will bring excerpts from our collaborative portfolio pages.