Literacy Portfolios: Helping Students Know Themselves.

S cott is a4th grade student at an inner-city school in Manchester, New Hampshire. He is telling Karen Harris, his resource room teacher, why he chose the items he included in his Literacy Portfolio: • A drawing. "This shows that I can draw pictures, because before I couldn't draw. I'll always remember this. At home my mother used to give me paper and pencil, and I broke the pencils and crossed my arms. Now I write." • A draft of a piece of writing he had published as a book in the resource room the previous year. "This is the first book I wrote. I can write books." • A piece of writing from the current year. "Before I couldn't write that good, and now I can. Now I can write better and read better." • A list of books he can read. "This says that I'm a reader, that I can read these books." • A book. The Little Engine That Could. "This is one of my favorite books. My mom used to read it to me."