Practitioner's Portfolio
Peter J. Taylor
Program in Critical & Creative Thinking
Graduate College of Education
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Originally prepared for Promotion review in September 2001 but updated where possible since then. Please excuse not-yet-implemented links and/or notify me.
All students whose work is included here have given permission.
This Practitioner's Portfolio consists of seven binders.
I welcome dialogue around the different components of the Portfolio
to help readers appreciate work in areas or directions unfamilar to them.
Preparing a Portfolio also corresponds to my view that formal reviews should
attend to process as well as product. That is, for reviewers to be confident
in continued effectiveness of a colleague, they should have evidence of the
faculty member's on-going process of assessment and development of research,
teaching, and responding to institutional challenges, and of
cross-fertilization between those three aspects of a scholar's work.
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Detailed Table of Contents
Binder 1. PERSONAL STATEMENT with C.V., Annual Reviews, and 4th year reviews attached
From Critical Thinking to Reflective Practice,
Especially about Environment, Science, and Society
This statement can stand alone as a summary of my recent work and future plans, but is
better read with reference to the full Practitioner's Portfolio. Notes in the
statement refer readers to relevant sections in the Portfolio and associated websites. Footnotes in the version here refer to abbreviations of publications and presentations, given in full in my curriculum vitae.
Introduction
I. Research and Writing
I.A The Limits of Ecology
I.B Concurrent and Prospective Educational Projects
I.B.1 Fostering Critically Reflective Practice, especially among Ecologists and Socio-Environmental Researchers
I.B.2 Social Constructions of Life
I.B.3 Action Research on Science-STS teaching
I.B.4 The Study of Complex Interactions in the area of Environment, Health, and Society
II. Teaching and Advising
II.A Wide Scope of My Teaching and its Active, Ongoing Development
II.B The Philosophy of Teaching Critical Thinking I Brought to UMB
II.C Teaching Critical Thinking about Science in its Social Context
II.D Leading Students from Critical Thinking to Taking Initiative
II.E Learning from Difficult Courses in a Thoughtful, Respectful, and Professional Manner
II.F Learning from Educators beyond CCT
II.G Promoting Collegial Interaction Around Innovation in Teaching
III. Service and Institutional Development
III.A Building a Basis for Interdisciplinary Science and Environmental Education
III.B Ensuring a Viable CCT Program without the Other Full-time CCT faculty Member
III.C Developing CCT in New Directions
III.D Clarifying and Strengthening CCT's Status in GCOE and UMB
IV. Institutional Need
- Curriculum Vitae, with links to abstracts of many publications,
- Annual Faculty Reviews, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04
- , Reviews [not yet included], and Responses [not yet included]
Binder 2. PUBLICATIONS
- P/reprints of articles prepared or published since 1998, plus a selection of previous publications submitted to outside reviewers [List only included in web version]
- Works in progress [see c.v.]
- Earlier publications [see c.v.]
Binder 3. BOOK MANUSCRIPT
Binder 4. COURSES
[Updated Table of Contents for courses, including those taught since 2001]
Preceding the material on the courses:
- section II of my personal statement;
- a summary my advising and independent studies;
- background on some anomalies in my record; and
- some unsolicited appreciations [not included in web version].
For each course taught in 1998-01 I include a review of:
- the original objectives for the course (which should be read together with the description and goals stated in the syllabi);
- challenges encountered and my responses; and
- future plans.
Each review is followed by:
- the syllabi;
- summaries of the GCOE evaluations;
- summaries from the written course evaluations I designed; and/or
- the originals of those evaluations.
Additional material related to teaching and advising is contained in the exhibits in Binders 5 and 6.
Courses
1. CCT670 Thinking, Learning and Computers
2. CCT698 Practicum: Processes of Research and Engagement
3. CCT601 Critical Thinking (with A. Millman)
4. CCT611 Science in Society [Seminar in Critical Thinking]
5. CCT693 Seminar in Evaluation of Educational Change
6. CCT694 Synthesis Seminar
7. CCT640 Environment, Science & Society [C&CT in Sci. & Tech.]
8. Ed 610 Computers, Technology, and Education
Additional special topics courses I organized:
9. CCT697 New Directions in Science Education
10. CCT697 Critical and Creative Thinking in Practice
11. CCT697 Critical and Creative Thinking in the Workplace
New courses, Fall 2001:
12. CCT611 Making Sense of Numbers [Seminar in Critical Thinking]
See also new syllabi for CCT698 and Ed 610 in sections above
Binder 5. EXHIBITS from Teaching and Advising
The exhibits have been selected to illustrate the sections discussed in Section III of my personal statement.
See Table of Contents
Binder 6. FOURTH YEAR REVIEW Practitioner's Portfolio and attachments
- Statement, Portfolio
- Earlier review of Courses, superceded by Binder 4
- Exhibits
These were organized around the four pedagogical goals introduced in the personal statement: Reciprocal animation, Critical thinking, Ongoing Development of Pedagogy, and Heterogeneous construction. Given that research and writing were conveyed in my publications, the exhibits were drawn more from my work teaching and advising, and my contributions in service and institutional development. Each set of exhibits was introduced in a cover page.
- RECIPROCAL ANIMATION -- two-way interaction between the sciences and
interpretations from STS disciplines
A. Courses modeling Reciprocal animation
B. Publications resulting from linking my scholarship and teaching
C. Conceptual exploration and theoretical innovation
D. Case studies
E. Institutional initiatives
- CRITICAL THINKING -- contrasting the paths taken by science, society,
learning, and people's lives with other paths that might be taken, and basing
actions upon the insights gained
F. Writing for learning and reflection
G. Making comments to stimulate rethinking and revision
H. Exposing the constructedness of teaching and learning
I. Teaching/learning as a joint dynamic
J. Empowerment to act upon critical thinking
K. Advising towards lifelong learning
L. Facilitating trans-disciplinary exploration
- ONGOING DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY -- experimenting, innovating and developing
better ways to learn from teaching about teaching and learning
M. Developing a large range of CCT courses
N. Experimenting to develop STS and CCT pedagogy
O. On-going development of courses
P. Varieties of course evaluation
Q. Promotion of teacher-teacher interaction
- HETEROGENEOUS CONSTRUCTION -- diversity of
influences on the development of an idea or person that build on each other over
time and provide multiple potential points of engagement
R. Heterogeneous construction as a model of agency
Binder 7. DOCUMENTS related to Service and Institutional Development
The exhibits have been selected to illustrate the four sections discussed in Section III of my personal statement, plus some other material.
See Table of Contents