Ellen C. Caldwell | ECLAIRE.me

Comparing current (self) portraits by Native artists such as James Luna, Erica Lord, and Tom Jones to portraits by artists like George Catlin, Jon Mix Stanley, and Edward Curtis helps to highlight and disrupt a longstanding history and tradition of America’s investment in “othering” Native Americans. This lesson also looks at the practice of “playing Indian,” via films and mascots, all under the guise of “respect.”

The openness a portfolio allows with its public display and easily accessible form, encourages re-visiting, and another layer of growth that is not often there with the dropbox mentality behind other learning management systems. With these learning portfolios, it is easier to reflect upon work again and build that reflection into part of a process, so that the learner can see and summarize changes, growth, and lessons learned throughout the course of a semester – and hopefully beyond.