The portfolio procedures a teacher-educator uses in an undergraduate course in teaching reading in the elementary school have proven successful in helping students begin to articulate a philosophy of literacy instruction and assessment. The process also contributes additional benefits to students' levels of self-esteem, self-confidence, and their overall perception of the value of their teacher preparation program. The process is made up of identifiable phases, which can be described as introduction, clarification, organization, presentation, reflection, and evaluation. The teacher-educator used the process in two sections of students (approximately 60) enrolled in a course in methods of literacy instruction. As information pertaining to the portfolio procedure was collected, several patterns emerged: (1) students typically identified similar themes of key categories as they described the contents of their portfolios, but the students came away with distinctly personal notions about literacy education; (2) students' abilities to see connections between specific events and their personal development was an indicator of personal growth; (3) students were keenly aware of the progress they had made through the course; and (4) students increased their understanding of reflective portfolios and how these might be adapted to their own classrooms in the future. The process was intended as a scaffold to support students in the construction of a personally meaningful theoretical orientation towards literacy and literacy instruction. Students' evaluations of the course were considerably higher than similar evaluations for the same course offered the previous semester without a portfolio component. Contains four references. (RS)