Documentation in the FDK Program:
A Documentation Story:
Documentation is the teacher’s story of the movement of children’s understanding. It should show learning in motion: it may appear to expand and contract, rise, and even disappear, much like a river.
Documentation is the teacher’s story of the movement of children’s understanding. It should show learning in motion: it may appear to expand and contract, rise, and even disappear, much like a river.
Documentation as Design:
To design documentation is to create a representation that theorizes or imagines how student learning might be.
Creating documentation is an effort to understand and represent the children’s theories.
To design documentation is to create a representation that theorizes or imagines how student learning might be.
Creating documentation is an effort to understand and represent the children’s theories.
Purposeful Documentation:
Meaningful documentation needs to be an authentic representation of student learning vs. visual recounting of inquiry (i.e. storyboards need to tell the story of the learning which occurred during inquiry with student driven theories/discoveries).
Whose learning is made visible in documentation?
Meaningful documentation needs to be an authentic representation of student learning vs. visual recounting of inquiry (i.e. storyboards need to tell the story of the learning which occurred during inquiry with student driven theories/discoveries).
Whose learning is made visible in documentation?
Reflective Documentation:
Documentation should be displayed, revisited, and reflected upon by children and adults on an ongoing basis. This keeps the emotional engagement alive and promotes both the children and adults to think about their own questions, theories, and certainties.
Documentation should be displayed, revisited, and reflected upon by children and adults on an ongoing basis. This keeps the emotional engagement alive and promotes both the children and adults to think about their own questions, theories, and certainties.
A New Understanding...
Documentation is a shift from “making doing visible to making THINKING visible” (i.e. What was the intention behind the documentation? How does it show students’ thinking/learning?).
When documentation tells the story of the children’s learning, it validates the student’s learning and discoveries giving them a sense of belonging and importance.
Involving children in the process of documentation is a powerful and valuable learning tool, for both the children and their teachers.
Documentation is a shift from “making doing visible to making THINKING visible” (i.e. What was the intention behind the documentation? How does it show students’ thinking/learning?).
When documentation tells the story of the children’s learning, it validates the student’s learning and discoveries giving them a sense of belonging and importance.
Involving children in the process of documentation is a powerful and valuable learning tool, for both the children and their teachers.