our journey into pedagogical documentation: a bctf inquiry project

•A BCTF Teacher Inquiry Project

OUR JOURNEY INTO

PEDAGOGICALDOCUMENTATI

ONA BCTF Inquiry Project

Welcome

Kerri Hutchinson, ELT /ENT/Grade 2, M.J. Shannon Elementary

Courtney Jones, ELT/ERA, James Ardiel Elementary

Niki Leech, Grade 1/2, Sullivan Elementary

Lora Sarchet, Grade 1/2, Sullivan Elementary

Laura Verdiel, Grade 2, Holly Elementary

Hilary Wardlow, Kindergarten, James Ardiel Elementary

Our Morning Together

Introductory RemarksGallery Walk

Please feel free to ask us about the various projects as you walk through the Gallery.

Please help yourselves to refreshments.

The Spark

Instructions for living a life.Pay attention.Be astonished.Tell about it. - Mary Oliver

How might pedagogical documentation enable

students to better engage with and reflect on their

own learning, by deepening their questioning skills

and strengthening their abilities to communicate

their understanding?  

By using pedagogical documentation, will students develop higher level questioning skills according to Bloom’s Taxonomy?

By using pedagogical documentation, will students be better able to communicate and build upon their learning through exploration and play?

Will pedagogical documentation be an effective and efficient formative assessment tool?

Will pedagogical documentation allow us to look beyond our teacher biases in order to more authentically interpret students’ learning?  

How will the use of pedagogical documentation deepen collaboration between non-enrolling and classroom teachers to support learning?

Trusting does not mean knowing how it will turn out. Trusting means embracing the

unknown.

Alejandra Sanchez and Claudia Ruitenberg

Reggio Emilia, Italy

City in Italy World renowned for their stream of preschoolsThe importance lives inside Reggio’s deep historic, cultural, and political history

Interweaving Guiding Principles

Education is a right for all children – democratic and inclusive

Strong Image of Children and Childhood Holistic and Constructivist

Hundred Languages of Children Languages are seen as ways to represent and re-represent learning

Environment is critical as a ‘3rd Teacher’ Thoughtful placement of materials

Open to children, authentic children

Natural light and elements inviting children to explore and question world around them

Interweaving Guiding Principles

Documentation Pedagogy of listening – visible listening

Way of being with children

Role of the Teacher Observe, listen, document

Provide avenues to deepen children’s understandings

Community and Family involvement – democratic and inclusive

“Progettazione” Responsive/emergent/negotiated

Child Originated, Teacher Framed

“I think that it’s a mistake to take any school approach and assume, like a flower, that you can take it from one soil and put it into another one. That never works. This doesn’t mean at all that [we] can’t learn a tremendous

amount from it, but we have to reinvent it. … We have to figure out what are the aspects which are most important to us and what kind of soil we need here to make those

aspects thrive.”

- Howard Gardner, 1997

Image of the Child

Through pedagogical documentation I have a broader and deeper image of my students.

Pedagogical documentation provides the lens to view students as capable, competent problem solvers.

Teacher asks, “ What are you building?”

Learner says, “ I am counting out the pieces. I need to add one more so that it gets higher.”

Teacher asks, “ Why do you need to make it higher?”

Learner says, “ We are making a ramp. We need to keep adding piecesso that it gets higher and our marble can go down it.”

Pedagogical documentation shows strengths outside of the academic areas allowing each child a place for success.

Learner says, “ I am so excited because I built a tower that won’t fall down”.

Teacher asks, “ Why do you think that it won’t fall down?”

Learner says, “ I know that because I put some pieces up and somedown. I build lots of towers and now I know that it is sturdy if I put some pieces flat and some standing. My friends don’t know this so their tower will fall down.”

Teacher says, “so putting the planks in different directions makes the tower more stable.”

Learner says, “ Yes, I have made a more stable tower because I am an architect”.

Pedagogical documentation highlights the necessityof revisiting topics to deepen understanding.

Learner says, “ I know how to make patterns now. Look, this is a pattern. It is green,blue, green, blue.”

Teacher asks, “ How do you know it is a pattern?”

Learner says,” I know that after green comes blue and then green again. Itkeeps repeating”.

Making Thinking VisiblePedagogical documentation highlights

the process and the journey of learning.

Pedagogical documentation enables children to hear and see multiple

perspectives.

What is soil made of?

Learner 1 says, “There is old leaves and sticks in it and there is little rocks.”

Learner 2 adds, “…and pinecones and the worm!” (We recently put a worm into our soil bin)

Learner 1 responds, “Worms aren't part of dirt.”

Ms. Verdiel adds, “Can soil be made up of living things?”

Learner 1: “Well, maybe little things.”

Pedagogical documentation allows for collaboration and conversations about learning between students, teachers, families and the school community.

This provides opportunity for new understandings. Families

Stude

nts

Teachers &

School Com

munity

Stude

nts

Students & Families

Studen

ts

Reflection

Reviewing pedagogical documentation encourages us to dig deeper. The focus is on uncovering big ideas and the shift from product to process,

allowing us to be more thoughtful about our learning.

Teachers and students are encouraged to be reflective and active in their learning.

The process can be captured and later revisited.

Sharing pedagogical documentation invites others into the conversation.

Reviewing pedagogical documentation scaffolds learning and possibilities for other students.

“Through documentation, students have shared and built upon each other’s ideas.”

Reflecting on pedagogical documentation reveals patterns of children’s interests and curiosities for

further inquiry and wondering.

“After reviewing the

documentation and learning

stories with my students, I

realized a ‘big idea’ while

building with these materials

was the concept of balance. I

decided to put out a ‘balance

provocation’ and see if it

further engaged them and if

we could investigate the

concept of balance more

deeply.”

Co-constructed Curriculum

Pedagogical documentation can drive a co-constructed curriculum.

Documenting ordinary moments develops a stronger understanding of my students’

interests, strengths, and knowledge.

Power of an ordinary moment…

Comes from slowing down during the day to listen to children, observe and document what they are doing.

Curriculum directed from and connected to these moments makes the learning deep and meaningful.

We invite you to explore, play, question and reflecton the materials in our gallery.

Please offer your feedback on the exit slip.