The three readings for this module highlight different aspects of the importance of the practice of observing and documenting children’s learning processes. In your discussion this week, re
The three readings for this module highlight different aspects of the importance of the practice of observing and documenting children's learning processes. In your discussion this week, reflect and discuss how the module's content as well as the weekly readings have contributed to your understanding of the purpose(s) of the practice of observation and documentation in early childhood settings. Identify what challenges you can forsee in documenting children's learning and explore possible solutions to overcoming these challenges.
Discussion Question
The three readings for this module highlight different aspects of the importance of the practice of observing and documenting children's learning processes. In your discussion this week, reflect and discuss how the module's content as well as the weekly readings have contributed to your understanding of the purpose(s) of the practice of observation and documentation in early childhood settings. Identify what challenges you can forsee in documenting children's learning and explore possible solutions to overcoming these challenges.
Readings
· Forman, G., & Hall, E. (2005). Wondering with children: The importance of observation in early education. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 7(2). https://ecrp.illinois.edu/v7n2/forman.html
· Pelo, A. (2006). See attached
Further Learning
· Pelo, A. (2006). At the crossroads: Pedagogical documentation and social justice. In Fleet, A., Patterson, C. & Robertson, J. (Eds.), Insights: Behind early childhood pedagogical documentation. Pademelon Press. See attached
· Seitz, H. (2008). The power of documentation in the early childhood classroom. Young Children, 62(2), 88-93. See attached
Introduction: Why is Observation Important
"As a teacher of young children, interpreting what I 'see' when I observe children is central to my role. I use my interpretation to chart my teaching course…"
Janet Robertson (2006, p.148)
In this module we begin to think about the relationships between observation, pedagogical judgment, and curriculum planning. Child observation has always been a key pedagogical tool in ECE. Observation is more than looking. It involves curiosity, intention, concentration, reflection, and interpretation. Rinaldi (2001) offered the phrase: "The pedagogy of listening" as a metaphor for a practice of child observation and documentation that is open and welcoming to differences and to other's point of view. Educators of young children not only notice children's interactions and experiences, they also interpret them in pedagogically-responsive, ethical, and meaningful ways. Teachers of young children continuously learn anew about, from, and with children through paying close attention to what happens in the classroom. The documentation of the observation (for example, by means of photography) can become a critical tool for co-creating a meaningful curriculum with young children. Moreover, from their interpretation of observation, educators can learn about themselves and can consequently reflect on and critically examine their own practices.
Ways to Observe
Some methods of child observation are more structured and linear; their purpose is typically to observe children's progress against predefined stages of development and expectations. Some child observation practices are more open-ended and anecdotal. While both methods are widely used, we will focus on two open-ended approaches to observation and documentation. The two approaches: Pedagogical Documentation and Learning Stories are recognized globally for changing the focus of child observation from an attempt to find out what the child can or cannot do to "making children's learning visible" (Project Zero & Reggio Children, 2001) and thus open for reflection and conversation.
Pedagogical Documentation
The practice of pedagogical documentation originated in the pre-primary schools of Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy in the late 1970s. The process involves the teacher's careful attention and active collection of observational materials such as recordings of children's conversations, photographs or videotaping of children's processes of learning and experiences, a sample of children's work, anecdotes about a unique event, etc. Once the material has been collected, the educator initiates a process of reflection and interpretation about the documented events with her or his colleagues, the children, and occasionally the parents with the purpose of: 1) gaining a deeper understanding of the children's processes of learning and thinking; and 2) opening a space where children's views, inquiries, and perspectives can meaningfully contribute to the creation of a responsive curriculum. Quite often this beautiful process of observing, documenting and interpreting is summarized and shared in the environment as a display with text and images depicting the learning process.
Watch this video Links to an external site. with Professor Carol Anne Wien
Download Professor Carol Anne Wien, where she explains the process of pedagogical documentation as it has been used in Canada.
In British Columbia's New Early Learning Framework, the practice of pedagogical documentation has been called: Pedagogical Narration and is described in details here on pages 51-60; 90-100: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/early-learning/teach/early-learning-framework Links to an external site.
Learning Stories
In New Zealand the practice of learning stories has been developed by Margaret Carr (2001) in response to the national ECE curriculum Te Whariki as a form of curriculum assessment. Educators in New Zealand document and create narratives (stories) that focus on children's learning dispositions in response to four currciulum principles:
· Relationships. Children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places, and things.
· Empowerment. The early childhood curriculum empowers the child to learn and grow.
· Holistic development. The early childhood curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow.
· Family and Community The wider world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood curriculum.
The storied observations focus on teachers noticing, recognizing and responding to children's learning episodes. As well, the stories take a non-deficit approach to documenting children's learning with the goal of supporting and strengthening children's identities as thinkers and learners. These stories are carefully collected into portfolios that are shared with the children and their families.
Theoretically speaking, the orientation of both pedagogical documentation and learning stories is towards the socio-cultural perspective, which, as we have seen, views learning and knowledge construction within (and inseparable from) social, cultural, and historical relations and contexts. As Carr (n.d.) notes: "Learning is sited [resides] in relationships with people, places and things" (p. 1). The observer in these practices is not viewed as a distant, or objective – looking from the outside in – rather, the educator is conceptualized as a participant and a researcher who is trying to understand with the children the complex processes of knowledge co-construction among a community of learners.
See examples of Learning Stories adapted in the U.S. context – http://tomdrummond.com/learning-story-examples/ Links to an external site.
– https://tomdrummond.com/looking-closely-at-children/writing-learning-stories/ Links to an external site.
* Note that for assignment #2 you are asked to create a learning story (see details in the Assignment webpage). It is important that you make an arrangement and obtain verbal consent for your observation as soon as possible.
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Early childhood programs ought to be incubators of
inquiry. Children, teachers, families, and program
administrators, collectively and individually engaged in
systematic investigation, searching and researching,
asking questions, mulling over hypotheses, debating,
trying on new perspectives: this is the culture of
inquiry in which we all deserve to participate.
To grow a culture of inquiry, we need professional
development rooted in inquiry, aimed at fostering the
values and growing the dispositions and skills of
researchers: curiosity; willingness to linger with
questions; commitment to constructing knowledge
with others through dialogue, disagreement, and
challenge; and, attentive observation. When we put
inquiry at the heart of our programs, we organize our
curriculum for children and for teachers around
observation, study, and responsive planning.
In a curriculum built around inquiry, teachers pay
close attention to children’s play and work, taking
notes and photographs, capturing what they see and
hear — researchers collecting data. Teachers study
their notes and photos and other traces of children’s
work to unearth the meaning in the children’s play —
researchers making meaning of their observations:
What theories are the children exploring through their
play? What questions are they asking? What relation-
ships are they building? From their observation and
study, teachers plan ways for the children to test their
theories, expand their questions, and strengthen their
relationships — researchers taking action. And, then,
teachers observe and listen some more, as the
children engage with the materials and activities
that teachers offer as a result of their planning; they
make notes about their observations and start
another round of study and planning. Throughout this
cycle of observation, study, and planning, teachers
make their observation and thinking visible to the
children, to families, and to each other with written
documentation and display.
This process becomes a spiral that carries teachers,
children, and families more and more deeply into
investigation, collaboration, and relationship. Like life,
it unfolds moment by moment, one step at a time,
with surprises and detours and new questions to take
up. And, like life, it is anchored in everyday, ordinary
moments in our classrooms.
At Hilltop Children’s Center, the full-day, year-round
child care program where I am the mentor teacher,
we’ve experimented with several professional
development practices centered on observation, as
we’ve aimed to grow the dispositions and skills
needed for this cycle of inquiry: center-wide research
questions, supported observation and meaning-
making, and collaborative study of observations.
Center-wide research questions
Inspired by the study questions used by the staff at
Chicago Commons, we develop a research question
each year to give us a shared focus for observation
and study.
Our research question is linked to our year-long
professional development focus. Several years ago, for
example, our year-long focus centered on the inter-
sections between anti-bias curriculum and the Reggio-
inspired practice of pedagogical documentation.
During our monthly staff meetings, quarterly in-service
days, and our annual staff retreat, we explored this
intersection from a range of perspectives, with the
intention of strengthening our anti-bias work with
children, families, and each other. Our research
question at the beginning of that year was: “How do
children explore and express their cultural identities in
their drama play?” Later in the year, we added a
second question: “When do children call attention to
difference and when do they ignore it? How do they
use difference in their relationships with each other?”
50 Exchange November/December 2006
Ann Pelo is the
mentor teacher at
Hilltop Children’s
Center in Seattle,
where she has been a
teacher and learner
since 1991. The
teachers at Hilltop
have taught Ann as
much about
professional
development as she’s
taught them; this
article is dedicated to
them.
Growing a Culture of Inquiry: Observation as Professional Development by Ann Pelo
Beginnings Workshop
PH OT
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PH B
Y AN
N PE
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Single copy reprint permission from Exchange, The Early Leaders' Magazine Since 1978 PO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073 • (800) 221-2864 • www.ChildCareExchange.com
Multiple use copy agreement available for educators by request.
We establish our research question in September;
I bring some big ideas that I think hold potential for
our shared study, and, as a full staff, we tease out a
specific question for our research. Our research
question launches us into a cycle of observation and
study.
Teachers bring their research question observations to
our monthly meetings of the full staff, where we study
them together. During these full-staff meetings,
teachers from different classroom teaching teams
work together; as they share their observations, they
bump into new and unexpected ways of thinking about
children’s learning — and even unexpected ways of
thinking about the research question itself. Our work
with the research question during staff meetings
invites teachers to try on new perspectives, to see the
delicate dance between “just-the-facts” observation
and the subtle interpretation that shapes observation
notes.
During our staff meeting work with the research
question, we typically plan some collective next steps
that we’ll take to grow curriculum — steps we’ll take in
light of our research observations to make more room
for children’s cultural expressions, for example, or to
support children’s ability to engage with differences.
This planning inevitably carries us to conversations
about our shared values and goals for children, and
about our collective teaching practices — conversa-
tions which deepen our sense of purpose and vision
as a program.
Our research question not only gives us a way to
practice the cycle of observation, study, and planning;
it also leads us to specific new understandings about
children’s learning and development. Through our
research question observations over the last few
years, we’ve deepened our knowledge of
children’s drama play, of the way they use
blocks, of their social strategies for inclusion
and exclusion. Through our observation and
study, we join in dialogue with educational
theorists like Piaget, Dewey, and
Paley.
Supported observation and meaning-making in
the classroom
The research question provides a shared framework
for observation that lets us practice the cycle of
observation, meaning-making, and planning as a
whole staff. The parallel practices of supported
observation and meaning-making with individual
teachers and with classroom teaching teams grounds
teachers’ inquiry in their particular contexts.
When I’m in a classroom, as mentor teacher, I partner
with a teacher to observe children’s play and listen to
their conversations. We tuck ourselves into a non-
intrusive space where we can take notes and photos
about what we’re seeing and hearing. We talk quietly
together about the play we see, sharing our questions
and musings as we seek to understand what’s
important about the play for the children. We consider
what we might offer the children right there and then
to deepen their exploration and to sustain their play.
Our intention is to see into these ordinary moments,
to use close observation as a doorway into under-
standing and, then, into offering children challenge
and support.
As teachers become more and more at ease with this
process, they dive into observation themselves, not
waiting for me to partner with them, but gathering
stories themselves. When teachers meet in the
hallway or in the office, they are eager to share their
observations with each other: they talk with engaged
curiosity about what they’ve seen and heard, discuss
possible interpretations of the children’s play, and
share thoughts about next steps they might take. The
air is full of questions, insights, hypotheses; breathing
it in is breathing in inquiry.
Collaborative study of observations
To solidify our practice of inquiry, we’ve established
the expectation that every teacher brings written
November/December 2006 Exchange 51
Beginnings Workshop
The research
question
provides a
shared
framework for
observation
that lets us
practice the
cycle of
observation,
meaning-
making, and
planning as a
whole staff.
PH OT
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PH B
Y AN
N PE
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observation notes and/or photos to their classroom
teaching team’s hour-long weekly meeting. Teachers
pull out carefully typed sheets, or bits of scrap paper
— even crumpled paper napkins used to record a
breakfast table conversation that captured a teacher’s
attention. We dive into the stories together, working
with questions like these to help us make meaning of
our observations:
■ What are we curious about as we listened to this
story of children play?
■ What are the children curious about? What are
they trying to figure out?
■ What knowledge are the children drawing on?
What theories are they testing?
■ How are the children building on each other’s
ideas, perspectives, and contributions?
■ Are there any inconsistencies in the children’s
thinking?
■ What do we want to learn more about?
■ What goals and values come up for us in this
situation?
Once we have a sense of what the children’s play is
“about,” we consider how we might extend or
challenge children’s thinking. We plan one or two next
steps, concrete action that we’ll take with the children
to help them deepen their exploration, nudge them to
take new perspectives, and encourage them to
reconsider their theories. Our intention is to
generate a cycle of inquiry for the children — to
create more questions and deeper study, not to
give children information or lead them to “right
answers” or help them acquire facts. In our
planning, we consider questions like:
■ What changes could we make to the class-
room environment to invite children to look
at their pursuit from a new perspective?
■ What materials could we add to the
classroom?
■ How could we participate in the children’s
play?
■ How could we invite the children to use
expressive and representational media to
deepen or extend their thinking?
■ How could we use our notes and photos sketches
to help the children revisit and extend their play?
■ How will we be in dialogue with families, inviting
their reflections and insights as well as letting
them know what we’re thinking and wondering?
As we end a meeting, teachers have a plan about
what they’ll do next to extend and deepen children’s
investigations. A week later, they arrive at the team’s
next meeting with more observations to share about
how children engaged with the next steps that
teachers offered — and we move through the cycle of
meaning-making and planning again.
With each round of the cycle, teachers become more
skillful as researchers; they notice gaps in their
observation notes and work to correct those gaps next
time; they become more astute at looking underneath
the topical concerns of children’s play, digging out the
deeper meanings and questions that children’s play
holds; they experiment with strategies and practices
to deepen children’s thinking, growing a repertoire of
possibilities; they engage in passionate discussion
with each other, relaxing into the challenge of deep
collaboration as they take up meaningful research
with each other. This cycle of observation, meaning-
making, and planning weaves our professional devel-
opment into the fabric of daily teaching.
At the same time, with each round of the cycle, in-
depth, long-term investigations grow. This emergent
52 Exchange November/December 2006
Beginnings Workshop
Our intention
is to see into
these ordinary
moments, to
use close
observation as
a doorway into
understanding
and, then, into
offering children
challenge and
support.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANN PELO
PH OT
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PH B
Y AN
N PE
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curriculum, anchored by observation and study, stays
closely linked to children’s questions and pursuits,
because it unfolds one step at a time. Teachers
carefully observe what happens with each step,
constantly adjusting and refining their planning in
response to what they observe. In this way, children
and teachers construct curriculum together.
Observation as a strategy for transformation
When we put observation at the heart of our
professional development at Hilltop, everything
changed. Teachers who’d typically sat back, arms
crossed, unengaged during staff meetings and
classroom team meetings now lean into our discus-
sions: they have observation stories to share, insights
to offer, questions to ask. Classroom team meetings,
once a tedious listing of housekeeping and logistical
details, have become animated discussions about
teaching and learning; teachers are quick to work
through the dry and mundane details of classroom life
so that they can dive into the stimulating and sustain-
ing work of teacher research. Talk of our core values
and our vision for our work is a regular part of our staff
meetings, as we seek to locate our observations and
planning in our school’s larger purpose. Our curriculum
involves everyone — children, teachers, families — in
long-term investigations, as the cycle of inquiry for
teachers launches cycles of inquiry for children and
families.
This transformation required strong institutional
support; we created my half-time mentor teacher
position to organize and facilitate our professional
development. And it required willingness by teachers
to take risks, to see their work in new ways — to
become researchers, observing closely, making
meaning with each other, anchoring themselves in the
revelations of each moment. A year into our effort to
put observation at the heart of our teaching and
learning, one of the teachers at Hilltop commented
that “This is making me a better teacher, for sure —
but more than that, it’s making me a better person.
This is how I want to live in the world — paying
attention, staying connected to what I see, thinking
about big ideas with other people.”
November/December 2006 Exchange 53
Beginnings Workshop
This emergent
curriculum,
anchored by
observation and
study, stays
closely linked
to children’s
questions and
pursuits,
because it
unfolds one
step
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