Understanding Purposes of Observation and Documentation PDF

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Emily Holmquist Professor Harris ELED 208 3 February, 2019 Understanding Purposes of Observation and Documentation As a future educator, observing and documenting the growth and behavior of our students is one of the most crucial parts of understanding how to teach them. As we watch children perform, interact with others, talk, etc. we learn more about where they are in terms of their learning and development. The documentation aspect of it allows us to refer back to children's growth over time, as well as show others how a child may or may not reach certain standards. Observation is the first step in effective classroom behaviors. Teachers that observe students with open ears and minds will not only better their teaching skills, but better their students education by understanding more how to help them. Observation can be something as small and noticing an emotion, action, important milestone, etc. It can also be as big as thinking about questions you want to know about a child and then observing them further over time to answer your questions. In the article written by Judy Jablon, she states “When you are intentional about observing, you can learn even more about children and be more effective as a responsive teacher” (Jablon, 2017). This connects back to the idea of collecting questions, thoughts, ideas, and then purposefully observing them to gain the information to gain the information we need. Concepts like this can also be used to go back and assess the growth of one student, as observing intentionally makes us aware of their struggles and/or capabilities. Listening goes hand in hand with being a better observer and teacher. If students are being heard not only in the context of observing but through communication with us and their

peers, it will allow us to create a better learning environment. Listening can be done either in real time or at a later point when replaying tapes or videos. In the article “On Listening to What the Children Say” by Vivian Gussin Paley, she discusses how using a tape recorder to observe her class led to interesting findings. The concept of recording our classroom can be an effective way to understand more about why children say and do certain things. Whether that be during play, lessons, recess, etc., recordings show us what children say when adults are not around, as well as what they consider to be important. “Like a slow motion Polaroid developing its images, piece by piece, over many months, the children's patterns of thought and speech need much time to be revealed (Paley, 1986). When thinking about children's growth in this way it reiterates the importance of observing and listening to children over time, and giving them the opportunity to reveal their thoughts. This not only provides more insight on our students which helps with lesson planning, but also makes us better more attentive educators. While observation and listening are crucial parts of understanding our classrooms, documenting those findings provides evidence of a child’s work and growth at different stages. Documentation is more than just keeping a chart or writing down things we notice, it is about telling the story of our students and providing evidence to understand the situation/purpose of the work. These documentations can be transcriptions of what a child has said, physical work that is displayed in the classroom, etc. “There are six stages that most early childhood educators, including college students and practicing teachers, move through both individually and collaboratively” (Seitz, 2008). These 6 stages of documentation allow teachers, parents, and even the children themselves to better understand and engage in developmental processes. That is what makes it such an important part of our roles as the teacher, because without documentation, children, as well as their parents will not understand how the work they are doing is helping them

grow. Additionally, we would be unable to use it to help teach them more effectively based on the work they produce. Overall, reading these 3 articles helped me think about tools I can implement in my own classroom as well as in my case study. Over the next few months, I will be using these tools to assess the development and abilities of the kindergarten boy I have chosen. Whether those be taking photographs, recording our sessions on my phone, keeping a notebook, conversing with his parents about the work he does at home as well. There are many techniques I can use that will allow me to collect all the information for my synthesis, as well as refer to how he has grown and improved over the course of the semester....