early childhood education documentation

Meaningful Documentation in the Early Childhood Classroom

by Jenni Caldwell | Dec 15, 2016 | Reggio Inspired | 11 comments

Providing meaningful documentation has many benefits in the early childhood classroom. Today I want to share some examples of meaningful documentation from Rosa Parks ECEC here in Tulsa, OK.

What is Documentation?

To put it simply, documentation is a way to track students' learning and thinking. When done correctly, documentation should take it's viewer on a journey through the way the children are thinking about what they are learning.

Why is this important?

For the Students: When children visually see that what they are thinking about is valued so much that it is documented and displayed proudly, it allows them to take pride and ownership over that thinking. Visible documentation may also serve to spark new ideas.

For Visitors: It is also important for visitors to the classroom to be able to see what the children are interested in and learning about without having to ask anyone.

For the Teachers: Finally, documentation is important for the teachers to be able to track students' learning and thinking in order to plan where to go next and how to scaffold children's thinking.

Documentation Panels

There are numerous types of documentation, but for today's post I want to share examples of Documentation Panels with you.

As you can see from the examples, documenting students' learning and thinking provides a much richer way of looking at the world as children see it. It also allows others to see the immense learning taking place in the classroom on a daily basis.

I hope you gained some inspiration from these documentation panels from Rosa Parks ECEC.

What is your favorite way to document students' learning and thinking?

Have a documentation panel you would like to share? Place a pic in the comments! 

11 Comments

What I need to know: How did the teacher mount these 3D items??? Love these displays, but struggle with setting them up.

We used command (removable adhesive) strips to attach the display to the wall. You can hot glue the ribbon spools or bottle lids to the posterboards.

I love the examples you showed, I work at a preschool and is very common to ask children about their work but I will implement this examples on the Cultural Week. Thank you

Inspirational display boards and what a journey! Thank you What I would like to know is what was the time gap between the activity and the display? And, how long would these display boards remain up on the wall for before another display took it’s place ? Thanks

I love looking at this stuff. Teacher are just so awesome, and creative. Honestly, I have done dramatic documentation boards for professional development, and for the tours that came through my former “model” school. They are beautiful, and inspirational, however most of my documentation is in the form of journals, photos, and sticky note that never do get organized like this. I think knowing this helps teachers to let go of the feeling that they cannot do this with the time/planning time they have, and the prioritize realistically, and meaningfully to themselves, their kids, and parents.

Thanks for sharing your journey, Ellie! We are all on different points in this journey and yes documentation comes in many forms! Documentation is so important and finding the most meaningful way to document children’s wondering and teacher wonderings is vital!

I believe and practice that educator,s way of teaching is reflect on their expression and what they said and what they do . Documentation is important and need to keep for our record and to follow the learning.

HI Sally! I completed your masterclass on Wonder Based Learning and I took a photo of your “Conversation Clipboard” slide but it’s blurry, and now I can’t remember how you use it! I’d like to implement it into my classroom. I did a few searches but didn’t find anything. Can you please explain how you use this? THANK YOU!

Yes! It’s actually very simple! We had clipboards available to write conversations of children’s words and teacher’s words! We would reflect each day to draw out the thread of interest!

Do you have a favorite book or reference about documentation?

We have several in depth blog posts inside Fairy Dust Teaching if you search “documentation” I also highly recommend you checking out our NEW Wonder Tribe! In several of the courses we look in depth of at documentation with many examples! https://fairydustteaching.com/jointhewondertribe

As far as books, I would recommend, Documenting Children’s Meaning by Jason Avery!

Many resources out there to help support you and your journey!

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Chapter 7: Observation and Documentation: The Key to Intentional Teaching

Gina Peterson and Emily Elam

Chapter Objectives

In this chapter, you will be learning about:

The Role of Observation

Becoming a skilled observer, observations can be spontaneous or planned, the role of documentation.

• Objective Versus Subjective Observation Evidence
• Recognizing Your Own Biases
• Ethical Practices When Observing Children
• Observation Dos and Don’ts

Introduction

To provide children with a safe and nurturing learning environment and to maintain program effectiveness, teachers must incorporate observation, documentation and assessment into their daily routines. To truly be effective, teachers must develop skills and strategies that are grounded in best practice s. In this chapter you will be presented with information that highlights how observation and documentation can be used as a key strategy to ensure intentional teaching. You will examine the initial steps to take to becoming a skilled observer, and you will reflect on how to objectively document the interactions that you see and the conversations that you hear. It is important to note that becoming a skilled observer takes time and practice, and that learning how to incorporate observation, documentation and assessment into your regular routines and daily duties requires some thoughtful consideration.

Observations are conducted every day in early childhood classroom environments. Teachers are constantly surveying the environment and completing safety checks to make sure the equipment and materials are safe for the children to use. Teachers also perform daily health screenings to ensure their children are healthy enough to participate in program activities. Beyond the standard safety check and health screening, teachers have many other important tasks and duties that they must do in order to maintain a copasetic classroom environment. Intentional teachers use their observations to plan and implement curriculum, set up engaging learning environments, monitor the children’s social interactions, track behaviors, communicate with families, and assess each child’s progress and development. Essentially, observations help teachers be more accountable. By conducting regular observations intentional teachers can:

• Evaluate program effectiveness
• Evaluate teacher effectiveness
• Make improvements to ensure quality practices
• Plan and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum
• Measure and assess a child’s development
• Develop respectful family partnerships
• Understand the cultural practices and family structure
• Select effective learning strategies to support and accommodate the diverse needs of children
• Ensure ethical conduct and professional standards of practice
• Teach with confidence

Figure 7 .1: COC OER [1]

If we want to understand children, we must first watch them and listen to them. Then, we must try to make sense of what we observed and give it meaning. The role of observation is to provide teachers with information and evidence that they will need to make informed decisions on how to best support the children in their care. With each observation, you will get a glimpse into a child’s developing mind. Not only will you see a child’s personality emerge, you will be able to see what a child can do. As you watch your children, you will see how they problem solve when conflicts arise and how they cope with the stress from being in a group setting. You will learn about their individual needs and their cultural practices. When you watch children closely, their interests and abilities are revealed. With each observation, you will gain useful insight that will help you become an intentional teacher.

To truly observe a child, you must be present, knowledgeable, inquisitive and intentional. With every observation, you will sharpen your skills as you learn how to effectively gather objective evidence and detailed data.

Be present: To capture all the individual mannerisms, subtle social nuances, non-verbal body language and dynamic conversations that occur throughout the day you must be attentive, focused and ready to go at any given moment. Children move fast. When we blink, we are bound to miss some little detail or precious moment, that’s a given. Being present takes considerable effort and careful planning.

Be knowledgeable : Understanding the core concepts of early childhood education is extremely important if you are to set reasonable expectations and plan developmentally appropriate learning experiences. Familiarizing yourself with child development theories will help you understand and appreciate why children do what they do. Learning about the key principles in early care and education will provide you with a solid foundation and a wide range of instructional strategies to support a child’s development.

Be inquisitive: Think of yourself as a researcher. Your primary mission is to investigate the children in your care by routinely gathering evidence, using a variety of observation methods and tools. As a good researcher you will need to ask some thoughtful questions. These questions will guide you as you plan purposeful observations and as you select your method of observation. Here are some sample questions you may ask yourself: What activities interest Max? How many times did Stevie hit today? What skills did Hazel master today with this activity , and what skills need further support ? How long d id Zoey stay engaged while playing in the sandbox ? What milestones will this activity support ? By asking thoughtful questions, you will learn more about the children in your care and you will do a better job at supporting each child’s individual needs. Rather than fixating on a child’s behavior, in time you will begin using focused observations to try and figure out the reasons why a child acts the way they do.

Be intentional: As you organize learning experiences, set up the classroom and outside environment, assess children’s developmental progress, engage in activities, and interact with your children and families – you must have a thoughtful plan of action in place. “Intentional teaching means that everything you do as a teacher has a specific goal and purpose” (Gordon & Browne, 2016 p. 103). Even as spontaneous situations arise, intentional teachers must make the most of teachable moments. Intentional teachers conduct regular observations and gather objective documentation data to be accountable for the actions they take, the plans they generate and the assessments they make.

Spontaneous observations occur all the time. Whether teachers are actively engaged with their children during an activity or in the background cleaning up after an activity, teachers have numerous opportunities to see and hear some wonderful developments as they randomly occur. According to Piaget, children require long uninterrupted periods of play and exploration so that they can discover things for themselves. If we truly believe that children are capable of socializing, problem solving, and creating complex systems with rules, then we can successfully use spontaneous observations to capture a child’s development as it unfolds naturally.

As intentional teachers, we can also appreciate when teachable moments arise unexpectedly. These golden moments are noteworthy as well. For example, as we witness a child attempting to master a milestone, we may provide some verbal support or guidance to scaffold the child’s learning. For example, when Abraham is becoming frustrated with not being able to get a piece of his puzzle to fit, a teacher might ask, “What happens when you turn the piece around?” During spontaneous situations, we must remember to simultaneously make mental notes so that we can later write down and reflect on a more formal plan of action that can be later used to help the child achieve their developmental goals.

Let’s review the advantages and disadvantages associated with spontaneous observations .

Advantages: Being in the moment allows you to enjoy your children, and children appreciate your presence. When you are present, you can celebrate a child’s success or provide positive reinforcements to help them master major milestones. While being spontaneous, you can focus on the child’s interests and pose thoughtful questions to extend and enrich their learning experience. When a teacher keeps a low profile, a child is less likely to be self-conscious or nervous.

Disadvantages: The longer you wait to document your spontaneous observation evidence, the harder it will be to remain objective and recall the vital details which is important when tracking behaviors or assessing development. Also, the more time that passes, the more difficult it will be to access accurate data. For example, by not documenting the children’s dialogue or capturing their key quotes in a timely manner, you may find it difficult to remember their actual word choices and use of vocabulary which is essential for assessing a child’s expressive language development.

Let’s now discuss focused or planned observations . Becoming a skilled observer takes practice. At first you may be slightly overwhelmed with trying to incorporate an official observation time into your already busy schedule. You may struggle with finding that delicate balance between knowing when to interact with your children and realizing when to step back and observe. Once you do observe, you might be surprised by the amount of evidence you have collected on each child. What’s more, you will have to sift through all the evidence, and that can be both time consuming and exhausting. Since your time is limited and you cannot possibly observe everything, incorporating a planned observation will help you navigate through your busy day and you will be able to gather more specific evidence (Grouland & James, 2013).

Questions you may want to ask yourself as you plan your next observation

When s hould I o bserve?

From the moment a child walks into their classroom until the time they leave, opportunities to learn are occurring. Some observations will happen spontaneously, while others will be scheduled. To see a child’s full potential, you will need to observe at various times throughout the day. For example, some children are slow-to-warm and it may take them some time to get acclimated before they can fully engage and interact with others. If a child is slow -to-warm, the morning drop-off may not be the best time to document their social development. You will want to track them throughout the day, at various times (including transition times and snack/meal times), to get a full picture of who they are and what they can do.

Where s hould I o bserve?

Many times, observations are centered around structured, teacher-directed activities. This is, in fact, a perfect time to witness what major milestones a child has mastered. However, observing a child while they are exploring in the dramatic play area ( inside ) or while they are in the sandbox area ( outside ) can prove to be just as enlightening. During child-directed play or open exploration, you will no doubt be able to document many of the developmental skills as suggested in the DRDP or Rating Scales, especially how they communicate, cooperate, solve dilemmas and create. Because children can play and learn differently while they are inside as compared to when they are outside, it is necessary to observe in both environments. Likewise, it is important to observe in all activity areas and play spaces.

What o bservation m ethod s hould I u se ?

Use a variety of methods to record and document your children. You will want to “try out” several tools and techniques to find your “go to” method. Because each tool has a specific purpose or focus, using a variety of methods will provide you with sound documentation data to better understand the whole child’s development. Note: In the next chapter, you will examine the various tools and techniques more closely.

Who s hould I o bserve?

You will want to observe each child as individuals, and you will want to track group interactions. Becoming aware of who is in your class is necessary if you are going to create a caring classroom community and respectful learning environment. Look for those who are the leaders in your group ; find out who need s more one-to-one support and who are your helpers; watch fo r who plays with who. This insight can help you organize peer scaffolding opportunities which can free up some of your time. As a gentle reminder, sometimes we connect with certain children for one reason or another, and other times a child may challenge us. Either way we need to regularly observe each child with an open mind and an open heart, and we need to look at children with a clear lens that is free of bias. Each child needs your attention; each child has unique gifts; and each child needs your support.

What is the f ocus of my observation , what am I looking for?

With focused observations, there usually is a specific goal in mind. For example, you might want to know what milestones a child has mastered. For that, you would use a developmental checklist to “check-off” all the skills the child was observed doing. Maybe you want to learn what the child’s interests are and what they like to play with. For that, you can use a frequency count to tally up all the areas and activities the child used during that observation. Keep in mind that you can observe several skills and competencies across multiple domains during one observation. For example, one day you might set out a math activity and the children are expected to create patterns using colorful beads and pipe cleaners, While they work and play, you can listen to the children’s conversations as they describe the patterns they are making; and you can note their fine motor development based on how well they string the beads onto the pipe cleaner; you can also see how they shared space and materials with their peers. Although this was a math activity, many other areas of development can be observed.

One of the cornerstones of a high-quality early care and education program is the practice of observing, documenting and assessing children’s development. According to NAEYC (2009), in order to make formative decisions that will guide what goes on in the classroom, there needs to be an organized system in place to collect information. When we record our observations and collect data, we “hold in memory the actions, nonverbal communication, or comments that seem to be significant to children’s thinking” (California Preschool Program Guidelines, 2015 p. 46). When we document children’s learning and collect key artifacts, we create tangible evidence that we can share with the children and their families, along with administrators and stakeholders. There are many ways you can record and document children’s learning. In fact, you should attempt to utilize several methods as part of your regular observation routines.

To collect and record data you can use the following methods :

• running records
• anecdotal notes
• frequency counts
• learning stories
• time or event samples
• work samples
• taking photos, videotaping, or audio recordings

To store your documentation

To safely store your collected data, you will need to have an organized system in place. Portfolios are a popular strategy used by intentional teachers. To create a portfolio, you can use a binder or notebook, a file or accordion-style folder, or a cardboard box. As you collect observation evidence for each child, it is vital that you date everything so you can organize it chronologically. This will help you track each child’s progress throughout the school year more efficiently. Portfolios help you construct a well-rounded and authentic picture of each child in your class. Knowing the “whole child” you are better equipped to build on each child’s individual interests, and you are more apt to plan developmentally appropriate activities.

Each child should have their own portfolio. A well-organized portfolio will contain observations and artifacts of children’s work that are collected at different time periods throughout the school year. It is recommended that you include some type of documentation that highlights each developmental domain. For example:

• Gross Motor:  Take photographs of your child while they are engaged in outside activities like running, jumping, climbing, riding a bike or playing in the sandbox.
• Fine Motor:  Keep a checklist of when your child learns to button, zip, and tie his shoes. Include work samples of their cutting, coloring, painting, and samples of emergent writing
• Social-Emotional : Write anecdotal notes when your child engages in open-ended, child-directed play. Take note of how they share and cooperate with others. Do a frequency count to see which centers your child chooses to spend their time in and tally their play patterns to see if they prefer to play alone or with others.
• Cognitive:  Chart a science experiment and take photos. Photograph a completed puzzle. Use a video camera to record a child as she builds a block bridge. And, as she explains her process and she had to figure out all the steps to take so that the bridge wouldn’t fall down – be sure to record that too.
• Literacy and Oral language : Save writing examples to track how the child writes her name. Include illustrations of stories they love and the stories they write themselves. Write down quotes in your running record or make audiotapes of conversations during circle time.
• Creative expression : Videotape your child while playing in the dramatic play area or while performing a dance during music and movement. Photograph a clay creation, painting or block tower.

To be clear, it isn’t the amount of documentation you collect for each portfolio that matters, it’s the quality of information you gather. Portfolios tell a story of the whole child. There should be a beginning, middle, and an end. Each work sample, anecdotal note, checklist, frequency count and learning story should be used to showcase how a child processes information, develops relationships, and learns while playing.

To document children’s learning

Whether you collect evidence through spontaneous or planned observations, you will use your documentation to ultimately assess a child’s learning, growth, and development. With well-organized documentation, intentional teachers can effectively communicate with a child’s family, using the evidence and artifacts they have collected over time. Families appreciate being able to see their child’s progression and how they interact with others. Families also enjoy seeing the types of activities their child engages in during a typical day at school. Here are a few ways documentation can be used to showcase a child’s learning, growth and development:

• rating scales and formal developmental assessments
• daily progress reports
• documentation boards

Objective versus Subjective Observation Evidence

Intentional teachers must learn how to write objective observations. As you observe, it is best to write down all that you see and hear, and report just the facts. It takes practice to learn how to separate facts from opinions. Here are some helpful tips for you to review:

Table 7.1: Objective Observations vs. Subjective Observations

Recognizing Your Biases

Google the word bias and this is what pops up: “prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.”

Biases, we all have them. Biases stem from our upbringing. Every interaction and every experience we have had has shaped who we are. To some degree, our biases influence our beliefs and behaviors, they sway our attitudes, and they affect our personalities. Because our biases are so ingrained into who we are, it would be unrealistic to simply say “ignore your bias.” Therefore, a valuable exercise might be to do a self-check and examine your own biases. Look for those biases that are “triggers.” More specifically, think about the behaviors, temperamental traits, and moods that make you feel uncomfortable, frustrated, or annoyed.

It is important to note, that we might not be fully aware of all our biases. For example, when a child says, “give me some milk!” Our first response might be “Ummm, how do you ask?” We might not realize that manners (or lack of them) can make us react in a judgmental way. What’s important to recognize is that how we feel about the child’s behavior can taint how we see them. What’s more, our biases can influence how we gather our observation evidence. As intentional teachers we have to recognize our biases so we can treat all children with the respect that they deserve. According to NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment (2011),

P-1.3—We shall not participate in practices that discriminate against children by denying benefits, giving special advantages, or excluding them from programs or activit ies on the basis of their sex, race, national origin, immigration status, preferred home langua ge, religious beliefs, medical condition, disability, or the marital status/family structure, sexual ori entation, or religious beliefs or other affiliations of their families (p. 3).

So as not to lose our objectivity, it is important to keep an open heart, an open mind, and a clear lens. Rather than letting a child’s behavior trigger you, look beyond their behavior, look beyond your bias. Focus on collecting objective observation evidence and use that data to reflect on what might be causing that behavior. Consider ways that you can support the child through redirection, modeling, scaffolding or positive reinforcements. As intentional teachers, one of our primary roles is to empower children, and to build meaningful relationships by creating warm, caring environments (Epstein, 2007).

Ethical Guidelines when Observing Children

Every day, teachers observe, record and capture essential moments in a child’s development. The evidence and artifacts that are gathered are then used to plan curriculum and assess development. Although we have highlighted the importance of gathering work samples and observation evidence as a key element to be an intentional teacher, we must also consider the perspective of the child. In the article “Who is Watching? Thinking Ethically about Observing Children” the authors highlight some of the ethical tensions that can arise within early childhood settings when trying to balance the rights of children, the responsibilities of teachers and the role of a student who is training to be a future teacher.

In most classrooms, a typical day includes teachers grabbing their cameras to take snapshots of the children in their care so that they will have ample documentation. Consider this – does the teacher’s presence change the context of the child’s experience? Does the thought of being monitored make the child behave any differently? How does the child feel about having their picture taken? Are teachers becoming overly concerned about capturing children in precious moments, rather than being engaged in teachable moments? As a “student” who is learning to observe and document a child’s development it is important for you to consider the following guidelines when observing children:

• Take every precaution to maintain confidentiality and to ensure privacy
• Remember to ask if it is OK to take photographs of children and their work
• Understand that children have the right not to take part in activities
• Be respectful and keep a reasonable amount of space between you and the child so as not to interfere with their play and learning
• Be attuned to children’s body language, temperament and styles of communication
• See each child as a unique individual who has their own perspective, set of feelings, interests, and way of socializing, along with their own cultural context, belief system, and values
• Be upfront and inform children about the purpose of your observation visit if you are approached
• Share information with the child about what you have observed when appropriate
• Write quotes down just as they were said without adding context, or trying to rationalize what the child may have meant
• Be aware that photos and observation data should be collected in a non-intrusive manner
• Ensure that observation evidence and photos are used only for the purposes intended
• Handle photos and data with care and sensitivity, and always store information securely
• Realize that a child’s reactions, behaviors and conversations may not be what you expect and therefore you should refrain from being judgmental or tainted by your cultural biases

By following these guidelines, you are providing the children you observe with the respect they deserve while ensuring their dignity and safety. The centers and programs where you are observing are trusting you to act with integrity while you are at their site observing their children. Lastly, families will appreciate that you have their child’s best interest at heart.

Figure 7.2 Observing the world through a different lens [3]

Observation and Documentation Dos and Don’ts

Whether performing a planned or spontaneous observation here are some helpful tips to ensure you are recording quality evidence:

Table 7.2: Observation and Documentation Do’s and Don’ts

To become a skilled observer takes time and practice (Gronlund & James, 2013). You will need to figure out your rhythm so that you can incorporate observation and documentation into your regular routine. As an intentional teacher, you will want to plan systematic observations so that you can document each child’s unique qualities, interests, developmental strengths and needs, as well as uncover their cultural practices, approaches to learning and play preferences throughout the school year. As you gather evidence you will want to be as objective as you can be, and you will have to recognize your biases. As you collect your documentation on each child, you will want to organize it in a chronological manner and store it safely. Lastly, be sure to observe every child in your class, be aware that some children may catch your attention more than others for one reason or another. In the next chapter, we will examine several observation tools and techniques that you will want to use as part of your regular observation routine to ensure high-quality practices.

California Department of Education. (2016). The Integrated Nature of Learning. Retrieved from https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/documents/intnatureoflearning2016.pdf

Early Childhood Videos. (2016, Aug 12). Documenting Children’s Learning. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdOqkukZikE

First 5 California. (2015). For the Record: Documenting Young Children’s Learning and Development. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WAy474XE6s

janiceaughey. (2011). Subjective-Objective Exercise. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/janiceaughey/subjective-objective-exercise

JECEI. (n.d.). The Importance of Documentation. Retrieved from http://www.jecei.org/PDF/10%20The%20Importance%20of%20Documentation%20and%20Project%20Work.pdf

Lynn Cohen. (2020). The Power of Portfolios. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/power-portfolios/

Mehan, S., & Moore, L. (n.d.). Who is watching? Thinking ethically about observing children. Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/every-child-magazine/every-child-index/every-child-vol-17-3-2011/watching-thinking-ethically-observing-children-free-article/

Posada, Margarita M. (2004) Ethical Issues in Assessments with Infants and Children. Graduate Student Journal of Psychology , Vol. 6, 42-47. Retrieved from https://www.tc.columbia.edu/publications/gsjp/gsjp-volumes-archive/gsjp-volume-6-2004/755_Assessment-finalversion.pdf

Sage Publications (n.d.). Observation and Assessment. 86-110. Retrieved from https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/9656_022816Ch5.pdf

Seitz, H. (2008). The Power of Documentation in the Early Childhood Classroom. Young Children , 88-93. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/pubs/seitz.pdf

• Image by College of the Canyons ZTC Team is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵
• The Integrated Nature of Learning by the CDE is used with permission ↵
• Image by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash ↵

Chapter 7: Observation and Documentation: The Key to Intentional Teaching Copyright © by Gina Peterson and Emily Elam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Copyright © 2024 Continu ed Early Childhood Education - All Rights Reserved

Documentation: Making Children's Learning Visible

Hilary seitz, phd.

• Observation and Assessment

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Editor’s note: This text-based course is an edited transcript of the webinar,  Documentation: Making Children's Learning Visible , presented by Hilary Seitz, PhD.

Learning Outcomes

After this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify and explain the multiple purposes of documentation.
• Summarize ways to use documentation in the classroom for both individual children and for a group of children.
• Describe tools and ways to create documentation that makes children's learning visible.

Introduction and Overview

Documentation is a journey that I have been on for a number of years. I've been exploring different ways to document and make children's learning visible.

Figure 1.  Work sample - drawing of moose and her written name from Taylor, age 4 years, 2 months.

Figure 1 shows a drawing from a four-year-old when she had just moved to Alaska. She was excited about seeing moose and talked about moose all the time. She was asked to draw moose. You can see with her excitement and eagerness she was able to capture many details whereas some of her other work didn't show all those same details. I'm going to show you how we can help children show everything that they're excited about as they demonstrate and provide evidence that they are learning.  

I would like to begin with an introduction about who I am as an early educator. I began my journey when I was still growing up and I didn't even know that I wanted to be an early educator. I always gravitated towards children and I think part of the reason is I just would observe them and notice things, and so children always gravitated towards me. As I moved into it, I realized that this was my field. I could go in and see children, and I could make an understanding about why they were doing things in ways other people couldn't do. Part of that was because I was documenting things, taking photographs, and writing observations. This was a story I began telling about my own journey without knowing it was my journey. As I did this and learned more, I continued to want to know more about it so I started going to school. I tried working with different-aged children. I worked with infants and toddlers all the way up through fifth grade and taught reading. I realized that was not what I wanted to do. My heart was with preschool age, but really the whole early childhood field from birth to age eight.

Documentation tells your story. My story shifted and it had lots of different turns. Part of that was because I was a child who grew up in a lot of different places. When you have that experience, that means you experience a lot of different backgrounds, different cultural things that happened, different traditions, and different areas of the country. I was fortunate.

Figure 2.  Map of where Hilary lived growing up and as an adult.

In my early life, I lived in Minnesota, Florida, Southern California, Northern California, and then all the way to England in Europe. As you can see in figure 2, I went back and forth. As an adult and as an educator, I taught in Washington, Arizona, Alaska, and California as well. That's an example of how you can use documentation just to tell a timeline story. I will share many other ways to do documentation.

What is Documentation?

The first question is, what is documentation? Documentation is an interesting word because it's used in different ways. When some hear the word documentation, they might think, "Oh I know, it's panels, or it might just be taking notes on something, or it might mean doing an observation." Documentation sometimes has different connotations depending on your setting.

Take a moment and imagine a child sitting on a rug in the middle of a classroom. There are wood shelves with buckets of toys surrounding the small rug. You can hear other children playing, talking, and laughing. Think about what you saw in your mind. Did you notice little things about that child playing? Did you notice their facial expressions? Were they really serious and looking deeply at their toys, or were they tentative to join in with other children, maybe sitting off by themselves? Were they excited and leading the crowd and telling other children what to do? Were they using their right hand or their left hand to pick up the toys? Did you notice different types of toys and how the child interacted with them? Did you notice or hear any conversations about their play? Did you see how the classroom supports various areas of development and curriculum? Did the classroom inspire creativity and inquiry for this particular child? Do you think they could be successful?

When you do this type of deep thinking about an individual child and then think about the classroom, the environment, and the other children, how could you document those things to tell that story? Learning to see, to observe, to expect, and to know all the different things going on and document this learning is what documentation is. It takes practice to really see what you're doing. It's the small details that help you be a good documenter and assess children's learning to make it visible.

Documentation is a way to share and communicate a story. It might be a visual story, an auditory story, or an electronic story, but it's a way to communicate that story. It's a way to learn and to communicate information about a particular child. You're going to learn about how your curriculum is happening in your classroom. It also gives you feedback as a teacher and makes you be very intentional. Documentation is learning how to see. Good documentation will help you see things, but it also helps others see them too. The photo in figure 3 can be used to tell several stories if you look carefully.

Figure 3. Girl using a rolling pin.

A photo might tell the story of development. When I look at figure 3, it looks like she is right-hand dominant. When she begins to write, she's going to be writing with her right hand. I can see that because I can see the palm of her hand pressing deeper on the right side and it's shaped differently. That is a very minor detail if we look at just both of those things, but it is important information that will help us when we think about writing. I'm only showing her hands here, but if we had a video, series of photographs, or a series of notes taken about this, we might know other children are in the area. Maybe she's not looking down at what she's doing at all, maybe she's looking at another child and talking, or maybe she is really serious and trying really hard to make it flat. Maybe she is making dinner and she's making the pancakes right now. We don't know, but we're seeing little tidbits of the story. Just one photograph can tell us a lot of information.

Why Should I Document?

This is a really important question, and I'm going to go through a number of different reasons.

• Celebrating children
• Providing evidence of learning
• Family accountability – family connections
• Child understanding
• Child development (assessment & curriculum planning)
• Curriculum understanding
• Documentation cycle
• Reflective practice

The first reason is it celebrates the children you're working with. We have a lot of different children in our programs and classrooms and it helps to celebrate all of them. It will provide evidence that all of these children in your learning community are learning together. I like using that word. It's evidence because that gives it some structure. I'll go into more detail about what each of these looks like.

It also helps support family accountability. I'm sure you've all had that parent that comes in and says, "Oh, I think my child is ready to read" or, "How come they're not doing this?" This is a way to show accountability that they are learning to read. Just by thinking of that prior picture, we are seeing that that child is right-hand dominant and that we can focus now on seeing how she's using a writing tool. It helps us provide accountability to families of why we're doing those things.

It helps us understand individual children. Documenting helps us think about child development, and where they are with all the different areas of development including how we assess them, how we plan our own curriculum, and how we think about the larger holistic view of our classroom. If we understand what is going on and we have that evidence to show that they already have done these things, then it helps us understand and become that intentional teacher. Then it helps us think about this whole process as a cycle. Once you can start thinking about documentation as a whole cycle, you truly are that reflective practitioner and intentional teacher.

Celebrating Children

Celebrating children is important because every child is unique, every child is capable, every child has strengths, and they're all going to be different. If we just assume all two-year-olds are going to play outside for the same length of time or all three-year-olds are going to want to ride the trikes, or all four-year-olds can write their name, then we're actually missing a lot of the details. Each individual child has different strengths. Maybe some three-year-olds are all outside looking at the trikes, but some of them might be looking at them with an interest from the corner. Some might be sitting on it and using their feet. Some might actually be pedaling. Some might be pushing. They're all having the same experience but looking at it from a different perspective that's based on their own prior experience, their personalities, and different types of materials in their environment.

There are a lot of different things that impact how individual children connect to an experience. When we connect to these individual pieces of a child, it helps celebrate the individual families and their cultures. It helps us honor them. I love using that word because it's honoring the specialness of each child.

Figure 4.  Child playing in the snow.

Figure 4 shows one of my favorite photos of this child playing in the snow in Alaska. This child did not really like to play in the snow very much. She would get all dressed up and get her mittens on and by the time she got outside, she decided she didn't want to be there anymore. She would often sit by a teacher and hold their hand or just walk around. We later learned there were some other reasons why that might've happened, but the day that she decided to crawl into the snow cave, it was like a big celebration. We took photos and her mother was shocked that she actually was crawling on the snow, touching snow, and becoming part of the children's play outside because that was a first for her and the mother hadn't seen that. That documentation celebrated her individual differences and it still honored that she wanted to play alone. She still looks a little tentative like she's not sure she likes it, but she was actually trying it. It's showing that and we're celebrating that. If we had a series of pictures of all the children playing together, it could also celebrate what this group of children can do.

Providing Evidence of Learning

Another reason we need to document is to provide evidence of learning. Some programs, such as a kindergarten program, have report cards, portfolios, or tests. Those are types of artifacts that do provide evidence of learning, at least for the test makers or for the teacher, perhaps, if they are meeting standards, but there are other ways to document to provide that evidence of learning.

We can take photographs of children. We can write observations, write comments about them, take videos of them, and provide evidence that we are meeting those standards. In many preschool classes or in a Head Start classroom, even in some kindergarten classrooms, they have some book handling skills. As part of the standards, children need to understand which side they opened the book from, is it from left to right or right to left? Where are the words? Can we tell if the words are on the top or on the bottom?

Figure 5.  Children looking at a book.

Figure 5 shows a toddler that already has some book handling skills. If we were to just ask a toddler to open the book, we might not be able to see that, but we might be able to capture it. I love this too because it helps us understand the learning experience. In figure 5 the toddler is working with an infant and she is modeling how to do those things for the infant. Now, while these may not be part of the standards for an infant, she is starting to gather those foundational pieces.

When we have these types of photographs that provide evidence of meeting standards, it helps us understand the learning experience better. Sometimes, we read what's in an early learning guideline or in the common core and we want to make sure our students are meeting those guidelines by understanding and doing the things listed. That also helps us as educators understand the value of it and the importance of doing those things. 

Another type of evidence is work sampling, which is sometimes artwork that shows creativity and can show other types of things. I like to use other types of work samples as well that may show more evidence of learning. For instance, in my classroom, we used to start with a writing sample at the beginning of the year. We would have a variety of writing materials out such as pencils, markers, and different types of paper. We could then gather some work samples. Or you might ask them, "Please write your name." If you do that same type of work sample three or four times throughout the year, you're going to gather information that will provide evidence of growth and learning. These work samples, photographs, or observations are also authentic, which is really really important.

Authentic assessment means it's something real, tangible, and in context. For instance, in figure 5 of the two children reading, I can see their interest in books. I can see they have some book handling skills. It's a real thing instead of just a checklist that says, "Yep, met the book handling skills," which might not give that same information. When looking at evidence of learning we want to think about the different audiences that we are working with. We have a lot of different audiences when we do documentation. If I were to post this photo on my wall with a little typed blurb about it, such as making connections between pictures and words, then the children would see themselves and that the evidence is honoring them. It's going back to celebrating children and helping them see that what they do is important. "My teacher thought it was important. So, now I might want to read another book."

Family Accountability and Family Connections

It also helps families and administrators understand what you're doing in your program and classroom. When you document, you are making family-school connections. Just as I said with that photo on the wall, maybe a family member walks in and says, "Oh my gosh, there's my child. Oh, yes. She loves to read." Now all of a sudden, I'm going to be learning more things about that particular child. I'm going to know that the parent is excited about it. I might follow up with, "Oh, what's her favorite book at home?" or some other questions. That helps create a family engagement opportunity in my classroom.

Anyone who's a parent knows that anytime you see your own child's face on something, you get excited. There are different ways we can facilitate this as we celebrate children. Maybe it's on a bulletin board, a panel, a newsletter, or even a social media post. I know, even for my own children, when I would see them in their classroom doing something and it was posted, I would always get really excited and I'd share it with my mom, and then she would share with her friends. It fosters family engagement and creates a joint experience. It's a way to demonstrate that pride in children's learning, but it also helps create that family-school partnership and make that much stronger.

Child Understanding

I said this briefly, but when you post a photo on the wall of children doing things, children are one of the audiences for documentation. We sometimes forget that because sometimes we think, "Okay, we've got to collect all this stuff. I've got to document all these different developmental areas because I need to put it in the portfolio and I have to turn them in." Or, "It's on this app and it says I have to do that today." But having children use your documentation helps them understand the routines, their expectations, things that are going on in their classroom, and revisit experiences.

Remember, a child who is three, four, five, even seven or eight doesn't have the same prior experiences we have. Let's say you took the class to the zoo and learned about elephants. That might be the only time they've ever seen an elephant. Maybe they've seen an elephant in a book, but that might only be two different experiences with an elephant. Posting a photo in the classroom of the elephant or a photo of the children with the elephant helps them relive that experience. Now, they're having their third experience with that elephant. It's helping children understand and remember so that they can build on it further.

Documentation also helps children ask more questions and go deeper into what the experience was because the first time they saw the elephant at the zoo they might have been overwhelmed or even a little scared so they backed up. We know when a child is fearful, their adrenaline increases, and they have many different things happening inside their brain. But then when you take some time in a calm environment later, you can think deeper. This happens for us as adults too. As you're taking in a new experience for the first time you may be overwhelmed and not fully able to experience the situation. But when you revisit it a second time, you have a different sense and a prior knowledge of the experience. Now, as you revisit it you can ask a new question. 

This is a way for children to go deeper in their thinking and help them communicate what is happening with each other. It is a powerful tool because it helps children rethink it and share their ideas, which may help other children understand better. If you think about child development knowledge, Vygotsky says, "You learn more sometimes from your peers." Having your documentation up and available for children helps them take their learning deeper. 

Child Development (Assessment and Curriculum Planning)

Another reason to document is to learn about child development, a child's learning, and growth. There are several apps available to help us document and some curricula have different tools that go with them. Many of them are focused on the child's growth and development. The areas of development include physical development, or large/gross motor and small/fine motor, cognitive, communication, and social-emotional development. You might even think, "I'm going to do an individual snapshot of every child in my classroom to look at their social and emotional growth this week." Sometimes you use the areas of development to drive how you document.

I like to do this in the first week of school and look at who the child sits next to, who they play with and talk with, and if they talk with adults more than children. Those are all social-emotional things. I like to get snapshots of every child at the very beginning of the school year because by the second or third week if I go to do the same thing, I might start to see some patterns. I might start to see that the child now plays with the same group of friends, or that they're with different people every single time, or maybe they played by themselves. Again, I'm going to get that developmental information about their social-emotional health.

A really good way to do some quick assessments is to get a list of every child and pick an area and say, "I'm doing it this whole week." The other thing to do if you have multiple adults in your classroom is to have both of you do the same task because you tend to focus differently than other people focus. It's really fascinating to do this. I was a very shy, quiet child and I tended to find one or two friends and I'd stick with them. Now when I watch children, I tend to gravitate towards looking for children that have some of those same behavioral patterns that I had as a child. If you were very outgoing, you might focus on those children. Some people focus more on boys, some people focus more on girls, some are better at focusing on outdoor play or indoor play, or different areas of the room. Having a different person look at the same child's growth area and then having a conversation about it shows a well-rounded form of child development and learning in terms of an assessment. That type of documentation is really valuable.

Looking at the developmental milestones is another way. The first way was looking at the developmental areas, but looking at milestones, such as learning to walk, takes it a step further. In my classes at the university, I often teach motor development first and we start looking at both fine motor and large motor. I love to have them do this in the infant-toddler class because children are just learning to walk and their bodies are so interesting. It always makes me think of a video clip where you have a bunch of toddlers learning to walk in one space and they all try to stand up in a different way. You may think about your own child or the children you work with. When children go to stand up, are they bending at the knee? Are they bending at the ankle? How are they balancing themselves? Really look at how a child learns to stand up or how they accomplish other milestones too.

It might not be a physical milestone. Sometimes it might be a cognitive milestone of learning to read. If you can capture a child learning to read and create a video of that to put in your e-portfolio, the child's family is going to think you are the best, most brilliant teacher ever. It's actually very easy. The first thing is to figure out what milestones you want to document. If you know you want to watch them learn to walk or watch them learn to read you have to think through, "How does my environment support this? When is this going to happen? Am I going to watch after lunch or am I going to watch during reading time when other children are reading? Am I going to pull them aside at a different time and just work one-on-one?" You're going to have to do some planning to get these milestones captured.

If you really think through that and capture it, you can string photos together with commentary or narrative or have an actual video of children learning to use the sounds, then learning to string words together, then actually reading a book with sight words of mixing these different concepts together. By the end when they actually can read a whole book on their own, you'll feel a sense of accomplishment in yourself by putting all those things together. Documenting milestones can be really important.

Lastly, use this type of assessment to show the growth of a child over the whole year. I like to use portfolio assessment to do this. I used to use notebooks where you just collect items such as those I've mentioned, and more I will share, such as work samples, observation notes, photographs, et cetera. Now, I've been using some online tools to create these e-portfolios that are amazing. It's almost like creating a personal portfolio for a child. These types of tools will show growth. They will show how a child progresses and what children are learning. You are making that learning visible to any of the audiences you're creating it for.

I've been talking about using documentation for individual children, but you can use it to understand your own classroom better. When you document for your whole classroom, it will make your teaching so much better and it will make what you teach connect better with children. You'll have far fewer behavioral issues. You'll have a lot more interest in different types of experiences. If you use documentation, even children that don't necessarily want to go to the art area or another area may begin going there. If you are using documentation intentionally, you can use it to help children want to do things that they didn't even know they wanted to do. Sometimes, just thinking about what is going on in your environment will help guide that too. We have to be really strong observers so that we can use that to advise our own lesson planning. When we do this, it will provide evidence of meeting all of those standards that our administrators or principals want us to do.

Here is an example. I live in Alaska right now, and while this probably happens anywhere you live, the first day we have snow it doesn't matter what I've planned to do in my classroom. Every child wants to go outside and play in the snow. Use those opportunities that come up and then document them. Planning lessons is one way to do that and using this KWL chart is another way. A KWL chart looks at what you Know, what you Want to know, and what you Learned.

Figure 6.  KWL chart on soccer.

Figure 6 shows an example of a KWL chart on soccer. You can use this with anything. I could put in snow here and do this with children. The K stands for what I know. I chose the idea of soccer because I was with my nephews and niece the other day and they are five and six. Two of them are twins. They just cannot get enough of soccer and that's all they talk about. They wanted to know more about soccer. I finally sat down with them and they had some other friends over. This was not actually in a classroom, but you can do this with small groups, whether you're in a classroom, school program, or anywhere else. 

I asked them, "What do you know about soccer?" They were very excited and said, "Oh, it's a game," and they all started shouting out different things at me. It's fun to do this in a large group in a classroom too. These are some of the things they told me. "Well, you get to kick a ball, and you play on a field, and kids play." My first thinking was, "Oh, great. Okay, there are five or six kids here. I'm going to make sure I have five or six balls for them so that they each can play soccer." In terms of development, I know they all are going to want their own ball. They surprised me. They did not want to play with five or six balls because there were five children there and they all wanted one ball because they knew when you play a game of soccer, you only play with one ball. You're not allowed to have two balls on that field. They already have some prior knowledge. You want to figure out what that prior knowledge is. Sometimes, you might have to change it or you might have to rethink or redirect sometimes, but they gave me those four things.

"It's a game, we kick a ball, we play on a field, and it's for kids to play." I thought, "Well, I know some adults that play." All of a sudden, all these different things came into my head. Then I asked them, "Well, what else do you want to know about soccer?" That's what the W stands for. I do this big visual either on a whiteboard or giant chart paper. I would create this chart and we'd start with the K. Depending on the group you're working with, either at the same time, later that day, or the next day, ask them, "What do you want to know about this? What do you want to know about soccer?" They told me, "Well, we want to know how to score a goal." They also wanted to know how to play the game. They know how they're playing, but they know there are also rules. Remember, a five and a six-year-old are starting to understand games with rules. They know there are some rules and asked how you play it.

They also wanted to know how fast you have to run because one of them said, "You had to keep running fast." Then they wanted to know if they could play it inside that day. I didn't answer these questions as they were asking them. Instead, I recorded them so they could see that. At that moment I was celebrating and honoring their ideas. In my own head, I was also thinking, "How could I tie this to the developmental standards and other things we're doing? How could I add this?" I know they were very excited.

I could imagine having this exact conversation with the group of children I once had in my classroom. We did have a similar one about bikes, and we came up with rules, a bike course, and other different ideas. That is what's driving your curriculum. That is what's driving you to become an intentional teacher. You start thinking about, where are they are at? Where do I want them to go in terms of their development and learning? How am I going to document all this? How am I going to change my curriculum so it's intentional to meet their needs?

When I did this with the bike project in our classroom, the children became fascinated with bikes. We started taking bikes apart inside our classroom. We noticed that there were patterns on the tire wheel. Some children used clay to make imprints of the tire prints. Then we started looking for textures in lots of things. It grew into many other things. That bike project lasted over a month. It wasn't on our curriculum plan. It was in our afternoon choice time, but that was their favorite time of the day. They wanted to do that bike project. Not every child did every bike activity every day, but some did. Every child did something with the bike project. It created a sense of excitement for the children to learn. Then we documented all of their learning during the bike project by putting up the photographs of them taking the bike apart. One child noticed there was a nut and bolt loose on one of the bikes, and then they started checking all of them. We ended up taking apart a bike and trying to put it back together. We had the handlebars put on upside down and had to fix that. It was a great project and the children and parents were so excited. Parents started coming in to see what we were doing, we had videos of our activities, and we set up a little bike meet where everybody got to bring their bikes and we made sure they were all safe. There are a lot of different areas that can be covered with a KWL chart and project.

Let me get back to the soccer example. The chart in figure 6 is an abbreviated chart from what I did with the children. The next day I asked, "So, what did you learn?" They learned several things including you have to play outside because I told them they couldn't play soccer where we were at. Then they told me, "You need to practice kicking the ball." They tried kicking it but many times they kept missing. We talked about how sometimes you have to practice something and it could be hard. They decided it was hard, but some of the time they got really good. They also noticed that sometimes one leg kicked the ball farther than the other leg. They started noticing all these different things. They also noticed that they needed to practice running so we started practicing running and would time them as they ran from here to the other side. They really enjoyed this and it helped drive the curriculum.

Documentation Cycle - Reflective Teaching/Practice

As I said in the beginning, documentation has many different meanings. When I hear the word document or documentation, I immediately think about a cycle. I'm observing kids and seeing what they're interested in. It could be soccer, snow, or the bike project. When I see that interest, am observing for milestones, or looking specifically at an area of development I have to figure out what exactly I'm observing and collect as much data as I can. Documentation is a cycle that includes observing and collecting data, creating documentation, reflecting and asking new questions, and adapting the curriculum based on the knowledge you've learned. Figure 7 shows this cycle of documenting and reflecting on your teaching. What I was showing you in figure 6 is part of the documentation cycle. 

Figure 7.  Documentation cycle.

If you have another person collecting data too, you start to see different things. Once you get all of that, you're going to create something and I'm going to go into that in this next portion. You're going to use all of this to help you create documentation. When you create it, it will help you reflect and ask more questions. As you start putting your documentation together you're going to start noticing patterns. For example, "I noticed Johnny always has that soccer ball and I noticed Susie is always in the same area but she never has the ball. I think she might want it. I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to follow up and ask if she would like to learn to play soccer too."

We're going to start using that documentation to help us ask new questions. We might be asking questions about development. Maybe I want to see how children can use more phonemic awareness in my classroom and I want to see how they're using books and letters. If I'm not seeing any evidence of phonemic awareness in any of the documentation I've collected and I want to see some of that, I might start with some small group experiences so I can start having conversations. I'm going to reflect and ask my own questions, which will depend on what I was observing.

Last, documentation is going to change my curriculum. I am going to be using a curriculum that meets individual and whole group child interests and needs, and that is what a reflective teacher does. Getting back to this idea of reflective practice, it is that higher-level teacher I think everybody strives for. When I was teaching in my public preschool classroom I worked with parents a lot, just as many of you do. This program was similar to what a Head Start program is. Parents were expected to participate. At the beginning of the year, none of the parents knew each other. None of them really understood why we have Play-Doh, why we have time to go play on those chalkboards, or why we have family-style meals in our classroom. They weren't necessarily opposed to it, but they didn't understand the value or the importance of those things.

If we get to this higher level of reflective practice, we're doing this in collaboration with our whole school community, meaning the children, parents, and teachers. This could also include others in your community. One activity we did was after school. I started taking photographs and printing them out. I would share them after school, have my clipboard of notes, and we would start looking at all of these things and say, "Hey, what are you all seeing?" The children would relive the experience and say, "Hey mom, look, I did this!" or, "I want to try this again when I get home." The parents were seeing, "Oh, wow! I didn't realize you could do that when you were exploring rocks or." Doing that helps us understand where the children have been and it gives us ideas of where to go. Again, it's driving my curriculum development, but it's also getting a lot of buy-in from families. Now they want to be a part of this experience and by the end of the year, we would have so many families volunteering in our classroom we had almost as many adults as children. We had to manage that in a different way because you don't want too many people in the room. Think about how to get to the level where you have families engaged and everyone is really thinking about the learning of these children. 

Two Reasons to Document

Why should I document? These are the real reasons that I've been coming back to throughout this course. The first reason is to understand individual child growth and learning and to make it visible. The second reason is to look at group learning and make our curriculum visible. If we go back and think again about all of those different aspects of why you should document (to celebrate children, to provide evidence of learning, etc.), these are the two reasons: we want to understand individuals and we want to understand the group. Developmentally appropriate practice goes back to typical development, what a group of children that are four years old does and what an individual child does. Also think about how the different cultural impacts, prior experiences, environments, and other things shape it? That's why we document.

Think back now to all these different ways we've talked about documenting and think about which of those resonates with you. Is it to honor children, celebrate what they're doing, and have children see that? Is it to provide evidence of learning? Is that what's super important in your program right now? "I need to prove to our administrators we are doing it. That's why we're making noise." I once had a principal who was so concerned with noise that I had to show him why talking was so valuable. We were learning language acquisition, among many other things, but all they seemed to care about was we were too loud. Is it to provide evidence of that?

Is it to build family and community partnerships? That's another really important thing. Is that why you're documenting? Maybe we want to get more families involved so that they can help us in the classroom. Is it so I can understand individual child learning and growth? Is it because I need to get portfolios because that's what my work says I have to do? I've got to collect this data and evidence and I've got to assess where they're at. So, I've got to get on top of that. Maybe I want to do it because I have a lot of assessments that I'm required to do.

Think about it and ask yourself, "Is that my purpose?" Maybe your purpose is just to rethink your curriculum. "I want to make my curriculum more meaningful to children. I'm having a lot of behavioral guidance engagement issues, maybe children aren't even interested, so I need to document what they're doing and think about why they're not interested. I want to start seeing what they are interested in. I might want to use this new cycle to help me do curriculum planning. I'm going to start using this in terms of getting to the next level of my curriculum planning or maybe I want to become that reflective practitioner. I want to be really thoughtful and intentional about every single thing I do."

If you think about these they're sort of on a continuum. It's like when you are that intentional reflective practitioner, you're already doing all those other things that I mentioned. Sometimes you're not excellent in one of those in another area you're working on. Maybe you're not as great at connecting with families and that's going to be an area you're going to think about. You might do documentation to help include them. You might think, "I really want to get better and I'm taking a child development class. I want to think about what development looks like for these three-year-olds I'm working with?" 

What Should I Document?

When documenting individual child learning there are several things to look at and document, but I don't recommend doing all of these things the first time. Choose one or two of the following items to collect. You might choose one of these options per week. 

• Child's work samples 
• Individual child growth and development observations 
• Evidence of meeting standards 
• Child's questions and ideas

If you want to start looking at group learning, focus on one of the following items to document.

• Experiences
• Expected behaviors
• Evidence of meeting standards
• Children's work
• Curriculum ideas or experiences
• Families and relationships
• Children's, teachers', and parents' inquiries

An experience happening in the class might be that somebody is bringing in their new pet rabbit and we're all going to share that today. I'm going to watch how all the children interact with a pet rabbit. It might be mealtime and I just want to see how children do with family-style meals. Pick an experience and start observing that as a whole group. It's a very holistic view. You're not focusing on individuals per se, you're looking at the whole experience of family-style meals. Maybe you're going to collect writing samples for the whole class and then lay them all out and think, "Wow, half of these children know how to write their names and the other half are still just doing little squiggles for words. Maybe I need to rethink how I'm teaching them to write their names and write letters."

Think about children's work samples. Again, not on an individual child basis, but as a collective or as a whole. Maybe I'm looking at a behavior. "I've noticed that transitions after lunch are really rough in my classroom. Maybe I'll spend some time observing what happens during this time. I could turn on a video camera to observe and document what happens during that time." I might notice that a couple of children are really tired and maybe a couple are getting moody because they're tired and others are getting more excited and more energized. Sometimes, when children get overtired, their energy level changes. So, I might look for behavioral things.

I might use a curriculum idea or an experience. Again, a video works great to do this. If I lead a group time with a group of children, I might video that and then listen to their ideas and their experiences. When I'm leading a group, I hear different things and notice different things when I rewatch it. Another option is to have a teaching assistant, a parent, or somebody else document it for you. A project, such as the bike project I discussed, is great to focus on doing KWL charts to document what is done by the group. I love to do that and then create a class book or a class PowerPoint that loops and children can watch it. Sometimes I focus on families and relationships and how they're a part of our curriculum. Other times I want to make sure our whole group understands certain vocabulary. This helps show that we are meeting that core knowledge or that early learning guideline.  I also want to be able to address all the other teachers, parents, and others' inquiries.

How Should I Document

If you're going to document, there are two levels to think about: individual child and whole group. Figure 8 shows steps one and two for documenting for the individual child and the whole group.

Figure 8.  How to document for the individual child and whole group.

For step one, when I start with the individual child, I'm going to review all of my early learning guidelines and expectations for them, and then I'm probably going to just select one area of development. I'm going to photograph it and then I'm going to write a note, something simple. That's my first step when I decide I'm going to document for individuals. If I'm going to document for the whole group, I'm going to use step one of figure 8 to determine what I'm going to document. Then I'm going to review it and look at my curriculum lesson plans to see if it matches. I'm going to just observe that one experience or activity, photograph or video it, then write a note about it. I'm going to be very concrete and explicit about what I'm doing.

Step two for the individual child involves collecting the work samples. I'm going to do this over a few days or if it's the name samples, I might do it over a few months. But I'm going to just focus on that developmental area and collect multiple things. I'm going to start observing for multiple things and then I'm going to write notes that go with all of the things that I collect. Then I'm going to create an e-portfolio for that child, but I'm going to be very aware of all the things I just entered into it. It's very intentional. I'm not just throwing in all their art projects and finger painting. Those are important, but I want to be very intentional so that what I collect is providing evidence and showing child growth. It can include arts. I teach creativity in the arts, so that is one of my favorite things. But I try to use that very intentionally to teach language and literacy through the arts or to teach social-emotional development through music. I might show a clip of music, but it's going to show how it connects to cognitive development or another area. That's the next layer. Using art examples in the e-portfolio can be amazing.

During step two for the whole group, we're listening for multiple children's ideas, recording all of these things, creating KWL charts, photographing and videoing the experience, and then putting them all together in either a slideshow, such as Google Slides or PowerPoint, or creating panels in our room. We are making that learning visible to the whole group, to our families, and all the different audiences that we work with.

Items Needed to Document

When you document, there are certain tools that will make it easier for you. These include pens, paper, clipboards, digital cameras (smartphone, iPad, or another device that captures photo, video, and audio), computers, printers, and a system for storage, such as the cloud. Different types of products create different types of artifacts. The e-portfolio is similar to an artist's portfolio or can be a notebook that has different sections in it. If I do a paper version in a notebook, I like to start by using tabs to separate the notebook into the areas of development including cognitive development, motor development, et cetera. Sometimes I'll use tabs to differentiate projects the child has done. Pick your topics and then start inserting things. The e-portfolio is great and there are a number of different tools you can use online. I've even been doing these with my college students and we make our own learning visible. We are documenting our learning and I have them create it. But in a sense, they are learning how to do it for children by doing it on themselves. 

You might've heard of panels. These are similar to the old-fashioned bulletin board, but a panel is very intentional. It tells a story and is not just putting up everybody's finger painting. It would be intentional. It might only have two people's finger painting papers, but it's going to tell the story of why these two are important, what they are doing, and how this provides evidence of what the child is doing. For example, maybe it's motor development and we are all using our pointer fingers because we are learning to write letters in the finger paint. Whatever it is, your panel tells your story. It's not for every single child. It's going to tell the story of a concept.

You might use videos. Again, you're not playing a whole video. You're choosing elements of videos to include and to incorporate that would show evidence of learning. It might only be a 30-second video of having a child learn to read. It's going to be something small, but intentional.

The bulletin board is still important. It's similar to the panel, but it might just be a collective place. I love to do child bulletin boards where they get to celebrate and put up things they are proud of. That's another way to reframe what they are doing. I also like to use frames to show work. I go to the thrift store and get a whole bunch of those big wood frames, take out whatever's in the inside, and let children put pieces of artwork in it. Then I have children tell me why they put that in there. They can tell their story and you can put their words inside the frame with their piece of artwork or their work sample.

Figure 7.  Example of documentation.

Figure 7 is another type of documentation that is similar to what a panel is, but it's just a simpler way. We went outside and collected different types of leaves during the fall and then put them on a piece of butcher paper. We compared the leaves and noticed there were all kinds of leaves. The children put their names in the chart by their leaves and we had all kinds of conversations. We then turned that into a KWL chart. This was actually the project of a student I was observing. She did a fabulous job and connected the activity to the different early learning guidelines in our state. Alaska Early Learning Guideline 34 is children demonstrate knowledge of numbers and counting. That includes children sorting objects and then counting and comparing them. It also includes sorting objects by one attribute into two or more groups (big, medium, and small). This documentation provided evidence of the children learning those things.

What are the Stages of a Documenter?

As I've mentioned, you can't do everything at one time. Here are the stages of a documenter.

• Stage 1: I want to document
• Stage 2: Exploration of my tools
• Stage 3: Focus on children – learning to observe
• Stage 4: Information gathering
• Stage 5: Connections: telling the story
• Stage 6: Documentation for decision-making

The first stage is deciding that you want to be a documenter and figuring out how to do it. I've just given you all a bunch of different ways to do that. That's the first step. The second step is to explore what tools you have in your classroom. Do you have pens and pencils and other things I discussed in the last section? When I go observe my students, some of their centers or programs require them to wear aprons. They may not be aesthetically pleasing, but they're very handy because they keep notepads and note pens in their pockets. They can keep a phone to take photographs. The phone is not to text, but to take photographs and do recordings. It's important to have those items easily accessible. Then you have to decide what type of documentation you're going to do and what you need to do that.

Stage three is learning how to really observe and focus on the children. Think about what you are observing, how it's important, what you are doing, and why you want to collect the information. What is the overall focus of my observation? Is it child development and growth or is it a project? You might find it's easier for you to just do one area of development instead of multiple areas. 

Stage four is information gathering and collecting all the documentation you have. Think back to when I spoke about the families coming into the classroom and seeing what the children had been doing. We were looking at all the different information that had been gathered. Then we continued on to stage five, where we told the story using a panel, an e-portfolio, a poster, or a class book. Tell your story with your documentation.

Lastly, you are a professional teacher. You're using your documentation for decision-making. Going through these stages takes time and practice. Just like in the KWL chart where the children realized in order to play soccer they needed to practice running and kicking the ball. You need to practice collecting these items and practice figuring out what they actually mean and connecting them to your evidence. 

Figure 8.  Young boy on playground equipment.

Let's make learning visible. Take a moment and look at figure 8. Look at this picture of the individual child and then think about these questions in your head.

• What do you see?
• What areas of development?
• What type of environment?
• After you write your observations, what will you do with them?
• Why is this observation important?

Write those different observations down and then think about what story would you tell with these? Why would this observation be important? Other than it's an adorable child running, what is valuable about this? 

In conclusion, documentation is a really powerful tool. You can do so many things and address different audiences. You can make your story and the children's story valued, celebrated, and honored. Documentation can be used for individual children or whole groups of children and in different combinations of that. Documentation makes your own teaching more intentional. There are many tools you can use to document learning, but documentation takes practice. It takes a lot of time and energy. It's going to take support from others around you. If you're doing it all on your own, it's going to be that much harder. It will be better and easier if you work as a team with others, but ultimately, documentation makes children's learning visible.

Seitz, H. (2021). Documentation: Making children's learning visible.  Continu ed .com - Early Childhood Education , Article 23768. Available at www.continued.com/early-childhood-education

Dr. Hilary Seitz is a passionate early childhood educator, an advocate for young children and their families, and an Alaskan. She has been a professor of early childhood at the University of Alaska, Anchorage since January of 2003. She came with 17 years of early childhood teaching experience from infant/toddler/preschool classrooms, public Pre-K, and primary grades. Her research foci have been in early literacy development, collaborative practices between families and schools including culturally responsive pedagogies, emergent curriculum development, documentation and authentic assessment, and social constructivist learning theories inspired by Reggio Emilia practices. She is currently working on projects related to the superpower of creativity and how to integrate culturally relevant early literacy practices into the classroom. In her free time, she loves to read (novels), hike around Alaska, crochet, play cribbage, walk her dogs and spend time with her family at her cabin.

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Pedagogical documentation in early childhood education: A systematic review of the literature

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Using Observation to Guide Your Teaching

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As staff assessors for NAEYC’s Early Learning Programs team, we visit different programs across the country. Our goal is to connect with program staff, observe, and gather information about a setting to evaluate it for accreditation. The NAEYC “Early Learning Program Accreditation Standards and Assessment Items” guides our work: it outlines expectations for excellence, aiming to ensure that programs offer children and families continuously high-quality early childhood education and care.

There are 10 standards covering a range of topic areas. One of the most challenging for programs is Standard 4: Assessment of Child Progress. As we gather information for this standard, we look for evidence that early childhood educators are observing children—watching and listening with intention along with recording that information—then using their observations to do two things: adjust teaching strategies and design learning experiences.

In this article, we share details and examples about how to use observations to guide instruction. These are based on our work as early childhood educators and reflect our observations of and feedback to early learning programs as they go through the accreditation process.

Teachers as Observers

Effective teachers intentionally watch and listen to children—whether during a daily routine or a planned activity, on a particular day, and over time. Sometimes, we can tell a teacher is observing by what they say. During our visits, we often hear a teacher share things like

• “Jamal is starting to recognize the letters in his name. Today he pointed to an  A  in a book and said, ‘That’s MY letter.’”
• “Marisu has incredible balance. Did you see how long she stood on one foot today?!”
• “Jacintha made up another song while she was in the dramatic play center today. She comes up with the most wonderful melodies.”

Other times, we can tell a teacher is observing by their documentation. Teachers use anecdotal records, audio and video recordings, checklists and rating scales, and other means to document children’s learning and growth. Documentation can be reviewed, reflected on, and used to make decisions, including the next steps in planning for a group and for individual children.

Using Observations to Adjust Teaching Strategies

Ms. Jackson and Ms. Perez coteach in an early learning program. During shared outdoor time, the two observe a group of children trying to make a tower out of loose parts cut from a tree trunk. The children are having a difficult time because they’re using a few small blocks of wood as a base and stacking larger pieces on top. The tower keeps toppling.

Ms. Jackson approaches the children. “Put the big pieces on the bottom,” she says. It’s a strategy she has used in the past: in the block center earlier that week, she told children that big blocks should go at the bottom of a structure. Then, as now, the children stare at her.

Ms. Perez takes another approach. Responding to the children as active, engaged learners, she waits and observes rather than imposing a solution. Then she says, “I remember when you were building a tower inside the other day. What happened to that tower?” She listens and watches some more. When the outside tower falls again, she says, “Hmm, I wonder what else you could try?” to encourage the children to keep working. After several failed attempts, the children collect smaller pieces of wood and line them up to make a sturdier base. It works! The tower is tall and stable.

 This is an example of using the results of observation to adjust teaching strategies. Based on her observations, Ms. Perez decided to ask questions and give a clue or hint. By intentionally observing and acting on what they see, teachers can select and adapt a range of developmentally appropriate strategies to promote children’s play and work.

What to Observe

If observation is new to you or if you’re looking to finetune your current practice, consider asking the following questions as you watch the children in your setting.

• What activities and materials does each child respond to (positively or negatively)?
• What are some questions and statements each child has said that stand out to you?
• What does each child talk about?
• How does each child play?
• Who does each child enjoy playing with?
• When is each child most successful?
• When does each child smile and laugh?

Using Observations to Design Learning Experiences

While teachers have many opportunities to make spontaneous observations (as in the vignette), they can also plan when to observe and tie what they see to specific learning goals or objectives. For example, Ms. Patel was interested in learning more about what each child in her setting already knew about the alphabet. As children engaged in the literacy center over the next few weeks, she intentionally observed and asked questions as they played. She noticed that Jack named all the letters in the alphabet and used scribbles to represent letters on paper. Ms. Patel documented these observations by taking pictures and writing anecdotal records. After reviewing and reflecting on these pieces, she created more print-rich materials by adding laminated cards with words related to the weekly theme and by putting labels on toy shelves. She also made a class book with photos of each child beside their names. That helped Jack start making connections and move from scribbles to letter-like forms and letters.

In addition, teachers can draw on their observations of children’s interests as they plan related learning experiences. For example, if Ms. Patel observes that Jack is interested in reptiles, she can add sand and plastic lizards to the sensory table, encouraging Jack to use his fingers or the lizards’ tails to draw letters in the sand. She can introduce playdough rolled into long “snakes” and encourage Jack to make letter shapes with them. This is one of many examples we observed in the field of teachers using observation to design activities or learning experiences.

Questions to Help Use What You Observe

As assessors, we are trained to look for evidence that educators are using what they observe to guide teaching and inform decision making about each and every child. As you think about how you use observations in your setting, consider the following questions:

• When do I typically watch and listen to children?
• Are there other times I could be observing?
• What types of activities or experiences do I tend to watch and listen to closely?
• When else might I want to start observing?
• How do I use information from my observations?
• What is one new or different way I can use this information to guide my teaching?

Bringing It Together: Using Observations to Individualize Instruction

When teachers make the most of their observations, they can adjust their teaching approaches and design activities that are responsive to each learner in their setting. Looking back at the opening examples, here is how the teacher in each situation did just that.

Observation:  “Jamal is starting to recognize the letters in his name. Today he pointed to an  A  in a book and said, ‘That’s MY letter.’”

Adjusted teaching strategies:  Jamal’s teacher, Mr. Blanca, starts pointing out letters around the room that are in Jamal’s name. He places books in the classroom library about celebrating one’s name (such as Your Name is a Song, by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and illustrated by Luisa Uribe, and Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes). He intentionally spends time in that area, acknowledging, giving feedback, and using other strategies as Jamal engages with these books.

Designed learning experiences:  Next week, Mr. Blanca plans an activity where children will use tools like stencils, foam brushes, or their fingers to paint the letters in their names. He makes sure to draw Jamal’s attention to the art center and the opportunity to paint his name and other things about himself.

Observation:  “Marisu has incredible balance. Did you see how long she stood on one foot today?!”

Adjusted teaching strategies:  When the group sings during music time, Marisu’s teacher, Ms. Deepti, prompts children to add movements like hopping and standing on one foot.

Designed learning experiences:  With support from Ms. Deepti, the children make an obstacle course with a balance beam. They keep the course up for a few weeks, and Ms. Deepti encourages Marisu to try this activity during that time.

Observation:  “Jacintha made up another song while she was in the dramatic play center today. She comes up with the most wonderful melodies.”

Adjusted teaching strategies:  Jacintha’s teacher, Ms. Brahma, sings clean-up time directions to the melody Jacintha was singing.

Designed learning experiences:  Ms. Brahma plans to introduce an instructional unit on melodies in children’s songs. She will gather ideas from the children, from collections at the local library, and from families. She anticipates making melody maps (posters with different shapes that visually show a melody) and talking about high and low sounds. She also plans to incorporate different genres or styles of music from various cultures into the class’s daily routines.

Photographs: © Getty Images Copyright © 2022 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at  NAEYC.org/resources/permissions .

Dawn Petitpas has been an assessor at NAEYC for 20 years and has observed in thousands of early childhood classrooms. She has a bachelor’s degree in early childhood and child care leadership from Leslie University and a master’s degree in school administration from Wheelock.

Teresa K. Buchanan, PhD, started assessing programs for NAEYC in 2021. She was an early childhood teacher educator for 20 years and earned her doctorate in child and family studies with a focus on early childhood education from Purdue University.

Vol. 16, No. 1

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• © 2022

Piaget and Vygotsky in XXI century

Discourse in early childhood education

• Nikolay Veraksa 0 ,
• Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson 1

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

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Department of Education, Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden

• Analyzes issues of modern childhood education from both Piaget and Vygotsky perspectives
• Introduces the methodology of work and practice that will take advantage of Piaget and Vygotsky
• Includes contributions from well-known and well-respected professionals from different countries

Part of the book series: Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical Focus (ECRE, volume 4)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

Front matter, introduction.

• Nikolay Veraksa, Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Vygotsky’s Theory: Culture as a Prerequisite for Education

Nikolay Veraksa

Learning and Development in a Designed World

• Roger Säljö, Åsa Mäkitalo
• Dialectical Thinking
• Nikolay Veraksa, Michael Basseches

Social Representations of Play: Piaget, Vygotskij and Beyond

• Bert van Oers

Children’s Perspectives Informing Theories and Nordic Preschool Practice

• Camilla Björklund, Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Preschool Children’s Pretend Play Viewed from a Vygotskyan and a Piagetian Perspective

• Polly Björk-Willén

Piaget and Vygotsky: Powerful Inspirators for Today’s Students in Early Education and Developmental Psychology

• Elly Singer

Constructivism and Social Constructivism in the Study of Relationship Between Early Childhood Education Quality and Executive Function at 5–6 years Old

• Anastasia Belolutskaya, Darya Bukhalenkova, Evgeniy Krasheninnikov-Khait, Igor Shiyan, Olga Shiyan, Aleksander Veraksa

Piaget and Vygotsky’s Play Theories: The Profile of Twenty-First-Century Evidence

• Nikolay Veraksa, Yeshe Colliver, Vera Sukhikh

Vygotsky and Piaget as Twenty-First-Century Critics of Early Childhood Education Philosophizing

• Niklas Pramling
• Cognitive Development
• Emotional Development
• Social Development
• Education Environment
• Early Childhood Education
• Quality of Education
• Cultural Tools in Education
• Digital Tools in Education
• Play in education

Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Nikolay Veraksa is a Professor at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leading Researcher of the Russian Academy of Education, Moscow City University, Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Early Childhood Education and Development, Honored Doctor of Gothenburg University. Has an experience as an invited editor of the International Journal of Early Years Education (2011), European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (2014); published book Vygotsky’s Theory in Early Childhood Education and Research (edited by Nikolay Veraksa and Sonja Sheridan) – Routledge, 2018.

Book Title : Piaget and Vygotsky in XXI century

Book Subtitle : Discourse in early childhood education

Editors : Nikolay Veraksa, Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Series Title : Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical Focus

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05747-2

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Education , Education (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-031-05746-5 Published: 19 August 2022

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-031-05749-6 Published: 20 August 2023

eBook ISBN : 978-3-031-05747-2 Published: 18 August 2022

Series ISSN : 2946-6091

Series E-ISSN : 2946-6105

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : VIII, 206

Number of Illustrations : 22 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour

Topics : Early Childhood Education , Educational Philosophy , Developmental Psychology , Education, general , Philosophy of Education , Curriculum Studies

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