Documentations
Documentation and assessment seems to be one of my main jobs as a teacher. In fact I can’t get away from it. I always have a camera in hand so I hopefully don’t miss that most important documentation needed that will fit into the 65 different objectives that needs to be covered per child, times two (this is because our director wants at least two documentations per objective to prove where the child is at). However not only does my director want this each semester but she wants it twice a semester – once in the beginning and again at the end of the semester. So that means my co-worker and I are doing 260 documentation and assessments per child, we have 20 children in the classroom, so that would be 10,400 documentation and assessments each year.
In my opinion this is crazy! But the reason behind this is because we are an accredited college lab school, we need to be doing the latest trends and be a role model for other preschools and their teachers and for the students that come through the school. When I have talked to other preschool teachers and students who have graduated from this preschool they say that the real world is not like this lab school. I have to agree, we are not like other preschools.
It seems that this preschool is made to look good on paper, but is that all so important to have? Isn’t there other things that are just as important? Or maybe even more important? Or couldn’t we do things differently and still have the accreditation needed? I believe there is an answer to these questions and the answer is YES!
I do think documentation and assessment is necessary, assessing the children show us where the child is at and what we could do to help the child move on to the next level of learning; but I also believe that it could be done differently, not by taking two (or more) pictures/documentation, observation, or assessment per objective. I believe that the objectives could be done in a much simpler way and also in a way that would be more teacher, parent, and child friendly. The child portfolios would be just that - child portfolios. It would be the child’s work, interests and wants. After all isn’t that what the parent’s want to see – their child’s work not the teachers. As of right now the portfolios are all the teacher’s work, nothing from the child. The portfolios show what the teachers can do, not the child. This makes me sad. I’m not saying that assessment and documentation is unnecessary I’m just saying that they way we are told to do it, is.
The book poses a question in this week’s chapter readings, “How can we help children find the meaning of what they do, what they encounter, what they experience? And how can we do this for ourselves (p.79)?” I think as teachers we need to put the children first. We have many rules at this school that I believe are unnecessary and also they may hinder the children’s learning. I like the rules my co-worker, Val, came up with. There are only 3 – Take care of yourself, Take care of others, and Take care of the environment. How beautiful that sounds to me, three simple rules that could easily be followed and also don’t you think these rules should be a part of life’s lessons?
Let me give an example, today I did journals. Each child draws a picture about the subject the teacher picks and then the teacher copies down their dictation. During one of these journals one child was drawing in his journal and started to pound down hard over and over with the marker onto the paper, splashing the ink everywhere, making the tip flat and causing the ink to seep onto the next page. As a rule we are not aloud to let the children do this so I stopped this at once. But my question is why? Isn’t this also a way of learning? Won’t the child learn the consequences of his actions? Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to the child if he sees what the result is? But now as I go over this scenario it looks as if I focused on the negative so here are some of the positive questions? Wasn’t he learning about how the colors splatter or mix together? Or how his different strength made different marks on the paper? This child later went outside and used the spray bottles to create what he may have tried to create with the markers. So what do you think the child learned? Was it really necessary to tell him that he couldn’t use the markers in that way? Do you think he might have learned more if he wasn’t stopped?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Group Learning
Group Learning, Why Not?
The first paragraph made me question again, the way I do portfolios, yet this time for a different reason. It is true that there is so much learning in group settings but up until now I never questioned why most observations, documentations, assessments, and pictures taken are focused on the individual child. I decided to look at last semester’s portfolio that we use in Parent/Teac her Conferences. Out of the fifty objectives there are only four that involve other children; they are in the area of Prosocial Behavior: (1) Plays well with other children, (2) Recognizes the feelings of others and responds appropriately, (3) Shares and respects the rights of others, and (4) Uses thinking skills to resolve conflicts. However, after reading the chapter I see so much more that would apply to other areas of development as well as how important group learning is.
Let me give an example of what happened earlier today. Outside on the playground the children take turns, two at a time riding the battery operated jeep for five minutes each. During one of the exchanges there were two children in the jeep who didn’t know how to operate it. Another child noticed this and went to their aide. He showed them what to do repeatedly until the driver understood what to do and was able to drive the jeep. While this was happening the passenger was also participating by pressing the buttons and helped to turn the driver’s wheel. I also noticed other children who were waiting to ride/drive the jeep were listening/watching this interaction. Because of the short clip of, “To Catch a Balloon”, I didn’t interfere and watched this interaction, were before I might have interfered to “help”. Now I’m glad I didn’t. What I didn’t mention was the next group who drove the jeep asked the boy to help them and he did. What wonderful learning took place; however, the way the portfolios are done I will have to place it in one of the four areas of prosocial behavior in the boy’s portfolio or pick apart this scenario and individualize it for each of the other children’s portfolios, why? How can this be changed?
I guess I went off a little bit, but I’m just so excited with everything I’m learning here, who knew I liked Reggio. I really like the idea of group learning and want to implement it but I’m not sure how. When I do my portfolios I use the camera to capture my observations and I also try to come up with games, activities, and lessons the children can play with that I will be able to use for my assessments. When the children play the games at the tables I feel like I’m in a car factory where I have the game and line up the children to play it so I can assess them, take their picture, and move on to the next game. How can this change? Also when I put my observation in the portfolio I’m not allowed to personalize the scenario or put any feelings into it, which is what I got from “The Diary of Laura”. This is not something I agree with but it is what I’m told to do. Why can’t I put the other children’s names in the observation? Or even write a teacher’s name in an observation? Instead I’m told to write “a teacher observed. . .” I want to make portfolios more personal-like and not so clinical, but how? I hope and know I will learn more with each chapter I read from the book – I’m looking forward to it.
The first paragraph made me question again, the way I do portfolios, yet this time for a different reason. It is true that there is so much learning in group settings but up until now I never questioned why most observations, documentations, assessments, and pictures taken are focused on the individual child. I decided to look at last semester’s portfolio that we use in Parent/Teac her Conferences. Out of the fifty objectives there are only four that involve other children; they are in the area of Prosocial Behavior: (1) Plays well with other children, (2) Recognizes the feelings of others and responds appropriately, (3) Shares and respects the rights of others, and (4) Uses thinking skills to resolve conflicts. However, after reading the chapter I see so much more that would apply to other areas of development as well as how important group learning is.
Let me give an example of what happened earlier today. Outside on the playground the children take turns, two at a time riding the battery operated jeep for five minutes each. During one of the exchanges there were two children in the jeep who didn’t know how to operate it. Another child noticed this and went to their aide. He showed them what to do repeatedly until the driver understood what to do and was able to drive the jeep. While this was happening the passenger was also participating by pressing the buttons and helped to turn the driver’s wheel. I also noticed other children who were waiting to ride/drive the jeep were listening/watching this interaction. Because of the short clip of, “To Catch a Balloon”, I didn’t interfere and watched this interaction, were before I might have interfered to “help”. Now I’m glad I didn’t. What I didn’t mention was the next group who drove the jeep asked the boy to help them and he did. What wonderful learning took place; however, the way the portfolios are done I will have to place it in one of the four areas of prosocial behavior in the boy’s portfolio or pick apart this scenario and individualize it for each of the other children’s portfolios, why? How can this be changed?
I guess I went off a little bit, but I’m just so excited with everything I’m learning here, who knew I liked Reggio. I really like the idea of group learning and want to implement it but I’m not sure how. When I do my portfolios I use the camera to capture my observations and I also try to come up with games, activities, and lessons the children can play with that I will be able to use for my assessments. When the children play the games at the tables I feel like I’m in a car factory where I have the game and line up the children to play it so I can assess them, take their picture, and move on to the next game. How can this change? Also when I put my observation in the portfolio I’m not allowed to personalize the scenario or put any feelings into it, which is what I got from “The Diary of Laura”. This is not something I agree with but it is what I’m told to do. Why can’t I put the other children’s names in the observation? Or even write a teacher’s name in an observation? Instead I’m told to write “a teacher observed. . .” I want to make portfolios more personal-like and not so clinical, but how? I hope and know I will learn more with each chapter I read from the book – I’m looking forward to it.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Diary of Laura” Questions
“Difficulties During Diaper Change”
What is going on at the emotional level during this diaper changing?
What do you think Laura’s mother might feel about this diaper change?
How does this episode relate to a relationship-based approach to infant-toddler care?
Does Laura now seem more “adjusted” to the infant-toddler center?
By this time, Laura has been going to school for 4 days and hasn’t become familiar with her new caretakers. It isn’t a surprise that she has stranger anxiety and separation anxiety which both occurs around 9 months of age. Her care takers should expect Laura, at 10 months old, to react differently to strangers in a new environment. It’s normal that Laura becomes fussy with her teachers during a diaper change. Laura can have many different feelings at this time, such as: sad, mad, scared, hurt, she may be moody and become easily upset at things, she can feel shy around new people, and also sensitive to other people’s moods.
This is only the fourth day of infant-toddler care and Laura needs time to get used to the new situation and the people who care for her. Her teacher must realize that everything Laura sees, tastes, smells, hears, or feels is a new experience for her and gives Laura the time she needs to understand it and adjust to it. From the observation I could tell that Laura’s teacher, Eluccia, was very understanding, patient, and gentle with Laura throughout this episode. Eluccia was very considerate to Laura’s feelings by not forcing the diaper change right away, cuddling her when she became stiff or almost crying; during the next attempt her teacher was more careful and gentle when placing Laura onto the changing table in an upright position (probably thinking that this position might be easier for Laura to handle); she also tried used distraction with a toy while changing Laura’s diaper, and used her calm body and soothing voice to calm Laura in the final process of the diaper change.
Laura’s mother might have thought what patience and understanding this teacher must have with Laura. She may not have expected the teacher to be so patient with Laura; after all it’s just another diaper change. Eluccia was so careful with each step she took throughout the diaper changing process that Laura’s mother must have felt like she picked the right environment and people to care for her daughter.
This episode does show the relationship-based approach to infant-toddler care. Eluccia knows that Laura has only been coming to school for four days, which means that everything is still new to Laura and Laura needs time to adjust to her new environment and the people who take care of her. Eluccia used a calm and soothing voice throughout this episode, she also didn’t force the diaper change on Laura, then the teacher used distraction with a toy and later with her glasses to ease Laura into finishing the diaper change, and of course the teacher used her body to make Laura feel more at ease during the process. Eluccia knows that she needs to develop a trusting relationship with Laura.
Laura is still adjusting to her new environment and the people who take care of her. Eluccia knows how important it is to have Laura feel secure in her environment and by tapping into Laura’s sensitive cues is an important step for Laura to develop a positive relationship with her caregiver and become adjusted to the infant-toddler center.
“The Contested Doll”
What was the teacher Eluccia trying to do when she intervened in this conflict?
What do you think of her strategy, and how does it compare to strategies you have seen?
Why did Laura become contented at the end of the incident?
When Eluccia tried to intervene during the conflict of the doll she was trying to stop the episode from getting bigger and helping Laura to calm down because the doll she was playing with was taken by the other child, Silvia. I believe that distraction works well with younger children and I think that Eluccia did a good job by intervening so the situation wouldn’t get out of hand and then going one step further and encouraging both children to participate in question and answering game with the toy they were fighting over. Laura is an only child and by reading the book seems not to have the interaction with other children and hasn’t learned how or what to do in this type of situation. Laura becomes content in the end because the teacher distracted her with the question and answer game.
“Difficulties During Diaper Change”
What is going on at the emotional level during this diaper changing?
What do you think Laura’s mother might feel about this diaper change?
How does this episode relate to a relationship-based approach to infant-toddler care?
Does Laura now seem more “adjusted” to the infant-toddler center?
By this time, Laura has been going to school for 4 days and hasn’t become familiar with her new caretakers. It isn’t a surprise that she has stranger anxiety and separation anxiety which both occurs around 9 months of age. Her care takers should expect Laura, at 10 months old, to react differently to strangers in a new environment. It’s normal that Laura becomes fussy with her teachers during a diaper change. Laura can have many different feelings at this time, such as: sad, mad, scared, hurt, she may be moody and become easily upset at things, she can feel shy around new people, and also sensitive to other people’s moods.
This is only the fourth day of infant-toddler care and Laura needs time to get used to the new situation and the people who care for her. Her teacher must realize that everything Laura sees, tastes, smells, hears, or feels is a new experience for her and gives Laura the time she needs to understand it and adjust to it. From the observation I could tell that Laura’s teacher, Eluccia, was very understanding, patient, and gentle with Laura throughout this episode. Eluccia was very considerate to Laura’s feelings by not forcing the diaper change right away, cuddling her when she became stiff or almost crying; during the next attempt her teacher was more careful and gentle when placing Laura onto the changing table in an upright position (probably thinking that this position might be easier for Laura to handle); she also tried used distraction with a toy while changing Laura’s diaper, and used her calm body and soothing voice to calm Laura in the final process of the diaper change.
Laura’s mother might have thought what patience and understanding this teacher must have with Laura. She may not have expected the teacher to be so patient with Laura; after all it’s just another diaper change. Eluccia was so careful with each step she took throughout the diaper changing process that Laura’s mother must have felt like she picked the right environment and people to care for her daughter.
This episode does show the relationship-based approach to infant-toddler care. Eluccia knows that Laura has only been coming to school for four days, which means that everything is still new to Laura and Laura needs time to adjust to her new environment and the people who take care of her. Eluccia used a calm and soothing voice throughout this episode, she also didn’t force the diaper change on Laura, then the teacher used distraction with a toy and later with her glasses to ease Laura into finishing the diaper change, and of course the teacher used her body to make Laura feel more at ease during the process. Eluccia knows that she needs to develop a trusting relationship with Laura.
Laura is still adjusting to her new environment and the people who take care of her. Eluccia knows how important it is to have Laura feel secure in her environment and by tapping into Laura’s sensitive cues is an important step for Laura to develop a positive relationship with her caregiver and become adjusted to the infant-toddler center.
“The Contested Doll”
What was the teacher Eluccia trying to do when she intervened in this conflict?
What do you think of her strategy, and how does it compare to strategies you have seen?
Why did Laura become contented at the end of the incident?
When Eluccia tried to intervene during the conflict of the doll she was trying to stop the episode from getting bigger and helping Laura to calm down because the doll she was playing with was taken by the other child, Silvia. I believe that distraction works well with younger children and I think that Eluccia did a good job by intervening so the situation wouldn’t get out of hand and then going one step further and encouraging both children to participate in question and answering game with the toy they were fighting over. Laura is an only child and by reading the book seems not to have the interaction with other children and hasn’t learned how or what to do in this type of situation. Laura becomes content in the end because the teacher distracted her with the question and answer game.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Eyes Wide Open
Eyes Wide Open
This is the second diary documentation that I have been exposed to and I do have to say I find it interesting. It makes me think and question the type of documentation that I do where I work. I look back when I first began making documentations about each child in my classroom and I do have to say it has changed greatly. Ten years ago I never used a camera in the classroom and now I have one in my pocket every day – scared that I might miss an important moment, instead of being in the moment with the children. Back then I never used a computer and now I have a desk computer and lap top to put in observations and pictures that make up a portfolio. It’s only been three weeks into the new school year and I’ve already taken over 200 pictures and wrote numbers of observation that have been sorted and placed into each child’s folder on the computer. I know this might be a bad thing but I do enjoy the moments the camera needs to be charged or the pictures need to be emptied onto the computer so I have no choice but to do what I love the most – play with the children. Though in the back of my head I’m worried I might miss that much needed picture for the portfolio, oh well.
I understand that I work in a lab school and we, the staff, need to be up to the minute speed with everything new, but it seems about every two years there’s a different assessment tool; new objectives, goals, and concepts; another way to evaluate and observe; and even new technology. Last few years I’ve been working with Creative Curriculum which has 50 objectives and finally got comfortable with and now I’m learning to use Teaching Strategies which has 65 objectives. I think that this is crazy. Its so time consuming, it took a month of my summer vacation to put 10 portfolios together not to mention all the hours spent collecting that information. I’m really getting to the point of believing that the way I do portfolios is not necessary. There’s got to be a better way. I work with people who are open minded to new ideas and are willing to make changes we just need the idea of how to.
Reading, “The Diary of Laura” made me start thinking about this again. Doing a diary type of portfolio seems to be so much more personal. I do understand as a preschool teacher there are certain things that are important to document and assess but could it be done in a friendlier manner, like in “The Diary of Laura”? I also like how there was more than one teacher putting in the information. For some reason where I work we have many teachers putting in observations and taking documentations but I’m not able to find a way to make it blend it when I’m putting the portfolios together. I think it would be great if there are ways where everyone puts their information into the computer and the computer just spits it back out for each child’s portfolio. But here I go again back to making impersonal portfolios. I hope that “The Diary of Laura” is just the beginning of opening my eyes to new ideas.
This is the second diary documentation that I have been exposed to and I do have to say I find it interesting. It makes me think and question the type of documentation that I do where I work. I look back when I first began making documentations about each child in my classroom and I do have to say it has changed greatly. Ten years ago I never used a camera in the classroom and now I have one in my pocket every day – scared that I might miss an important moment, instead of being in the moment with the children. Back then I never used a computer and now I have a desk computer and lap top to put in observations and pictures that make up a portfolio. It’s only been three weeks into the new school year and I’ve already taken over 200 pictures and wrote numbers of observation that have been sorted and placed into each child’s folder on the computer. I know this might be a bad thing but I do enjoy the moments the camera needs to be charged or the pictures need to be emptied onto the computer so I have no choice but to do what I love the most – play with the children. Though in the back of my head I’m worried I might miss that much needed picture for the portfolio, oh well.
I understand that I work in a lab school and we, the staff, need to be up to the minute speed with everything new, but it seems about every two years there’s a different assessment tool; new objectives, goals, and concepts; another way to evaluate and observe; and even new technology. Last few years I’ve been working with Creative Curriculum which has 50 objectives and finally got comfortable with and now I’m learning to use Teaching Strategies which has 65 objectives. I think that this is crazy. Its so time consuming, it took a month of my summer vacation to put 10 portfolios together not to mention all the hours spent collecting that information. I’m really getting to the point of believing that the way I do portfolios is not necessary. There’s got to be a better way. I work with people who are open minded to new ideas and are willing to make changes we just need the idea of how to.
Reading, “The Diary of Laura” made me start thinking about this again. Doing a diary type of portfolio seems to be so much more personal. I do understand as a preschool teacher there are certain things that are important to document and assess but could it be done in a friendlier manner, like in “The Diary of Laura”? I also like how there was more than one teacher putting in the information. For some reason where I work we have many teachers putting in observations and taking documentations but I’m not able to find a way to make it blend it when I’m putting the portfolios together. I think it would be great if there are ways where everyone puts their information into the computer and the computer just spits it back out for each child’s portfolio. But here I go again back to making impersonal portfolios. I hope that “The Diary of Laura” is just the beginning of opening my eyes to new ideas.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
9/2/2010 Quotes, Perspective on Teaching, and Neo-Socratic Method
September 2, 2010
Quotes, Perspective on Teaching, and Neo-Socratic Method:
As a preschool teacher I see myself in a position to not only “teach” children but to learn from them as well. I love the moments where I can “see” the light bulb above their heads turn on, when they got whatever they were trying to do. It is true that my response to each child and what they are doing or making can affect them in a profound way - it could be a look, an action, the tone in which I speak, and/or what I say.
I’ll never forget during a third grade conference my teacher told my dad, “Susan is average; she’ll always be a “C” student.” When the teacher said this I was happy because no matter how hard I studied I would get “B” and “C” grades. I guess I had hoped my dad would stop harping on me about my grades now that a teacher told him that; well I was surely wrong. My dad refused to believe the teacher and set out to prove her wrong. I had to get up an hour earlier each school day to do vocabulary words from the dictionary, after school I had a longer study session, and some weekends I went with my dad to his office and did reports. Well, it paid off in the long run because my grades did improve.
I’d like to go one step further and say that it is not only the children that I “teach” but also educate their family (and they educate me too). Wow, I can’t believe I just said that! Let me tell you why. When I first began going down this path of becoming a teacher the only thing I didn’t want to do was interact with the parents – just the thought alone caused high anxiety within me. Well I got over that in my first year of teaching and I’ve come to not only enjoy the children but their families too. I enjoy the friendships that can occur, the morning and afternoon brief exchanges with families, and I believe that by developing a partnership with families the children do benefit by it.
I was introduced to the Neo-Socratic Method by Jeanne Iorio in one of her other classes. I do have to say that it made me question more than ever about things that have to do with being a teacher, what I think, and what I do. I work with Val (who is also in our class) and we have been able to question many things that used to occur in our classroom since taking Jeanne’s class. Once we started to vocalize our thoughts to each other, we tried to figure out how to implement them, then as a team we went to our director and “argued” our case, and then (almost every time) we were able to put it into action. If it weren’t for learning the Neo-Socratic Method I may have continued to be silent.
Let me give you an example so that you might understand what I’m saying. Where I work we have many rules (maybe too many), together Val and I went through the invisible list of rules that we give to the children and picked the ones we wanted to cross off, one of them being that teachers only put water in the sandbox. We question this. Why couldn’t the children do it themselves? They would be exercising their fine motor skills by turning on the faucet as well as developing their eye-hand coordination, the children would also be measuring the water content in the container as well as balancing the water from not spilling while walking, they would be experimenting how to make wet sand and what consistency they would want it and how much water to use or not use, use their creativity and imagination, and actually the list of positive learning experiences could go on and on. But I think I made my point here and yes our director agreed that we can let the children get their own water for the sandbox. I continue to move ahead with my new way of learning. I look forward to learning more in this class.
Quotes, Perspective on Teaching, and Neo-Socratic Method:
As a preschool teacher I see myself in a position to not only “teach” children but to learn from them as well. I love the moments where I can “see” the light bulb above their heads turn on, when they got whatever they were trying to do. It is true that my response to each child and what they are doing or making can affect them in a profound way - it could be a look, an action, the tone in which I speak, and/or what I say.
I’ll never forget during a third grade conference my teacher told my dad, “Susan is average; she’ll always be a “C” student.” When the teacher said this I was happy because no matter how hard I studied I would get “B” and “C” grades. I guess I had hoped my dad would stop harping on me about my grades now that a teacher told him that; well I was surely wrong. My dad refused to believe the teacher and set out to prove her wrong. I had to get up an hour earlier each school day to do vocabulary words from the dictionary, after school I had a longer study session, and some weekends I went with my dad to his office and did reports. Well, it paid off in the long run because my grades did improve.
I’d like to go one step further and say that it is not only the children that I “teach” but also educate their family (and they educate me too). Wow, I can’t believe I just said that! Let me tell you why. When I first began going down this path of becoming a teacher the only thing I didn’t want to do was interact with the parents – just the thought alone caused high anxiety within me. Well I got over that in my first year of teaching and I’ve come to not only enjoy the children but their families too. I enjoy the friendships that can occur, the morning and afternoon brief exchanges with families, and I believe that by developing a partnership with families the children do benefit by it.
I was introduced to the Neo-Socratic Method by Jeanne Iorio in one of her other classes. I do have to say that it made me question more than ever about things that have to do with being a teacher, what I think, and what I do. I work with Val (who is also in our class) and we have been able to question many things that used to occur in our classroom since taking Jeanne’s class. Once we started to vocalize our thoughts to each other, we tried to figure out how to implement them, then as a team we went to our director and “argued” our case, and then (almost every time) we were able to put it into action. If it weren’t for learning the Neo-Socratic Method I may have continued to be silent.
Let me give you an example so that you might understand what I’m saying. Where I work we have many rules (maybe too many), together Val and I went through the invisible list of rules that we give to the children and picked the ones we wanted to cross off, one of them being that teachers only put water in the sandbox. We question this. Why couldn’t the children do it themselves? They would be exercising their fine motor skills by turning on the faucet as well as developing their eye-hand coordination, the children would also be measuring the water content in the container as well as balancing the water from not spilling while walking, they would be experimenting how to make wet sand and what consistency they would want it and how much water to use or not use, use their creativity and imagination, and actually the list of positive learning experiences could go on and on. But I think I made my point here and yes our director agreed that we can let the children get their own water for the sandbox. I continue to move ahead with my new way of learning. I look forward to learning more in this class.
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