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.
It is not surprising that you and I are on the same page. I am having a difficult time adjusting to the idea of portfolios and I have been here going on 4 years. I know we have tried making changes, but the changes are not enough. There has to be another way of doing things, without taking valuable time away from our daily interactions with the children and the lost of week-ends and holidays. Even after all of this we still do not finish on time. What would your ideral portfolio or better yet ideal assessment of children in your classroom look like or compose of? How much of that document should the parents contribute and how often should it be shared with the parents? And lastly should it be a document that all teachers contribute to, so all of us know each child intimately and equally and not just the children that we are concentrating on???? Just some questions to ponder!
ReplyDeleteHi Susan,
ReplyDeleteI think Val is really getting to some of the nitty-gritty of this discussion. Her questions are offering both of us something to think about in regard to assessment and documentation.
As I read the Diary of Laura, I am drawn in by the beauty and ease of the documentation. It just seems like a logical action rather than something forced or tied to judgment. Further, I find the teacher engaging in the learning process as well through the creation of the diary.
Consider your own work in documentation, how could you change it so it has the ease and beauty of Laura's diary? What are you learning from your experiences with creative curriculum? Is it as engaging as what the teachers are learning/learned from creating Laura's diary?
Jeanne
Hey Susan,
ReplyDeleteIsn't funny how technology has taken a big effect on the generation now days. Computers and camera and phone. We as teacher are taking many pictures and documentation on each child in our classroom, that sometimes we forget to interact with the child. Isn't being in a classroom, one of the most important thing is interaction with the child. How are we able to document precious moments that the child is doing and interact with them? Because technology have gotten better within the past years, do you think another year or so, technology will be much better where we don't have to take picture and write out observation each time, rather we would have cameras in the classroom, where we will be able to look back and take observation from there. However would that be consider as invasion of privacy?
Having different input and different observation from others, may be hard to fit into the portfolio, however some observation from them may be useful. We tend to put things into the portfolio that we feel was from our own view of the child. I believe that working on a portfolio everyone can contribute their idea observation on each child. Do you think sitting down with your staff once a week to talk about each child will be worth it to putting each documentation for each child. Or would this be time consuming. I would want to figure out what's the best way to put all the ideas together. Would a diary be too personal? Would we consider it as a documentation for each child to look back later in life and realize what they have done in their preschool life?
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ReplyDeleteHey Susan,
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the document part and how time consuming check points, or even inputting observations can be and there's never enough time given to teachers to do all of this. The idea of a diary is a wonderful idea to use in the classroom, but is it similar to inputing observations? How might we know what is important to put in the diary? Just an entry everyday or a n entry for every developmental area like in Creative Curriculum?
Have a great weekend,
Ashley
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteDo you find it easier to document children's assessment now compared to ten years ago? You mentioned in your posting that ten years ago you never used a camera for taking pictures and a computer in putting observations together, now that you use both camera and computer, do you find yourself less involved with the children than before? How did it affect your relationship with the children?
I agree that writing observations and putting them all together in a portfolio is time consuming especially with so many children in the classroom. Gathering observations and putting them into portfolios can also be stressful in getting it ready for parent conferences. How can parent benefit from parent conferences? Is it only during parent conferences that teachers can discuss about the child's progress in school? For me, I make the effort in telling the parents how their child's day goes, and we also write "love notes" specifying what they work on that day, what our special activities are, what book we read, and what song we sing. I think that when we bring out concerns to the parents before conferences, they become aware beforehand of how their child is doing in school, which makes it somewhat easier for the teachers to conduct the conferences.
Hannah