Documentation in the Classroom

During my visits this term to a kindergarten room in Toronto, I was able to observe some excellent teaching by a wonderful educator.  While there, I balanced my time between making observations in my handy notebook, video taping important events, and playing with the wonderful children in the class.

The videos and photos that I took cannot be posted on the internet, but let me assure you that I learned a lot from these and have had the chance to go back and review them many times.  I was especially observing the use of music in this classroom and the teacher certainly gave me lots to record and observe.

In my notebook, I kept detailed notes of conversations children had, events of the day, instructions and routines done by the teacher, and other things I found inspiring or interesting about the classroom. 

These various forms of observations and recording reminds me a lot about the Reggio Emilia approach to education and the effective use of documentation.  I can clearly see how proper documentation can be very helpful in assessment, curriculum planning, and observing development among students in the class.  I learned so much about these young people in the short few weeks I visited because I took detailed notes and documented important (and sometimes not important!) events.  The conversations I was able to listen to and scribe really proved to me where the students' cognitive skills, social and emotional skills, and academic skills are and what next steps to take to further scaffold the child.  I plan to use documentation in my career as I now see the great benefit and use it can be for teachers everywhere.