What place does documentation play in our learning environments? What roles might it play?
We probably should begin by considering what we mean by documentation. When we talk documentation, we are describing the process of capturing evidence both of the learning progress of our students and the impact of our teaching. As such, documentation plays an important role in assessment for learning as an ongoing process of formative assessment and as a part of our professional reflection. Or at least it should.
Often documentation is associated with measures of accountability. When documentation of learning is reduced to a process of gathering work samples for filing away to satisfy the requirements of school registration, it has little value. The same is true when we spend time documenting evidence of learning on our teaching programmes but then do not use this to guide future planning. Whenever we consider documentation as the material produced and archived from our teaching, rather than a process that we as teachers and our students are actively engaged with, we eliminate its potential role in teaching and learning.
“Although what and how one documents is key, even more critical is understanding that documentation is not an end in itself. In order for documentation to be useful, teachers and learners must actually do something with it. Teachers use documentation practices to deepen learning—their own, their students’, their colleagues’, parents’, and even the larger public’s.” (Krechevsky, Mardell, Rivard, & Wilson, 2013 p74)
In the Reggio Emilia approach, documentation plays a central role, and it is considered one of the more significant contributions made to education by the small Italian region (Schroeder-Yu, 2008). According to Krechevsky et al. it is “The practice of observing, recording, interpreting, and sharing through different media the processes and products of learning in order to deepen or extend learning” (Krechevsky, Mardell, Rivard, & Wilson, 2013 p74). In a Reggio Emilia approach:
“Documentation typically includes samples of a child’s work at several different stages of completion; photographs showing work in progress; comments written by the teacher or other adults working with the child; transcriptions of the child’s discussions, comments, and explanations of intentions about the activity; and comments made by parents.” (Schroeder-Yu, 2008 p127)
As Krechevsky et al. note, it can be tempting to view the beautiful examples of Reggio Emilia inspired documentation available online and conclude that it is all about creating magnificent displays of students work. While there is a definite value in celebrating student learning in this way, documentation should also include the messy, incomplete and unfinished samples which are much more the norm and include space for capturing the richness of dialogue that occurs along the way. If taken to extremes, however, this approach can also be flawed. If we attempt to capture every moment, every brushstroke, every work sample, we end up with clutter and a collection that will fail to tell a story of learning. The sweet spot is a curated collection of learning artefacts that reveal a story of learning and are then used wisely to inform next steps in learning by the teacher, the student and their learning community.
The diagram above is derived from a number of sources and aims to capture some of the purposes that documentation might play in teaching and learning, some of which require some explanation. One of the key purposes it serves is in activating Teachers as Researchers or as students of their children as learners. Documentation allows us to make visible where our children are with their learning, their thinking processes and informs our understanding of the impact that our teaching is having. Documentation as such allows us to make informed decisions both in the moment and for the long terms as to how we will proceed as we continue to engage our students with learning.
Closely connected its part in our role as Teacher Researchers are the roles that documentation plays in our professional development and as a catalyst for collaborative partnerships. When documentation becomes a process that we engage with, it opens our eyes to the impact that we are having. When we better understand this impact, we create opportunities for professional growth as we consider how we might do more of what is working and seek answers to the dilemmas that emerge. When we share documentation with colleagues, we expand these opportunities through the inclusion of professional dialogue that allows all participants to develop a more enlightened perspective.
Suppose our goal is to develop learning environments that are responsive to the passions, wonderings and unique interests of our students; In that case, we begin to explore the possibilities of an emergent curriculum. The concept of an emergent curriculum is familiar to anyone with a knowledge of Reggio Emilia approaches and is common in early childhood settings. An Emergent Curriculum is one that is allowed to emerge from the interaction of the learner with the environment. Rather than a heavily prescribed curriculum, as is the norm in many settings, an emergent curriculum evolves out of the dialogue between students and teachers. A teacher adept in the application of an emergent curriculum builds upon the possibilities embedded in the environment they design for and with their learners. It is not a free for all but simultaneously a carefully orchestrated and highly dynamic experience.
Documentation plays a vital role in the implementation of an Emergent Curriculum. As the teacher observes the student engaging with their learning, as they capture evidence of this, as they reflect upon this evidence and engage in dialogue (with students and colleagues) about the learning made evident by this documentation, they are also planning for the next steps they will take. The documentation allows them to see both where the learner has been and where they might go next. Additionally, when the curriculum is emergent, documentation effectively becomes a significant part of the curriculum replacing the formal written curriculum that is used to map learning in other contexts.
Documentation also plays an essential role as “The Third Teacher”. The idea of the third teacher is derived from an understanding that our students learn from their teacher (and other adults), from their peers and from their environment. When we display documentation in the learning environment, we enable its use as a tool for learning. When children interact with artefacts from their learning journey and the learning journeys of their peers, the utility of documentation is enhanced. When the use of such items is incorporated into learning that elevates the place of metacognitive skills, the power of documentation as the third teacher is unlocked. This also creates opportunities for the students learning to be celebrated and shown to be valued.
Documentation, when done right, when seen as a process rather than a beautiful end product, can be a vital tool for learning. If you are keen to better understand its potential, begin by reading “Visible Learners”.
By Nigel Coutts
Krechevsky, M., Mardell, B., Rivard, M., & Wilson, D. G. (2013). Visible learners: Promoting Reggio-inspired approaches in all schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Gigi Schroeder-Yu (2008) Documentation: Ideas and Applications from the Reggio Emilia Approach, TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL, 6:2, 126-134