When I think of the word documents, what comes to my mind is...
Paper work
Piles of forms
Rules
Writing
Information
Records
Facts
Official use
Objectives
Files
None of these definitions of documents have anything to do with children. So why is it important? Why do we need rules and forms? Why document?
Well I'm glad to say that documents and documentation have an important use in the early childhood field.
-Clemens and Gleim indicates “We collect data, we think about what we’ve collected, we consider it with our friends and colleagues and we produce something to share with the children, their parents, the school community, and the wider community.”
-Documentation according to an early childhood educator, from my perspective, is a record developed by teachers of instances and experiences from straight from children, whether verbally, through play, through interactions, etc.
-Documentation is the true examples of children's capabilities. And through documentations parents can become aware, the community can become aware, founders and the government can become aware of all the wonders that children have in stored. And most importantly the children can visually see their abilities when documentations are shared on the children's level.
-Documentation is not only for the use of capturing the child's abilities, but it's also used for the teachers. To reflect on their teaching and handling of the classroom. To discuss daily activities, what's working? what's not? what are the children interested in? Are the children understanding? Or is the information not being grasped?
Do will you document? And if so how are you using these documents to its fullest capacity?
Excerpt From: Sydney Gurewitz Clemens & Leslie Gleim. “Seeing Young Children With New Eyes.” Leslie Gleim, 2014-01-28. iBooks.
I absolutely have to agree with you on the fact that documents and documentations are important in our field of early childhood education.
ReplyDeleteEarly childhood teachers are so much more than babysitters who sit back and watch children play all day. We early childhood educators know that through all the play that children do, they are experimenting, they are learning, they are demonstrating their knowledge to us, and they are allowing us to make observations and document where they were developmentally and how far along they have come. Like the text said, “We collect data, we think about what we’ve collected, we consider it with our friends and colleagues and we produce something to share with the children, their parents, the school community, and the wider community.” You see, we are not only baby sitters (as some might suggest), we are scientists who collect and analyze data, English and language teachers, creative artists, abstract thinkers, musicians, singers, actors and actresses, caregivers, first aide providers, emotional supporters, and designers of learning environments. And we are able to do all of that with the help of past educators’ and our own documents and documentations of what works and what does not work.
How can we use our documents and documentations to further benefit the children and families we serve, as well as the reputations and importance of early childhood educators?
Hi Jadelyn,
ReplyDeleteWhen do documents gain importance? Is the through the purpose? If the purpose of documentation is listening to children and reflects the view of children as capable, is documentation important? Or is documentation only important if it relates to judgment or evidence of something (like a skill or standard) determined by others (often outside the school)?
At the start of the blog, you talk about how play drives your work within the field of early childhood. How do you tell the story of play within your setting? Is play changed and morphed in order to fit a checklist? Is play limited to centers or specific contexts? How might documentation represent the full beauty and complexity of play? Consider some of the documentation in the Making Learning Visible text, how is play illustrated through these documentation panels? What story is told? How might a teacher respond to these documents? How might documentation be the catalyst in creating complex play for all children?
Cheers,
Jeanne