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Documentation Panels Are a Novel Way for Students to Demonstrate Their Learning

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This innovative assessment tool has students engage in metacognitive reflection by assembling and presenting evidence of their learning.

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Students generate a lot of documents that show their thinking, and teachers can use that evidence of learning to improve future lessons.

The Covid-19 pandemic and working remotely have challenged teachers of all grades to be as creative and innovative as possible, including the way they manage pedagogical documentation. With remote work, teachers often assign asynchronous tasks, which can generate large numbers of documents. Many of these documents, when managed appropriately, can be an extraordinary source of reflection and analysis to improve future curriculum planning.

Whether teaching remotely or in class, choosing what to document and how can seem overwhelming. It also can be daunting to determine which documents to consider for future learning needs. Knowing how to choose what lessons to document and how to document them may reduce the amount of work and at the same time make it more effective.

Here are some ideas for managing pedagogical documentation that have proven to help teachers and pre-K to 12 students work together to choose what is most likely to be useful in curriculum planning for years to come.

Choosing What to Document

Select a learning session that will likely have benefits beyond documenting the work for the current semester and will hold lasting value for future curriculum planning. Then choose the moments in the learning process that you or your students find most relevant. The documents should show the activities that are most likely to generate reflection, analysis, and the development of creative thinking skills and metacognitive skills. These will have the most to offer for future curriculum planning.

Observing and Documenting

The next step is to decide how to make a record of the observation. Choose a technique that will best show the thinking process and learning progression of the students-note taking, photography, audio or video recordings, or a combination of one or more methods.

Families can also provide helpful documentation. For example, the family of a preschool girl recorded her enthusiasm for measuring different objects at home, which led to a follow-up math session. The math teacher used the young student's passion for measuring as the basis for a class about why people measure things and how to measure using a variety of tools such as blocks, pencils, or hands. One family's documentation of a student's love of learning inspired a new math lesson.

The Role of Dialogue

Once you have a suitable sample of documentation, both you and your students may find it helpful to prepare an exhibit about the learning process, carefully choosing the documents that best show the progress of the work.

This can lead to an unstructured conversation in which you ask students about the relevance of the display and ways the display can show the school community how far the students have come. This dialogue encourages the development of critical thinking and provides an opportunity to illustrate the learning process to students and the school community as a whole.

The Purpose of Reflection

This role of pedagogical documentation is different for teachers and students. Teachers reflect to review their teaching method and approach. From the data they collect, they can make decisions about future lessons and the educational evolution of each student.

Students need teachers to help them find the right moment for oral reflection and also to invite them to write or draw their reflections on their learning process. Teachers can ask students questions about what the documentation shows or use a marking criterion so that students can see if they've reached their goals. If students haven't reached their goals, they will be able to see why, as well as what they need to do in order to achieve their goals.

Including the School Community

Teachers should seek feedback from other members of the learning community. When you invite the school community to participate in the learning process, different views and perspectives come into play, which can further support future curriculum planning.

It's also important to offer the opportunity and provide the resources for families to give feedback. For instance, with the preschool girl who loves to measure everything, the teacher could offer parents and the school community information about the learning process that the young student is using, and provide resources to leave brief feedback about their impressions of the learning process. Then teachers and students can read that feedback and create a new reflection. These are all moments of growth and deep learning.

When using pedagogical documentation in upper grades, the issue is still how much of the documentation is prospective and might shape the design of future learning. For example, if a group of upper-grade students are doing science and environment research on why some communities don't have running water, it might be relevant to document the experience and the data collected when they visited a water purification plant, and then check what else they need to find out and use that to plan future trips. The documents would then have a prospective objective.

The above example also offers an opportunity for teachers to include math, physics, chemistry, geography, social studies, biology, art, and even performing arts in an interdisciplinary project. Teachers can invite students to explain the purification process through a drama or musical play and assign students tasks in the subjects they need to strengthen. The production can then be performed for the school community.

As long as teachers have the time to work thoughtfully with the documents they've collected so that they can adequately reflect and design new paths to learning, and not just view them as documentation of the current semester, pedagogical documentation can help teachers make a meaningful and enduring change in the teaching and learning process.

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How Teachers Can Use Pedagogical Documentation for Reflection and Planning

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Students generate a lot of documents that show their thinking, and teachers can use that evidence of learning to improve future lessons. The Covid-19 pandemic and working remotely have challenged teachers of all grades to be as creative and innovative as possible, including the way they manage pedagogical documentation.

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In the Cottonwood community, one of our main focuses in the beginning of the school year is community building - which is foundational to all of our other curricular work. With each new group of children, we try to make visible to them our complex process of becoming a "we". As teachers, we know that becoming a community together can feel exciting, but can also have bumps. Children will try to make connections with one another. Many attempts seamlessly work; other efforts to reach out need adult support to feel like collaboration. To normalize the risks, successes, approximations, and oopsies of this intricate social process, and to learn about what support can look like and feel like, I make time to listen for and document the children's initial attempts at building relationships with one another.

I have found that children seem to most concretely feel their group building trust together when the risks and courageous efforts of collaboration, joy, and problem-solving are highlighted visibly and shared back with them. Because of this, Sarah and I began putting documentation of these captured moments up on the walls in the Cottonwood room. Stories where children are listening to one another and taking a risk at making a connection in the face of uncertain outcomes.

I try to make ample space and time each day for children and teachers to notice, listen, and contemplate; to be present in moments of celebration, repair, and collaboration. It is my job to bring that back to the group, to make those moments public to the whole community. While this can feel incredibly vulnerable for some, in my practice, it has become an essential tool in helping the children and I recognize the myriad of roles that we play, the strategies used that support the whole, and the role do-overs have in a classroom culture that values approximations in all areas of learning. We revisit these pieces of documentation both as participants in the stories, but also as a person from the outside of that experience, who can learn from another.

These small moments along with others serve as building blocks, supporting our efforts to create a community culture grounded in listening and support. By continually striving to hear each other, knowing that time and space is held for you to also be heard by others, we know that we will gradually become more comfortable in the place we are each in, to be scared yet brave, and begin to see ourselves as the change-makers of our community and eventually that the world needs.

As one child shared about needing inspiration to write, "[You could] find a picture of you or your friends in the classroom, so you can remember their idea and it might inspire you to find a new idea."

I've been considering...

What might the implications be of reflecting on the process of building community together? And h ow might those implications support this group of children to see themselves as change-makers? ...in their own community? ...in the greater world?

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The Importance of Documentation and Reflection in Building Community

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In the Cottonwood community, one of our main focuses in the beginning of the school year is community building - which is foundational to all of our other curricular work. With each new group of children, we try to make visible to them our complex process of becoming a "we".

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Making Learning Visible_ I Want To Help You But...Documentation

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Making Learning Visible_ Making Every Voice Heard Documentation

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"Grown-ups think about grown-ups, so we make a place where kids can think about kids. It is easier for grown-ups to be sad, because they are already grown-up. But children have to go through a lot of changes. We have to grow up and be sad. That is why we made our park." - Rebecca, age 7

In September of 2002, in the wake of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Rebecca, along with nineteen classmates in the combined "6/7s" class from Corlears School in Chelsea, New York City, embarked on a study of playgrounds and parks. The class emerged with a comprehensive design for a memorial for children of the victims--an imaginary place for all children to address their fears and experience some comfort and security in an increasingly frightening world. The teacher of these first and second graders, Amy Walters, did not set out to have the children design a memorial to the World Trade Center. The idea emerged from the children.

" See other projects in this category
" Back to Documentation Examples

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"Grown-ups think about grown-ups, so we make a place where kids can think about kids. It is easier for grown-ups to be sad, because they are already grown-up. But children have to go through a lot of changes. We have to grow up and be sad. That is why we made our park."

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Early in the school year the children venture out of doors into a nearby meadow. The meadow is rich with possibilities for children's investigations. There is a building of relationships, listening to and reflecting on one another's point of view. The structure within a learning relationship is built on the exchange of perspectives.

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Suzanne Axelsson

This is a guide... it is not a step by step manual. So please read, let it fill you with ideas and with questions... and the courage to start... this is a post for pedagogues that have not yet started using pedagogical documentation and are interested in learning more about this documentation approach... This is post one of four... Pedagogical documentation differs from documenting in the sense that it is a tool for the teacher to learn more about the individual children, about the group/class, about how the room is working (the third teacher) about how children learn, their interests etc... and from this knowledge make plans to support the children's continued learning, to make visible this learning to the children and parents ... and other interested parties... it is a tool to allow participation in the children's own learning. It is also linked to the Reggio Emilia Approach... where documentation is collected, analysed, discussed, reflected on, used to plan, returned to, more collecting of data as needed etc... so that the educator is learning from the child, to become better at facilitating the children's learning... This first session is all about different methods of collecting information... about observations, photographs, films, writing down dialogues etc and why we do this... There are questions about should it be about individual children, the group etc... and really pedagogical documentation is a tool that can be used in many ways... to explore and better understand the learning happening in your setting. An average week of data collection for me would be Monday... take films/photos of the movement session to see how the children are physically developing over time. if there any concern areas I will take close ups of this (discreetly). Outdoors, photos taken if the children are exploring something new, or are challenging themselves in a new way... or if the children ask me to (my group of children were well aware of how documentation was being used... to put into their files to remember, and also to show this is when I managed this, it also gave them power over what is important to them, and not always my adult perception of what is important in their development). Sometimes I would have a notebook with me and write down notes about the group constellations, how they grouped and re-grouped during their free play, what sort of play they participated in, and how long they participated in certain games before changing - sometimes this would be intensive writing, and I would write the time at the left side at regular periods so I could see the process of the morning. (this applies to all days... as we were outside every day) Afternoons data collected through films, photos and written observations as needed. (this applies to all days) Tuesday... dialogue would be recorded, most often by taking notes. One person held the dialogue another educator wrote down verbatim what the children and the lead educator said. Sometimes we filmed and recorded these dialogues, but the children often wanted to return to an idea we wrote down during the session, and rewinding on film/audio was more complicated to check. We also found that the children found it inspiring for us to write down their words... at first we wrote them by hand in notebooks, but after a while we wrote them directly into a computer. see above for outdoor and afternoon data collection. Wednesday... in the atelier. This was a session that was recorded mostly through film and photos, including photos of the various stages of the children's works. At regular times throughout the year I would take close up photos of how the children held their pens/pencils to see how the children's pen grips were developing. I would be focussing in the films not only on technique and the children's ideas and creativity, but also on their social interaction. Some art sessions needed more scaffolding... during those sessions there are fewer photos and films or maybe none... as the children always come before the documentation. see above for outdoor and afternoons Thursday... outdoor learning... so very much the same as what I have already written about outdoor play, but also with more focus on seasons and nature... so I would take photographs and films of what we were seeing and doing, this would then be material we would use with the children later for further thinking and reflecting. Friday... was a reflection day... I tried to take as few photos and films as possible on this day, so that there was time to reflect on the week... of course there are times when the children or myself see a moment that needs to be recorded in some way or another. There have been times when i have felt the need to collect extra information... when I worked in a bilingual preschool, language was an important part of our lives... as not only were there two used languages at the setting (English and Swedish) but many of the children had further home languages too. For the sake of play, learning, communication it was important for us as educators to know how much the children could understand in the two languages used at preschool... so that we could better support their development through appropriate activities, stories and constellations of children... as the children are also teachers and help each other in their learning. Of course when it comes to children in need of extra support in their social skills or an area of learning, then there needs to be specific data collection to better understand the child and their processes; as educators we will have our assumptions, but by collecting data we can see if we are correct or not... Sometimes I have collected data based on the needs of the educators (in my role as director). On occasion educators have felt that at certain times of the day there are too many children for the child-teacher ratio at the end of the day... and by collecting precise data of when children and educators leave the setting there is the opportunity to see if this is a perceived problem because educators feel tired at the end of the day, or that there is an real issue that needs to be addressed. Quite often things feel more manageable when educators realise they are not physically overwhelmed as they initially thought. Data can be collected to understand how the setting is being used... what areas are most used, are there any areas that some children do not feel welcome in, are there any areas that educators do not keep within a good radar of safety? There are many questions that can be asked. At this point we have collected information, documented the children... it is not pedagogical documentation yet. It is when we begin to analyse this information that it begins to be pedagogical... and this should be done preferably with others... with colleagues and with the children too... and also the parents. So we are at stage one of the documentation circle.

It is important when collecting data, making observations that you find a style/approach that works for you. Maybe in the beginning you feel uncomfortable... especially if you are being filmed and your voice being recorded... but this can be a good reminder that the children too might find it uncomfortable. When documenting children through film and photographs we should always be sensitive to the children... not all children want to be photographed or filmed, especially when they know it is going onto the wall. So respect a child's integrity. If they say no, then don't. it can be a good idea to talk to the children about taking photographs, and take the time to explain to them why you are taking photographs, so that they become a part of the process. If you are taking photographs of the children's work, there are copyright issues here... the artwork belongs to the child, so if you are wanting to share it on social media you should be asking for permission. But we can go into this more at a later date... right now it is this first step. Getting comfortable with collecting data, finding a routine that works for you, and making sure that the children come first... the documentation is a tool to support the process of becoming a better educator it is not the process in itself. So put the camera, notebook down and be with the children, use the documentation tools when there is time. It might be that when you get started you want to give yourself a routine, that at certain times, certain activities you learn how to collect the information; so that you get comfortable with the process. AND why not push yourself out of the comfort zone and try a method that you would not usually use, just so that you can evaluate it... maybe it is better than you first thought? Over the years I have had a variety of notebooks for writing down observations, or writing down dialogues, or for using like a scrapbook, with photos glued in... I have also used similar notebooks for each child... where they could choose photos to glue in and write their thoughts down (sometimes on their own, most often they dictated their thoughts to us and we wrote them). it is about getting creative with documentation... about being open to technology as new tools allow for new ways to record the children's learning. it is about testing, and making mistakes, rethinking and finding new ways... until you find your optimum data collection procedure...

For more reading about how to observe children please refer to this post

This is a guide... it is not a step by step manual. So please read, let it fill you with ideas and with questions... and the courage to start... this is a post for pedagogues that have not yet started using pedagogical documentation and are interested in learning more about this documentation approach... This is post one of four... Pedagogical documentation differs from documenting in the sense that it is a tool for the teacher to learn more about the individual children, about the group/class, about how the room is working (the third teacher) about how children learn, their interests etc... and from this knowledge make plans to support the children's continued learning, to make visible this learning to the children and parents ... and other interested parties... it is a tool to allow participation in the children's own learning. It is also linked to the Reggio Emilia Approach... where documentation is collected, analysed, discussed, reflected on, used to plan, returned to, more collecting of data as needed etc... so that the educator is learning from the child, to become better at facilitating the children's learning... This first session is all about different methods of collecting information... about observations, photographs, films, writing down dialogues etc and why we do this... There are questions about should it be about individual children, the group etc... and really pedagogical documentation is a tool that can be used in many ways... to explore and better understand the learning happening in your setting. An average week of data collection for me would be Monday... take films/photos of the movement session to see how the children are physically developing over time. if there any concern areas I will take close ups of this (discreetly). Outdoors, photos taken if the children are exploring something new, or are challenging themselves in a new way... or if the children ask me to (my group of children were well aware of how documentation was being used... to put into their files to remember, and also to show this is when I managed this, it also gave them power over what is important to them, and not always my adult perception of what is important in their development). Sometimes I would have a notebook with me and write down notes about the group constellations, how they grouped and re-grouped during their free play, what sort of play they participated in, and how long they participated in certain games before changing - sometimes this would be intensive writing, and I would write the time at the left side at regular periods so I could see the process of the morning. (this applies to all days... as we were outside every day) Afternoons data collected through films, photos and written observations as needed. (this applies to all days) Tuesday... dialogue would be recorded, most often by taking notes. One person held the dialogue another educator wrote down verbatim what the children and the lead educator said. Sometimes we filmed and recorded these dialogues, but the children often wanted to return to an idea we wrote down during the session, and rewinding on film/audio was more complicated to check. We also found that the children found it inspiring for us to write down their words... at first we wrote them by hand in notebooks, but after a while we wrote them directly into a computer. see above for outdoor and afternoon data collection. Wednesday... in the atelier. This was a session that was recorded mostly through film and photos, including photos of the various stages of the children's works. At regular times throughout the year I would take close up photos of how the children held their pens/pencils to see how the children's pen grips were developing. I would be focussing in the films not only on technique and the children's ideas and creativity, but also on their social interaction. Some art sessions needed more scaffolding... during those sessions there are fewer photos and films or maybe none... as the children always come before the documentation. see above for outdoor and afternoons Thursday... outdoor learning... so very much the same as what I have already written about outdoor play, but also with more focus on seasons and nature... so I would take photographs and films of what we were seeing and doing, this would then be material we would use with the children later for further thinking and reflecting. Friday... was a reflection day... I tried to take as few photos and films as possible on this day, so that there was time to reflect on the week... of course there are times when the children or myself see a moment that needs to be recorded in some way or another. There have been times when i have felt the need to collect extra information... when I worked in a bilingual preschool, language was an important part of our lives... as not only were there two used languages at the setting (English and Swedish) but many of the children had further home languages too. For the sake of play, learning, communication it was important for us as educators to know how much the children could understand in the two languages used at preschool... so that we could better support their development through appropriate activities, stories and constellations of children... as the children are also teachers and help each other in their learning. Of course when it comes to children in need of extra support in their social skills or an area of learning, then there needs to be specific data collection to better understand the child and their processes; as educators we will have our assumptions, but by collecting data we can see if we are correct or not... Sometimes I have collected data based on the needs of the educators (in my role as director). On occasion educators have felt that at certain times of the day there are too many children for the child-teacher ratio at the end of the day... and by collecting precise data of when children and educators leave the setting there is the opportunity to see if this is a perceived problem because educators feel tired at the end of the day, or that there is an real issue that needs to be addressed. Quite often things feel more manageable when educators realise they are not physically overwhelmed as they initially thought. Data can be collected to understand how the setting is being used... what areas are most used, are there any areas that some children do not feel welcome in, are there any areas that educators do not keep within a good radar of safety? There are many questions that can be asked. At this point we have collected information, documented the children... it is not pedagogical documentation yet. It is when we begin to analyse this information that it begins to be pedagogical... and this should be done preferably with others... with colleagues and with the children too... and also the parents. So we are at stage one of the documentation circle.

It is important when collecting data, making observations that you find a style/approach that works for you. Maybe in the beginning you feel uncomfortable... especially if you are being filmed and your voice being recorded... but this can be a good reminder that the children too might find it uncomfortable. When documenting children through film and photographs we should always be sensitive to the children... not all children want to be photographed or filmed, especially when they know it is going onto the wall. So respect a child's integrity. If they say no, then don't. it can be a good idea to talk to the children about taking photographs, and take the time to explain to them why you are taking photographs, so that they become a part of the process. If you are taking photographs of the children's work, there are copyright issues here... the artwork belongs to the child, so if you are wanting to share it on social media you should be asking for permission. But we can go into this more at a later date... right now it is this first step. Getting comfortable with collecting data, finding a routine that works for you, and making sure that the children come first... the documentation is a tool to support the process of becoming a better educator it is not the process in itself. So put the camera, notebook down and be with the children, use the documentation tools when there is time. It might be that when you get started you want to give yourself a routine, that at certain times, certain activities you learn how to collect the information; so that you get comfortable with the process. AND why not push yourself out of the comfort zone and try a method that you would not usually use, just so that you can evaluate it... maybe it is better than you first thought? Over the years I have had a variety of notebooks for writing down observations, or writing down dialogues, or for using like a scrapbook, with photos glued in... I have also used similar notebooks for each child... where they could choose photos to glue in and write their thoughts down (sometimes on their own, most often they dictated their thoughts to us and we wrote them). it is about getting creative with documentation... about being open to technology as new tools allow for new ways to record the children's learning. it is about testing, and making mistakes, rethinking and finding new ways... until you find your optimum data collection procedure...

For more reading about how to observe children please refer to this post

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A Beginner's Guide to Pedagogical Documentation

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This is a guide... it is not a step by step manual. So please read, let it fill you with ideas and with questions... and the courage to start... this is a post for pedagogues that have not yet started using pedagogical documentation and are interested in learning more about this documentation approach...

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Suzanne Axelsson

This is part TWO in a series of four posts introducing pedagogical documentation. Part one was about collecting data... and can be read here if you missed it. The idea is that these posts are for educators just at the start of their journey with pedagogical documentation, the kind of post that is not giving you a step by step method of what you must do but a post that aims to give you ideas and inspiration and to feel a little more confident as you try it out. So you have collected data - it can be ... photographs written notes films the children's work Now is the time to look at all this data, both as an individual educator, together with colleagues, with the children and with parents. Each time you look, each time you share with others you will gain a new perspective... some will tally with your perspective, others will add new details, and yet other might come in conflict with how you have interpreted the information.

It can be a good idea to have some questions at the ready when reflecting on the collected information... for example... What is/are the child/ren doing? Did anyone take the lead/Who took the lead? Did the other children allow this/contest this? Did the child/ren ask questions? What sort of questions, to other children or the adult? Was the child/ren following another child's lead? Peer inspired. Or was it own creativity? Was it inspired by Tv/film/book or...? Was the child playing independently or collaboratively? Is this usual? What friendship constellation? The usual ones, or a new ones? How did the child/ren use any resources/materials? Has the child/ren explained any actions? What is the child/ren showing in terms of understanding? This can be individual understandings and group understanding. What knowledge does the child/ren have? Again on a group and individual level. What skills does the child/ren have? Do they use them to collaborate? Which strategies does the child/ren use/seem to prefer? (the children's way of dealing with a problem, learning/playing... not the adult strategy of teaching) How involved is the child/ren? Are the active participants with enthusiasm, reluctant partipants or passive (ie watching the others) How do you know? What evidence do you have, is it backed up with previous evidence/documentation? I think it is important to not only look at each child but to see the whole group. Remember to collect information of individuals, groups and whole class levels... and to also analyse it in the same way. Each person has their own way of evolving, but the groups and the class is also evolving too, and it is a good idea to understand the nature of the group dynamics in the class and how the children's roles and development impacts this. especially as you will need this analysis to plan future activities/lessons... so always documenting on an individual level will make it much harder to plan class activities... as activities rely often on social interactions for them to be successful. You can use the following criteria to evaluate a child's involvement level - this can also be viewed for the whole group too, not just on a individual level. Concentration, perseverance/persistence Energy Complexity and creativity Precision Facial expressions and composure Reaction time Verbal expression Satisfaction Interaction with others/materials Length of time of involvement Time allowing it can be helpful to look for any connections in documentation, e.g. does the child/group always seem to be exploring their learning/play in a particular way? Remember to reflect on your collection method too... was it a good way to collect information, not only at the time, but also how it enables the analysis part... for example when I was doing philosophical dialogues with my group of children I found that filming and recording the sessions ended up being more time consuming in the analysis part of the process, even though they could offer a greater depth. So we ended up only recording a few sessions to enable us to maintain a deeper thinking level of our notes, and also to help us understand what got missed in our notes (as voice inflection and movements and emotions are rarely recorded in written notes during a philosophy session due to the speed of the children's talking and trying to keep up with writing it down. Also there has to be a level of respect and security with a team of educators to share films of themselves working with children... especially when this is open for critique... after all the whole aim is to understand not only how the children learn, but also to improve the way that we as educators teach... so that the learning and teaching are in symbiosis. Directors at early years settings... well ALL educational settings - need to work towards creating an atmosphere that allows the educators to talk freely, openly and respectfully with each other. This is done in a similar way as we work with children... we need to give it time for these relationships and trust to be built... we cannot expect children or any person to feel courage to express all their opinions without that level of security and trust, and the need that mistakes are not frowned upon or laughed at, but merely seen as stepping stones of learning. When it comes to the analysis part I really want to press the point of not just focussing on individual children... I know there is much said about the unique child etc... but we all function in society and therefore we need to understand how groups work, how the individuals work within the group. To understand if all the children are interested in the same things, or whether some children are not given enough time, space or volume to make their voice heard. Is there an equality in the group... and this can be seen from many perspectives... from age, from gender, from religion, race, interests etc etc. A recent report here in Sweden about the need to review the Swedish preschool curriculum wrote

The more I write the more you might be thinking how on earth can I be thinking all these things and analysing all of this... the thing is the more you practice using this tool, pedagogical documentation, the more it just becomes a part of how you see and listen... it is like broadening your spectrum of sight and sound... pretty much in the same way the curriculum becomes a part of your being and you no longer need to keep referring to the physical paper, but that as you are doing your daily work with the children you see the curriculum happening in the small actions all around you. (of course it is good to keep on returning to the curriculum to reflect once more and to gain a deeper understanding). What I am trying to write is that the more you collect data and the more you analyse it... and use the entire circle of pedagogical documentation the easier it will become, as you learn better techniques of collection, and analysis, these stages will allow you to refine these techniques even more, and you will also become more comfortable with exploring ideas with colleagues, children and parents - and also to understand that not all feedback is going to be "great job" and that this feedback is about the work... and not you personally, and is there to help you get better at your work as an educator. Having a weekly meeting where you spend time analysing the week can be a good start... asking the same questions allow you to have a systematic approach and easier notice patterns and anomalies. For instance the following questions could be asked.. 1. What are the children interested in (don't just write play... think about what it is in the play that is the most interesting... if it is a subject, for example robots, what is it about the robots that they are interested in... maybe they do not want to build robots, maybe they are scared of them and are dealing with overcoming fear) 2.How can we build on this? (what activities, visits, materials can we use to allow the children to explore these ideas through play, and through adult lead activities too) 3. Did the week go as expected? (each week will be planned... at the end of the week ask yourself did it go as you planned it... if yes, explain how it went as you planned, if no, explain that too... and remember not as expected also means that it went better than expected) 4. What have we learned from this... ? (For example if the math activity was more popular than expected and children complained there was not enough time/space/room - then what adaptations would you make to allow more children access to the activity, keeping in mind that many children might complicate the experience, but this can still be tested and evaluated... as it might work better) 5. are there any developments, milestones or concerns (on an individual and group level) - this is good to write down so that you can go back and see when you first started to have concerns, or the child/group first developed this particular skill etc. 6. What measures do we implement to respond to this... if there is a concern what are the teachers response... this is important to make sure you keep track of what measures you are using and how effective they are... there is no point reacting to a child in the exact same way week in and week out if it has no affect, this way you can keep track of effective measures to support the child/group learning and development. 7. How shall we plan for next week based on the analysis/reflections we have just made. For example if you had planned a science activity that the children have shown clearly they have no interest in, maybe it would be appropriate to change the activity to something the childrenare interested in. This new activity might have the same process but a content that is more meaningful for the children and will engage them. Getting into a routine of analysing the data is important... especially with the children. Finding time is another essential question to answer... when is there time for collegial dialogues about the collected data, when is there time for dialogues with the children... and with the parents?

Your reflections and analyses of the children's work, the photos, the films and the written notes should give you enough information to make plans... what sort of project would the children be interested in, and why what sort of skills do the children already master, what do they want help with, need support with? What learning strategies/preferences do the children have? Is the group settled enough for meaningful learning, or is the a greater need for more team-building activities... I am a big believer that children will learn if they feel safe, valued and included. These questions will influence what you plan and how you create the curriculum/process for the learning/project in the near future... this might be something that occurs for a short time, or it might end up being a project that lasts a much longer time... for instance... the Leonardo da Vinci projected that I started with my group of children ended up being about robots and lasted a whole year and allowed the children to explore many different areas of their own development within the safety of the robot project... we explored, friendship, emotions, responsibility, making mistakes, technology and film making etc etc

For me this is one of the most exciting parts of the circle... exploring the children's ideas, play and learning - my own thoughts, with the children, with my colleagues (my closest colleagues and the whole setting) and also with the parents who can bring a whole-picture clarity to the child and how they are evolving as a citizen of the local community, of the town, of the country and of the world. of course I am writing these posts in isolation... which means I will probably forget something important that if I was with a colleague I would be reminded of... The next part of this series will be about making decisions and taking action.

This is part TWO in a series of four posts introducing pedagogical documentation. Part one was about collecting data... and can be read here if you missed it. The idea is that these posts are for educators just at the start of their journey with pedagogical documentation, the kind of post that is not giving you a step by step method of what you must do but a post that aims to give you ideas and inspiration and to feel a little more confident as you try it out. So you have collected data - it can be ... photographs written notes films the children's work Now is the time to look at all this data, both as an individual educator, together with colleagues, with the children and with parents. Each time you look, each time you share with others you will gain a new perspective... some will tally with your perspective, others will add new details, and yet other might come in conflict with how you have interpreted the information.

It can be a good idea to have some questions at the ready when reflecting on the collected information... for example... What is/are the child/ren doing? Did anyone take the lead/Who took the lead? Did the other children allow this/contest this? Did the child/ren ask questions? What sort of questions, to other children or the adult? Was the child/ren following another child's lead? Peer inspired. Or was it own creativity? Was it inspired by Tv/film/book or...? Was the child playing independently or collaboratively? Is this usual? What friendship constellation? The usual ones, or a new ones? How did the child/ren use any resources/materials? Has the child/ren explained any actions? What is the child/ren showing in terms of understanding? This can be individual understandings and group understanding. What knowledge does the child/ren have? Again on a group and individual level. What skills does the child/ren have? Do they use them to collaborate? Which strategies does the child/ren use/seem to prefer? (the children's way of dealing with a problem, learning/playing... not the adult strategy of teaching) How involved is the child/ren? Are the active participants with enthusiasm, reluctant partipants or passive (ie watching the others) How do you know? What evidence do you have, is it backed up with previous evidence/documentation? I think it is important to not only look at each child but to see the whole group. Remember to collect information of individuals, groups and whole class levels... and to also analyse it in the same way. Each person has their own way of evolving, but the groups and the class is also evolving too, and it is a good idea to understand the nature of the group dynamics in the class and how the children's roles and development impacts this. especially as you will need this analysis to plan future activities/lessons... so always documenting on an individual level will make it much harder to plan class activities... as activities rely often on social interactions for them to be successful. You can use the following criteria to evaluate a child's involvement level - this can also be viewed for the whole group too, not just on a individual level. Concentration, perseverance/persistence Energy Complexity and creativity Precision Facial expressions and composure Reaction time Verbal expression Satisfaction Interaction with others/materials Length of time of involvement Time allowing it can be helpful to look for any connections in documentation, e.g. does the child/group always seem to be exploring their learning/play in a particular way? Remember to reflect on your collection method too... was it a good way to collect information, not only at the time, but also how it enables the analysis part... for example when I was doing philosophical dialogues with my group of children I found that filming and recording the sessions ended up being more time consuming in the analysis part of the process, even though they could offer a greater depth. So we ended up only recording a few sessions to enable us to maintain a deeper thinking level of our notes, and also to help us understand what got missed in our notes (as voice inflection and movements and emotions are rarely recorded in written notes during a philosophy session due to the speed of the children's talking and trying to keep up with writing it down. Also there has to be a level of respect and security with a team of educators to share films of themselves working with children... especially when this is open for critique... after all the whole aim is to understand not only how the children learn, but also to improve the way that we as educators teach... so that the learning and teaching are in symbiosis. Directors at early years settings... well ALL educational settings - need to work towards creating an atmosphere that allows the educators to talk freely, openly and respectfully with each other. This is done in a similar way as we work with children... we need to give it time for these relationships and trust to be built... we cannot expect children or any person to feel courage to express all their opinions without that level of security and trust, and the need that mistakes are not frowned upon or laughed at, but merely seen as stepping stones of learning. When it comes to the analysis part I really want to press the point of not just focussing on individual children... I know there is much said about the unique child etc... but we all function in society and therefore we need to understand how groups work, how the individuals work within the group. To understand if all the children are interested in the same things, or whether some children are not given enough time, space or volume to make their voice heard. Is there an equality in the group... and this can be seen from many perspectives... from age, from gender, from religion, race, interests etc etc. A recent report here in Sweden about the need to review the Swedish preschool curriculum wrote

The more I write the more you might be thinking how on earth can I be thinking all these things and analysing all of this... the thing is the more you practice using this tool, pedagogical documentation, the more it just becomes a part of how you see and listen... it is like broadening your spectrum of sight and sound... pretty much in the same way the curriculum becomes a part of your being and you no longer need to keep referring to the physical paper, but that as you are doing your daily work with the children you see the curriculum happening in the small actions all around you. (of course it is good to keep on returning to the curriculum to reflect once more and to gain a deeper understanding). What I am trying to write is that the more you collect data and the more you analyse it... and use the entire circle of pedagogical documentation the easier it will become, as you learn better techniques of collection, and analysis, these stages will allow you to refine these techniques even more, and you will also become more comfortable with exploring ideas with colleagues, children and parents - and also to understand that not all feedback is going to be "great job" and that this feedback is about the work... and not you personally, and is there to help you get better at your work as an educator. Having a weekly meeting where you spend time analysing the week can be a good start... asking the same questions allow you to have a systematic approach and easier notice patterns and anomalies. For instance the following questions could be asked.. 1. What are the children interested in (don't just write play... think about what it is in the play that is the most interesting... if it is a subject, for example robots, what is it about the robots that they are interested in... maybe they do not want to build robots, maybe they are scared of them and are dealing with overcoming fear) 2.How can we build on this? (what activities, visits, materials can we use to allow the children to explore these ideas through play, and through adult lead activities too) 3. Did the week go as expected? (each week will be planned... at the end of the week ask yourself did it go as you planned it... if yes, explain how it went as you planned, if no, explain that too... and remember not as expected also means that it went better than expected) 4. What have we learned from this... ? (For example if the math activity was more popular than expected and children complained there was not enough time/space/room - then what adaptations would you make to allow more children access to the activity, keeping in mind that many children might complicate the experience, but this can still be tested and evaluated... as it might work better) 5. are there any developments, milestones or concerns (on an individual and group level) - this is good to write down so that you can go back and see when you first started to have concerns, or the child/group first developed this particular skill etc. 6. What measures do we implement to respond to this... if there is a concern what are the teachers response... this is important to make sure you keep track of what measures you are using and how effective they are... there is no point reacting to a child in the exact same way week in and week out if it has no affect, this way you can keep track of effective measures to support the child/group learning and development. 7. How shall we plan for next week based on the analysis/reflections we have just made. For example if you had planned a science activity that the children have shown clearly they have no interest in, maybe it would be appropriate to change the activity to something the childrenare interested in. This new activity might have the same process but a content that is more meaningful for the children and will engage them. Getting into a routine of analysing the data is important... especially with the children. Finding time is another essential question to answer... when is there time for collegial dialogues about the collected data, when is there time for dialogues with the children... and with the parents?

Your reflections and analyses of the children's work, the photos, the films and the written notes should give you enough information to make plans... what sort of project would the children be interested in, and why what sort of skills do the children already master, what do they want help with, need support with? What learning strategies/preferences do the children have? Is the group settled enough for meaningful learning, or is the a greater need for more team-building activities... I am a big believer that children will learn if they feel safe, valued and included. These questions will influence what you plan and how you create the curriculum/process for the learning/project in the near future... this might be something that occurs for a short time, or it might end up being a project that lasts a much longer time... for instance... the Leonardo da Vinci projected that I started with my group of children ended up being about robots and lasted a whole year and allowed the children to explore many different areas of their own development within the safety of the robot project... we explored, friendship, emotions, responsibility, making mistakes, technology and film making etc etc

For me this is one of the most exciting parts of the circle... exploring the children's ideas, play and learning - my own thoughts, with the children, with my colleagues (my closest colleagues and the whole setting) and also with the parents who can bring a whole-picture clarity to the child and how they are evolving as a citizen of the local community, of the town, of the country and of the world. of course I am writing these posts in isolation... which means I will probably forget something important that if I was with a colleague I would be reminded of... The next part of this series will be about making decisions and taking action.

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A Beginner's Guide to Pedagogical Documentation (part 2)

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This is part TWO in a series of four posts introducing pedagogical documentation. Part one was about collecting data... and can be read here if you missed it.

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Suzanne Axelsson

This is the third in a four part series on Pedagogical documentation. part one can be seen - here and part two can be found - here In Part one I covered the topic of collecting data, while in the second post it was all about the analysis of the collected data... this post will be the decision making and action planning using the analysis as a basis.

You might make the decision to introduce a project idea to the children... your observations have lead you to understand that the children have an interest/need and that it can be met within a project idea you have...

For example I remember a few years ago I visited a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Milan, Italy... and the whole visit made me think of my group of preschoolers back in Sweden (I know, I know, occupational hazard).. I knew that we had not covered so much of the technology and design area of the curriculum as I would have liked (but the social-emotional need of the group took priority) and I could see that by exploring Da Vinci we could bring more of that into our daily planning... Da Vinci was also a philosopher... and we had philosophy sessions every week, it made sense for the children to feel a link with others throughout time that have seen the value of shared sustained thinking; Da Vinci designed robots, and I knew my group were into robots as they played robot chase almost every day for the previous two years (sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours); Da Vinci was not afraid of making mistakes, he practised and practised and saw mistake making as a way of learning... I had a few children who were perfectionists... I felt that through stories of Da Vinci we could explore mistake making and feeling more comfortable with the idea of not needing to get it perfect the first time; Da Vinci also built bridges... and this would be the groups final year and we would be building bridges throughout the year with their schools to be... personally I was really rooting to do a whole projects on bridges... but I knew the Leonardo project was wide enough for the children to find their interest within it... So I introduced Leonardo Da Vinci to them through stories, books and art... and it did not take long for them to fasten on robots and technology (film-making - trying out a new skill, for all of us) - there was always the chance that they would reject the whole Leonardo Da Vinci idea all together and that I would have to observe the children again and learn from them what their interest are and their needs... but I had been with the children for three years already, so my understanding of the children was great enough to find those project areas that interested them and caught their imagination. When you are with a class for a shorter time, or just getting to know them, it is much harder to come up with project ideas - mostly because you are not as familiar with the children, their interests and their learning preferences... so having the opportunity to work more than three years with a group is a wonderful thing. So decision one is launching a project. The project starts with activities, art, experiences, stories, explorations etc - which means the observations start again and the data collection starts a again and the analysis too... which will bring you to another possible decision If this project idea was not one that whet the children's appetite for learning and play - you will need to make the decision...

does the project need to be presented in a different way? ie was the learning approach wrong for the children?

do you need to observe the children in their free play more to better understand their learning preferences, their needs and their interests

should a different NEW project be launched? that during the last observations you have already noticed needs and interests

should an old project be re-launched - the children have seen art/photos and text on the walls or in their files and have started to ask questions about their previous play and learning, giving you the opportunity to return and deepen their understanding of this.

OR maybe you feel the project is worth persisting with, that maybe the children need another chance to explore the same thing again... that the first experience was so novel that they were dealing with the novelty, or were nervous of the newness, and that by repeating the activity the children have an opportunity to test it again with more confidence.

So you have got this far.. You have observed the children... analysed the documentation of these observations (written, oral, photographs, films and the children's work) and you have made the decision how to proceed... Then it is to do the activity, or the play, or the excursion, the experience and start the circle again with more observations. More analysis. More decision making. Each time you will learn more about the group, the individual children, the relationships within the group, the learning preferences, the interests and also about how you work as an educator. it means taking risks to try new things with the children... accept a role of learning with them, Get the children involved in making the plans and suggesting ideas for how to take the projects further. You might be wondering at this stage... but where is the stuff on the walls? What about portfolios... Well, they can be a part of the pedagogical documentation if they are being used to explore the children's ideas and experiences further... for example I would hang up works of art the children had made together with photos of the process and short texts of my observations and my understanding of the learning processes... allowing not only the parents to see what their children have done... and to give an opportunity for children and parents (grandparents, aunts uncles friends etc etc) to enter a dialogue with the children about the process. It also makes the children's learning visible to the children... and allows a dialogue with the educators about what they remember about the experience, how they felt and how we could continue... it is not a finished work on the wall... but still open to interpretation by children, parents and educators alike. What ends up on the walls, in portfolios etc is a kind of publication... it is a product of the documentation, observations, analysis and planning... the process is the circle of pedagogical documentation.

In the next and final part of this beginners guide to pedagogical documentation will be about the published part of the process... how we can present the children's work, play and learning - and our interpretation of that. The next post will also include links for further reading about pedagogical documentation.

This is the third in a four part series on Pedagogical documentation. part one can be seen - here and part two can be found - here In Part one I covered the topic of collecting data, while in the second post it was all about the analysis of the collected data... this post will be the decision making and action planning using the analysis as a basis.

You might make the decision to introduce a project idea to the children... your observations have lead you to understand that the children have an interest/need and that it can be met within a project idea you have...

For example I remember a few years ago I visited a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Milan, Italy... and the whole visit made me think of my group of preschoolers back in Sweden (I know, I know, occupational hazard).. I knew that we had not covered so much of the technology and design area of the curriculum as I would have liked (but the social-emotional need of the group took priority) and I could see that by exploring Da Vinci we could bring more of that into our daily planning... Da Vinci was also a philosopher... and we had philosophy sessions every week, it made sense for the children to feel a link with others throughout time that have seen the value of shared sustained thinking; Da Vinci designed robots, and I knew my group were into robots as they played robot chase almost every day for the previous two years (sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours); Da Vinci was not afraid of making mistakes, he practised and practised and saw mistake making as a way of learning... I had a few children who were perfectionists... I felt that through stories of Da Vinci we could explore mistake making and feeling more comfortable with the idea of not needing to get it perfect the first time; Da Vinci also built bridges... and this would be the groups final year and we would be building bridges throughout the year with their schools to be... personally I was really rooting to do a whole projects on bridges... but I knew the Leonardo project was wide enough for the children to find their interest within it... So I introduced Leonardo Da Vinci to them through stories, books and art... and it did not take long for them to fasten on robots and technology (film-making - trying out a new skill, for all of us) - there was always the chance that they would reject the whole Leonardo Da Vinci idea all together and that I would have to observe the children again and learn from them what their interest are and their needs... but I had been with the children for three years already, so my understanding of the children was great enough to find those project areas that interested them and caught their imagination. When you are with a class for a shorter time, or just getting to know them, it is much harder to come up with project ideas - mostly because you are not as familiar with the children, their interests and their learning preferences... so having the opportunity to work more than three years with a group is a wonderful thing. So decision one is launching a project. The project starts with activities, art, experiences, stories, explorations etc - which means the observations start again and the data collection starts a again and the analysis too... which will bring you to another possible decision If this project idea was not one that whet the children's appetite for learning and play - you will need to make the decision...

does the project need to be presented in a different way? ie was the learning approach wrong for the children?

do you need to observe the children in their free play more to better understand their learning preferences, their needs and their interests

should a different NEW project be launched? that during the last observations you have already noticed needs and interests

should an old project be re-launched - the children have seen art/photos and text on the walls or in their files and have started to ask questions about their previous play and learning, giving you the opportunity to return and deepen their understanding of this.

OR maybe you feel the project is worth persisting with, that maybe the children need another chance to explore the same thing again... that the first experience was so novel that they were dealing with the novelty, or were nervous of the newness, and that by repeating the activity the children have an opportunity to test it again with more confidence.

So you have got this far.. You have observed the children... analysed the documentation of these observations (written, oral, photographs, films and the children's work) and you have made the decision how to proceed... Then it is to do the activity, or the play, or the excursion, the experience and start the circle again with more observations. More analysis. More decision making. Each time you will learn more about the group, the individual children, the relationships within the group, the learning preferences, the interests and also about how you work as an educator. it means taking risks to try new things with the children... accept a role of learning with them, Get the children involved in making the plans and suggesting ideas for how to take the projects further. You might be wondering at this stage... but where is the stuff on the walls? What about portfolios... Well, they can be a part of the pedagogical documentation if they are being used to explore the children's ideas and experiences further... for example I would hang up works of art the children had made together with photos of the process and short texts of my observations and my understanding of the learning processes... allowing not only the parents to see what their children have done... and to give an opportunity for children and parents (grandparents, aunts uncles friends etc etc) to enter a dialogue with the children about the process. It also makes the children's learning visible to the children... and allows a dialogue with the educators about what they remember about the experience, how they felt and how we could continue... it is not a finished work on the wall... but still open to interpretation by children, parents and educators alike. What ends up on the walls, in portfolios etc is a kind of publication... it is a product of the documentation, observations, analysis and planning... the process is the circle of pedagogical documentation.

In the next and final part of this beginners guide to pedagogical documentation will be about the published part of the process... how we can present the children's work, play and learning - and our interpretation of that. The next post will also include links for further reading about pedagogical documentation.

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A Beginner's Guide to Pedagogical Documentation (part 3)

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This is the third in a four part series on Pedagogical documentation. part one can be seen - here and part two can be found - here In Part one I covered the topic of collecting data, while in the second post it was all about the analysis of the collected data...

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A Beginner’s Guide to Pedagogical Documentation (part 4)

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This is the final post - number four... the previous ones in this series you can check here...
ONE - about observations
TWO - about analysing and
THREE - about making plans and taking action This post is about PUBLICATION - about how we share the learning as a more finished product of thoughts... how we make the learning visible on the walls, in portfolios, books and films etc. It is usually the part that most people tend to call pedagogical documentation - yet when you get to this stage the

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This post will have it’s main focus for educators that do not work together at the same setting but meet up in learning circles etc... of course this approach can be used by educators in the same setting too. I will try to keep this as simple as possible by writing it in steps... The aim of this post is to offer a kind of routine for educators to use when analysing the documentation and therefore supporting the reflection process and also explore the effectivity of the documentation. Bring so

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It may be attributable to my love of history during undergraduate studies, or my time as Technology Director when having to keep a clear record of all that was happening on campus. It may be my incessant need to understand why things happen the way they do, and what leads people and organizations to make the decisions they do. Whatever the reason, documentation, for me, is an integral part of how I work. It is a way to capture moments in time so that they are not lost, to learn from past experiences, and to guide future decision making.

WHY is it important to document our learning?
When we document our work, we create a record of what we are doing. This can come in the form of pictures, audio recordings, video, written work and even the collection of materials and product that came out as a result of the experience. This record can be accessed later to help build understanding.

Proper documentation can help us to replicate and improve upon our existing work, and the work of others. Using the resources from past experiences, we can determine what worked well, what needs modification, and what can go to the waste basket the next time around. In essence, documentation can help us to be better teachers, as we learn from our past work.

Documentation is a metacognitive exercise. Through the review of our previous work, we must think about our thinking. Even for very young learners, this study of prior work helps them to recall what they were doing at the time and to describe what they were learning ( Nilson, 2013). By externalizing this thinking, we gain a greater understanding of the concepts learned and the experience.

Beyond thinking about our thinking, documentation encourages us to organize the learning process. We demonstrate how a project began, possibly showing a first draft, a prototype, or an idea web. We might then include what happens in the next iteration, and then finally a finished product. While beneficial to ourselves as both documentarian and learner, this process becomes even more meaningful when we share the work with an authentic audience (our teacher, our parents, the community).

All of this documentation leads to the development of a portfolio of work. But this portfolio differs from a traditional one, where only a person's best work is on display. Rather, what we are illustrating is not merely final pieces, but how we got there, what changes we made along the way, what growth occurred, and why we made particular decisions to alter our learning path.

Finally, documentation helps us to share our knowledge and experience with others. In the many years that I have worked in education, there is one common thread I see regardless of the institution; the sharing of resources, information, and experiences among peers. We are continually learning new methods, strategies, and technologies, and we often find support and inspiration from those in our same field. With the increase in social sharing and social media, resources abound. Here is a recent article about using social media to share our learning, from Common Sense Media.

WHO should document work?
Both teachers and students should be involved in the documentation process. For me, in the classroom, I am often with camera in hand ready to snap a photo of a project in process or of students engaged in an activity. I may use this material to share with other educators when discussing Project Based Learning or Design Thinking, for example, or to show student work in the area of coding or digital fabrication and design. The documentation from one class or one school year may serve as inspiration for future students and classes working on similar projects.

Students in my class use SeeSaw as their primary tool for documentation. I enjoy SeeSaw because it gives students the ability to take photos, video, hand-drawn artwork, audio voiceovers, text, and any combination of these, as they track and reflect on their progress. SeeSaw classes show a thread of entries from all students flowing down the page like an Instagram feed. The teacher can moderate how much interaction takes place between students and can invite parents to see their child's work.

Weebly is another flexible tool, a web-based web editor, that allows students to create websites. This platform is wide open, allowing for multiple pages and multiple types of media.

Here are some examples of student documentation in SeeSaw and Weebly.

WHAT kind of work is documented?
From the teacher's perspective, it is as valuable to document student work in progress as it is to document any final work. While one might argue that there is more value in recording the process over the result, I believe both are important for purposes of creating a history and for serving as the material for future learners.

When my students go through a design thinking exercise, where they might need to interview a "client," walk through an ideation and brainstorming stage, design a solution and build a prototype, each step is documented. This documentation might be a reflective video, a quick snapshot of work in progress, or recorded thoughts in text or voice.

HOW do we document?
One of the simplest and most useful devices for documentation is the phone that sits in your pocket. Today's smartphones have such powerful cameras, and the process of uploading media to the cloud is quick and efficient. Imagine back to the days when we had to have film developed before getting to review our work. Today we can point, shoot, review, edit, and post within seconds.

I've mentioned both SeeSaw and Weebly previously, but there are many great documentation tools available for free or very low cost. I have used FlipGrid and Recap with both educators and students as a way to reflect on their learning. These apps use the power of video to record the thoughts and reflections of learners, allow students to view each others' videos, and even comment back via their own video if appropriate. Follow the hashtag #flipgridfever to see how educators across the country are using this tool in innovative ways.

The inherent sharing nature of Google Docs, part of the full GSuite for Education, provides a flexible, open environment for students to document their work individually, and in collaboration with their peers. Students can use Google Docs as an online journal, not only to store their work but to give them the ability to see revision history and revert to previous versions if necessary. Google Drive can serve as a repository for docs, sheets and slides, and also any files and file types that students choose to store and archive.

Teams of teachers can use GSuite for documenting what they do. As part of my work in Project Quest, I joined a group of 8 teachers (covering the disciplines of science, history, Latin, religion, art, and technology) working with forty students over the course of six weeks of study. During this time, different teachers worked with different students, with frequent cross-over and mixed groupings. Using Google Docs, we regularly documented what happened during the day, not only to keep each other informed but to reflect the process and make any necessary changes and adjustments moving forward.

Recently, I began using Google Keep to store snippets of documentation throughout the day. Keep stores text, links, photos, video, and hand-written messages. Hashtags can be added to create searchable categories. You can access Google Keep on the web, through the app, and on just about any device.

How do you and your students document all of the amazing things happening in your classroom? Is documentation shared with a broader audience? Can you recommend a new technology tool or app?

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Documentation: A Critical Component of the Learning Process

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Documentation is an essential component in the learning process, for students, teachers, everyone. Here are some tools and strategies that I use to help students and teachers document their valuable work.