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Pedagogical Documentation: Module 2 Facilitator Guide Page 1 of 17 Copyright © 2015 Pearson Canada Inc.

Key Actions of Pedagogical

Documentation

1. OBSERVE AND LISTEN

2. DESCRIBE AND NAME THE LEARNING

3. INTERPRET AND ANALYZE WHAT WE

SAW AND HEARD

4. HYPOTHESIZE AND DRAW CONCLUSIONS

5. REFLECT AND RESPOND

6. SHARE THE DOCUMENTATION

Pedagogical Documentation: Module 2

Facilitator Guide

Purpose and Scope

Module 2 builds on the learning from Module 1, which

introduced Pedagogical Documentation, a practice that

has been embedded in the world of childcare for many

years and is an integral part of the pedagogy of Early

Childhood Educators.

In Module 1, educators explored pedagogical

documentation, also referred to as pedagogical

narration, as a way for educators to inquire into the

relationship between the learner and the teacher. They

investigated how the practice of pedagogical

documentation is moving assessment beyond the

attainment of curriculum expectations or outcomes, to

a place where educators are using their classrooms as

centres of research, observing and studying their

learners in ways that transform their teaching practice.

As well, educators began examining their personal

beliefs and assumptions by reflecting upon their image

of the child. They were asked to consider looking at

learning through different lenses, always being aware

that their biases and beliefs influence the way that

they look at learning. The module also introduced the

idea of pedagogical documentation as a way for

educators to transform their practice and explored the

benefits of pedagogical documentation for students,

educators, and families. At the end of module,

educators were challenged to observe a student through the eyes of a teacher-

researcher, rather than the lens of assessment, and to record their reflections.

The purpose of Module 2 is to help educators develop an understanding of the process

of pedagogical documentation. At the beginning of the module, educators reflect on

previous learning by revisiting the terms used to describe the thinking and actions that

are at the heart of this practice, which were introduced in Module 1. In order to

support educators’ learning, facilitators should ensure that educators have an

understanding of the pedagogical content knowledge explored in Module 1 before

delving further into Module 2.


Throughout this resource, we value what educators are currently doing in their

practice. Module 2 provides a space for educators to reflect upon their own practice

and share their most current understanding of pedagogical documentation. Through

videos, questions, and prompts, educators will develop a common understanding of

the practice of pedagogical documentation.

At the end of the module, educators will be challenged to practice the actions of

pedagogical documentation. They will reflect on why the practice of pedagogical

documentation causes them to think differently and how their teaching practice might

change as they look at learning through multiple lenses.

Specific Goals

Educators will

● understand learning through multiple lenses

● practise observing, analyzing, interpreting, and responding with a different view

Role of Facilitator

Facilitators of the module take the stance of provocateur rather than expert. As

creators of this professional learning resource, we recognize that everyone involved in

teaching has expertise to share. We hope that the module will provide an opportunity

for all participants to share their expertise, respectfully question and challenge ideas,

use research (both academic and classroom) to support their discussions, and engage

in collective knowledge building.

We also hope that educators will test the theories presented, discuss the videos and

research presented, and share their thinking with their peers. Thus, we have designed

the module so that groups can decide how much time they want to spend on any

particular segment. Our intention is to provide a resource that is responsive to the

learning needs and interests of the learners. The seat, video, and activity times

suggested onscreen are a guide for individuals only. Groups are meant to stop and

discuss the content throughout the module. Facilitators should allow time for this,

responding to the group’s interests and interactions as well as any sticking points or

questions that emerge. Facilitators may wish to preview the module and the

Facilitator’s Road Map in this guide to get a sense of how much time might be needed

to work through the module at a comfortable pace that allows for deep discussion and

reflection.

Facilitators are observer-participants in the module. Ensuring that everyone has a

voice at the table requires the facilitator to participate with a non-dominant voice.

Careful listening and observation of the group dynamics will allow for thought-

provoking questions to emerge and stimulate reflection. The language at the table

should be that of inquiry and research:


● I am wondering …

● I’ve been thinking about …

● I’m not sure, but …

● I think I heard this … am I right?

● What are you thinking and wondering?

● Do we need to …?

● … might this be what we’re thinking?

eJournal

The eJournal is a modifiable Microsoft Word document of the module content, including

the quotes, questions, and activities presented onscreen. These notes allow educators

to concentrate on the content without having to take notes. They also provide space

for educators to work on the suggested activities, record their own thoughts and

reflections, and jot down ideas. Educators may customize the eJournal and add pages

to capture the group’s thinking, record points that emerge in discussion, and so on.


Module at a Glance

Pedagogical Documentation: Module 2

Segment Focus Videos and Activities

Introduction

Module TOC:

Screens 2–5

Educators

• review pedagogical documentation

terms

• revisit and reflect on personal

learning goals

• consider guiding questions of the

module

eJournal

Pedagogical Documentation Terms,

Module 2 Guiding Questions and

Goals

Recommended Resources

Mind-Sets and Equitable Education by

Carol S. Dweck

Making Learning Visible by Dr. Carol

Anne Wien

The Power of Documentation in the

Early Childhood Classroom by

Hilary Seitz

The Relationship Between

Documentation and Assessment by

Carlina Rinaldi

The Teacher as Researcher by Carlina

Rinaldi

Your Image of the Child: Where

Teaching Begins by Loris Malaguzzi

Question 1:

How do you

“do”

pedagogical

documentation?

Module TOC:

Screens 6–20

Educators

• discuss their experience of observing

student(s)

• discuss and reflect on learning and

teaching from an inquiry stance

• analyze and discuss a quote about

the key actions of pedagogical

documentation

• explore the six actions of

pedagogical documentation

• practise the first four actions of


eJournal

Between Modules Reflection, A View of

Learners, Teaching from an

Inquiry Stance, A Holistic

Perspective, Key Actions of

Pedagogical Documentation, The

How-to Aspects of the Process,

Pedagogical Documentation in

Action, Video-Viewing Activity:

The Process of Pedagogical

Documentation, Stages 1–6

Unpacking Quotes and Ideas

John Dewey on pedagogical

documentation

Article: Curiosity, Curriculum and

Collaboration Entwined:

Reflections on Pedagogical

Documentation by Pat Tarr

Video

Students in a Kindergarten Classroom


The Teacher as Researcher by Carlina

Rinaldi

The Nature of Teacher Research by

Barbara Henderson, Daniel R.

Meier, Gail Perry, and Andrew J.

Stremmel


Question 2:

How might your

practice evolve,

and what might

it look like?

Module TOC:

Screens 21–25

Educators

• practise the last two actions of


• consider how they might make

changes to their current practice

• revisit the quote about pedagogical

documentation

eJournal

How Can Looking at Learning Through

Multiple Lenses Benefit Our

Practice? Dewey’s Quote Revisited

Video

Studying Co-Constructed Negotiated

Learning: Spiral Story


Documentation: Both Mirror and Light

by Pam Oken-Wright

Between

Modules

Time: 3 weeks

Module TOC:

Screen 26

Educators

• observe an individual, or group of

students, to practice the six actions

of pedagogical documentation to

uncover student thinking and

learning

• share their documentation with a

partner

• consider the degree to which

pedagogical documentation may

inform their practice

• revisit and reflect on the articles and

videos presented in the module

• share and connect with other

participants to discuss new

questions, thinking, and wonderings

eJournal

Between Modules: Some Activities,

Check Your Understanding


Opening Minds: Using Language to

Change Lives by Peter H. Johnston

As you work through the online segments, use the Facilitator’s Road Map that follows

to pause and/or guide the suggested reflections, discussions, and activities.

The articles and videos listed as Recommended Resources are available online. Please

note that some articles require purchase. Instructions for finding these resources are

included in the Facilitator’s Road Map.

NOTE: The TOC in the online module indicates the time length for each screen. The

time for the Accessibility audio file is included in the total time of the last screen in the

module. There is also a running time count at the bottom at the TOC. The total time

includes the audio file.

If the online module freezes at any point, please select the TOC button, select a

different screen, and then select the one you were viewing. Or, close the module,

reopen it, open the TOC, and select the screen you were viewing.


Facilitator’s Road Map

Online Module

Segment 1

Introduction

Questions and Provocations

Pedagogical Documentation Terms (Screens 2–3)

• Educators have an opportunity to revisit and reflect on the

terminology of pedagogical documentation that was introduced in

Module 1. Allow time for participants to review their reflective

notes and share their thinking about the terms related to

pedagogical documentation with a partner or small group.

Provide the following frames to support educators to begin

talking about some of the shifts in their thinking:

- I used to think and now I am thinking …

- I am thinking this, but I have questions and wonderings

about …

• Create a three-column chart to capture educators’ shifts in

thinking (e.g., What we think we know, What we continue to

wonder about, What this might mean for our practice) and to

develop a shared understanding of the terms. Consider revisiting

this chart and adding to it, at the end of modules 2 and 3, to

capture new thinking.

Questions and Goals (Screens 4–5)

• As educators consider the guiding questions for the module

presented on the screen, ask:

- What other questions emerge from the two broad questions

presented on the screen?

- What additional learning goals might you—as an individual

educator—have?

- How might sharing individual questions and personal

learning goals with the group impact on the collaborative,

collective learning of the group?

Module TOC: Screens 2–5 eJournal

• Pause for participants to revisit

and/or reflect on personal

learning goals.

Facilitating Notes

• Establish a format that you can

use for all sessions of the

module (e.g., place, time,

procedure, goals).

• In the online module, clicking on

the TOC box at the bottom right

will open a Table of Contents

that you can use to navigate

among the screens.

• Ensure participants are familiar

with the Recommended

Resources of Module 1 listed in

Ongoing References below.

Ongoing References

• Mind-Sets and Equitable

Education by Carol S. Dweck, Principal Leadership, January

2010 (go to the National

Association of Secondary School

Principals website in the link and

search the article title)

• Making Learning Visible Through

Pedagogical Documentation by

Dr. Carol Anne Wien, from

Think, Feel, Act: Lessons from

Research about Young Children,

2013, Ontario Ministry of

Education.

• The Power of Documentation in

the Early Childhood Classroom

by Hilary Seitz (go to the

National Association for the

Education of Young Children

website in the link ⟶

Publications ⟶ Young Children

⟶ Search for Articles and

Authors ⟶ article title or author

name)

• The Relationship Between

Documentation and Assessment

by Carlina Rinaldi, Innovations in

Early Education: The

International Reggio Exchange,

11(1), Winter 2004, 1–4.

http://www.principals.org/

http://www.principals.org/

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/Wien.pdf

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/Wien.pdf

http://www.naeyc.org/


http://reggioalliance.org/resources/innovations/



Online Module

Segment 2

Question 1: How do you “do”

pedagogical documentation?


Between Modules Reflection (Screens 6–7)

• Have educators revisit the idea of observing students through the

lens of a teacher-researcher. Invite participants to share with a

partner their observations of students that they made between

modules by considering the onscreen questions.

• To set the context for the next conversation, have educators

reflect on how their image of the child influences the way they

“look at learning” and “listen to children.” Consider having them

revisit the article Your Image of the Child: Where Teaching

Begins by Loris Malaguzzi, which they read in Module 1.

Alternatively, have them turn to the eJournal to revisit the quote

A View of Learners from Module 1.

Learning and Teaching from an Inquiry Stance

(Screen 8)

• Use the onscreen graphic of questions to support the

conversation about observation, documentation, and the teacher

as researcher. Pose the following questions to deepen the

conversation as needed:

- Reflect on your role as teacher-researcher. Why did you

choose this student? What were you hoping to understand

about the student? About yourself?

- How many times did you observe the student? In what

contexts did you observe the student? What might you learn

by observing this student in different contexts, including

outdoors?

- What did you do to try and diminish the lens of “teacher-

assessor” while you observed the student? How did you

remain open to the unexpected?

- What did you learn about the student? What more do you

need to learn? What kinds of documentation will you collect

next in order to help you “know” the child better?

- How did your observations connect to the image of the child

as a competent, capable, and curious communicator?

- What are you wondering about your own practice as a result

of these observations?

• After partners share the experiences and thoughts they had while

observing students, invite participants to share some key ideas

with the larger group that emerged from their discussion.

• To further support and deepen the conversation around the

teacher as researcher, briefly revisit the Rinaldi article from

Module 1 (see Recommended Resources, right) by having

participants share one idea that resonated with them. You can

record their key learning or have them record it in their eJournal.

Module TOC: Screens 6–20 Facilitating Notes

• The classroom practice

questions are meant to be

reflective questions for individual

educators. To bring them into in

a whole group discussion,

facilitators must provide

“distance from experience” for

the educators.

eJournal

• Participants can revisit the quote

about how we view children from

Module 1. Have them turn to

A View of Learners in the

eJournal.

Option

• In Module 1, if participants

created a statement that

encapsulates an image of the

child that opens up learning

avenues and influences teaching

practice positively, you may

wish to revisit and post it.

Facilitating Notes

• In your role as facilitator,

ensure all participants have

an opportunity to share in

discussion.


• Your Image of the Child: Where

Teaching Begins by Loris

Malaguzzi, 1994, Child Care

Information Exchange, 96 (go to

the North American Reggio

Emilia Alliance website in the

link above ⟶ Resources ⟶ Free

Resources)

• The Teacher as Researcher by

Carlina Rinaldi, Innovations in

Early Education: The

International Reggio Exchange,

10(2), Spring 2003, 1–4.

• The Nature of Teacher Research

by Barbara Henderson, Daniel R.

Meier, Gail Perry, and Andrew J.

Stremmel, Voices of

Practitioners, 2012 (go to the

National Association for the

Education of Young Children

website in the link above ⟶

Publications ⟶ Voices of

Practitioners ⟶ What is Teacher

Research?)

https://reggioalliance.org/

https://reggioalliance.org/




Online Module

• In order to dig more deeply into the role of teacher as

researcher, provide time for participants to read the article

The Nature of Teacher Research (see Recommended Resources,

previous page).

Before participants begin to read, convey that Steven Katz, a

researcher and professor at OISE who co-authored the book

Breaking Down Learning Barriers to Transform Professional

Practice, asks us to look at articles through a critical lens. Often

we look for statements that we agree with when we read within a

professional learning context. Invite participants to note

questions, wonderings, uncertainties, and statements they may

disagree with as well as points that they feel are important as

they read the article. This will help support the stance of teacher-

researcher.

• After reading the article, provide an opportunity for participants

to share some of their thoughts. Pose the following questions to

begin the discussion:

- What are we learning about our role as teacher as

researcher?

- What might this mean for us as we consider our traditional

role as teacher?

- What questions do we have?

- What challenges might we face?

• As participants share their thoughts, add any new thinking to the

chart or eJournal.

Article: Curiosity, Curriculum and Collaboration

Entwined (Screens 9–10)

• As participants read the article, have them highlight areas they

are wondering about or questioning as they connect the content

to their current practice. They may wish to record their questions

and insights for later reflection.

• Invite educators to share their questions and wonderings with a

partner or small group. Afterward, use the following questions to

initiate and focus a whole-group discussion:

- This article is written from an early childhood perspective.

How might some of these messages apply beyond the early

years?

- What tensions exist when educators begin to look at

learning beyond the assessment of curriculum expectations

or developmental milestones?

- How does our image of the learner as competent, curious,

and capable of complex thinking influence the lens we use to

view learning?

• Have educators reflect on their observation of students between

modules, which they shared earlier. Pose the following questions

for them to consider:

- What lenses might you use as you observe learning?

- What would be the benefit of revisiting documentation using

different lenses?

eJournal

• If you are working individually,

record your questions and

wonderings about the article in

your eJournal for future

reflection.

Facilitating Notes

• This article is written from an

early childhood perspective. As

facilitators, we can help

educators connect the messages

of this article to their own

practice by having them think

about the questions in terms of

their own students and

classrooms. The messages in

this article are applicable for all

classrooms.


Online Module

- What might you notice if you viewed the documentation

through the lens of the learner? The environment? Cultural

background and language? Power dynamics and

relationships?

- How might looking at learning through multiple lenses

change the way you think about a learner? Your teaching?

• Share or elicit that pedagogical documentation is a process that

we engage in with others. We may begin the observation on our

own. We may describe and name the learning on our own.

However, because we bring our own bias and point of view to the

observation, our multiple lenses are provided by others, who are

also interested in knowing more about the complexities of

learning and teaching. Ask:

- What would happen to our description of the observation if

we shared it with the children? What might they notice that

we missed? Would the children begin to see themselves as

researchers as they look at the theories and actions of their

peers?

- What would change for us if other educators, who have their

own perspectives on learning, tell us what they see, hear, or

notice? How would our interpretation of the learning change

with multiple perspectives? How would sharing this

documentation with educators impact on the collective

knowledge of the group?

- What insights would we gain by sharing this documentation

with parents and families? How might they perceive their

child in our documentation?

Quote: John Dewey on Pedagogical Documentation

(Screen 11)

• Facilitators may find it helpful to provide the following

background information about John Dewey as context:

- John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist,

and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential

in education and social reform. Although he died in 1952,

his thinking continues to influence pedagogy today. This

quote onscreen speaks to the fact that the pedagogy

underpinning the practice of pedagogical documentation is

not “new” or even “innovative.”

• Use the following questions to guide a discussion:

- How does this quote reflect current assessment practices?

Assessment for learning?

- Why is it important to analyze documentation in the

context of children’s theories, understandings, and

misunderstandings? How is this different from assessing

learning in the context of achievement of curriculum

expectations or outcomes?

- What does “formulate hypotheses, predictions and

projections” mean? How might this action change what

educators consider for next steps in learning? How does this

support our role as teacher researchers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_philosopher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychologist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_reform


Online Module

- How do we capture “current thinking” in our documentation?

What might this mean for our documentation practices?

Six Actions of Pedagogical Documentation (Screens

12–13)

• As educators pause to consider the onscreen graphic of the six

actions of pedagogical documentation, convey the following:

- Although these actions are presented in a linear format and

we have referred to them as stages, the process itself is

very iterative. As a teacher-researcher using pedagogical

documentation as a practice to uncover new learning about

students and your own practice, you may find that you are

constantly moving backwards and forwards through these

actions for any number of reasons. As you move through

each action, you may decide to “go back,” because the

documentation is not providing you with any insight into the

learning and teaching process.

• After pairs discuss the graphic, consider using the following

background information, questions, and provocations to lead a

whole-group discussion about the actions of pedagogical

documentation:

1. Observe and Listen

- We always begin our observations with an intended purpose

or a focus. It could be simply trying to understand more

about how to build a relationship with a particular child or

how a child experiments and develops theories within an

area of mathematics or language. As teacher-researchers,

we can never be sure that what we have chosen to observe

may be the “right” moment or even the “right” amount of

time. We can predict and hypothesize the time of day, the

learning opportunity, and the interaction that may give us a

window into the learning. But sometimes we learn

something completely unexpected and surprisingly different

from what we might have intended to learn. We can learn

something from every observation of children, if we are

open to learning more about the whole child.

- Why might it be important to observe learners many times

and in multiple contexts during the flow of the day?

- How might this practice help us better understand a child’s

understandings, misconceptions, and theories?

- In pedagogical documentation, why is it important to

observe learning in the context of the classroom

environment (both indoors and outdoors), rather than a

“clinical setting” that isolates the child from the

environment?

- How might our interaction with a child during an observation

opportunity influence the learning process and change what

we see and hear?

- What might we learn from recording our questions, prompts,

and provocations as part of the observed learning?

- Why might it be important to vary the tools we use for

observation?

Facilitating Notes

• In order for participants to

develop an understanding of the

thinking behind each of the

actions of pedagogical

documentation, provide

adequate time for them to

consider the background

knowledge and questions around

the actions provided in this

guide before they engage in the

process. Facilitators may wish to

capture the thinking as

participants consider this

information and share ideas

and wonderings.

Facilitating Notes

• As participants consider these

questions, have them reflect

upon the questions in light of

their own experience of

observing and listening to a

student or students in their

classroom between modules.


Online Module

2. Describe and Name the Learning

- Describing the learning is a challenge for many of us. We

must be very careful to describe only what we see, hear, or

notice in the documentation. We may use words like “the

child is listening attentively,” but indeed if we are describing

what we saw and heard, we have no way of knowing

whether the child was listening at all. We might assume that

the child is listening, but our task in this work is to describe

only what we know.

- What are some of the assumptions and judgments that

educators might make as they view a video? Look at a

series of photographs? View a student’s drawing or writing?

Listen to a recording of a child?

- How does describing the learning support our observation

skills?

- Why might it be important to share documentation and

descriptions of learning with colleagues?

- How might listening to others’ descriptions of learning

impact on our practice? Support looking at learning from

multiple lenses?

3. Interpret and Analyze What We Saw and Heard

- After we have described the learning, we can begin to look

for the meaning behind the documentation. We can only

analyze what we see and hear and make interpretations

based on the documentation that we have captured. We can

begin to pose theories about what we think might be

happening, what the child might be learning or thinking, the

possible reasons behind the actions, and so on. This is

where looking at learning through multiple lenses becomes

pivotal. If we only look at documentation through an

assessment lens, will we be able to uncover the why of

the learning?

- Why is it important to link your interpretations directly to

the documentation?

- Why is it important to pose multiple theories or wonderings

about the learning?

- Why might it be important to share your analysis and

interpretations with colleagues?

4. Hypothesize and Draw Conclusions

- Each step in this process is valuable. After analyzing and

interpreting the documentation using multiple lenses, you

are ready to draw some conclusions from the observations.

- What is it that the documentation is telling you?

- How do you want to use this documentation?

- What further questions do you have?

- Do you need to have more documentation to support your

theories and interpretations?

- Does this documentation provide you with insight into the

child? Into your practice?

- Does it provide you with opportunities to respond, adjust,

and change what you were previously thinking?

Facilitating Notes

• Some frames that might

support educators in linking

interpretations are:

- When I saw this … I began to

think …

- When the child did this … I

wondered …

- When I heard this … this

question came to mind …


Online Module

- Who is this documentation for?

- Who might you share this documentation with?

- Does this documentation capture the image of the child as

capable and competent?

- Should you keep this documentation?

5. Reflect and Respond

- Good documentation should provide you with multiple

possibilities and opportunities to respond to a child’s

thinking and learning. As you reflect on the documentation,

you will find yourself making pedagogical decisions that may

impact on the observed child, but also on other children in

the group. Some of your pedagogical decisions may happen

almost immediately (e.g., perhaps, if I provide many

choices of writing tools, I may see a change in the way the

child approaches writing). Others you may think about over

time (e.g., I noticed that the questions I’m asking are not

allowing the child to pose an opinion or a theory. I have to

pay attention to my questioning).

- How do I reflect on my documentation?

- How do I remain open to many possibilities for responding?

- Am I thinking differently about how I might respond because

of this documentation?

- What more have I learned about this child?

- What have I learned about my teaching? My values? My

assumptions?

- How will I use this documentation? What will I do with it?

- How will I capture my reflections and possibilities for

responding?

- How might my response change if I share my

documentation with my student? My colleagues? A parent?

- Collaboration with colleagues is integral to the actions of

reflection and responding to documentation. It is through

listening to other points of view and interpretations of

learning that we begin to move beyond how we might

ordinarily respond to learning to testing out new

possibilities. Reflecting upon documentation with a group

builds the collective knowledge of everyone.

6. Share the Documentation

- Sharing documentation is key to helping us think differently.

By discussing the documentation with others, we are able to

see other points of view, we are able to look at learning

through different perspectives.

- Who might you share this documentation with?

- Why might you share documentation with a child? With a

group of children? With the class? How would documentation

support students as partners in their learning?

- How might sharing documentation support students as

researchers into their own learning?

- What might happen if children documented their own

learning? What might this look like? Who might they share

this with? What questions and theories might they have?


Online Module

- What would be the benefits of sharing documentation with

colleagues?

- Why would you share documentation with parents? What

might this look like?

- Documentation is meant to do more than inform. How would

you welcome the interpretations and responses that parents

may have on the learning?

Video: Students in a Kindergarten Classroom (Screens

14–20)

• Watch the video. Afterward, provide ample time for pairs or small

groups of participants to work through the onscreen video-

viewing activity that focuses on the actions of pedagogical

documentation. Use the notes below to facilitate each part of the

activity. Depending on the needs of the group, you may wish to

spend more time debriefing certain actions.

1. Observe and Listen

• Once participants are comfortable with the video’s context and

flow, they can begin to record their observations. Convey that

when first beginning to observe children involved in group work,

it may be easier to start your observations by watching the

actions and interactions of one student. This will make describing

and naming the learning more focused.

2. Describe and Name the Learning

• Prior to sharing their descriptions of learning, have participants

remove any assumptions or evaluative language. Reinforce that

their descriptions should be “pure description.” Ask participants

to “check” each other’s descriptions to make sure they are

descriptions of what we see and hear, not what we think or

assume. We can only come to understand what children might be

thinking by what they say, do, or represent.

• Have participants work in groups to share their descriptions.

Invite each group member to share one thing they saw or heard

and then have each subsequent group member share another

single thing, until everything they saw and heard has been

shared. This process builds relationships and focuses the

conversation on the student, avoiding the possibility of having

educators feel uncomfortable because they may have missed

something.

• Descriptions can begin with something as simple as “I saw a girl

with a striped dress…” or as complex as “I saw the girl in the

striped dress place a blue translucent paper over her eyes and

look inside the overhead projector, where the fan is located, and

then look at her friend through the paper, and then place the

paper over her friend’s eyes.”

3. Interpret and Analyze What We Saw and Heard

• Use the onscreen prompts to unpack the various perspectives

and lenses that educators use as they interpret what they saw

and heard.

Facilitating Notes

• The video shows three

Kindergarten children engaged

in play and inquiry at an

overhead projector, learning in a

context where they are not

“sharing ideas orally” with one

another. As teacher-researchers

we need to “puzzle through” this

learning encounter to try and

understand what the children

are learning and thinking.

• As the onscreen facilitator notes,

multiple viewings of the video

may be necessary. This is true

of all video documentation.

When sharing video

documentation, share a brief

context for the documentation

and then show the video to give

viewers a sense of the flow.

• For this work, you may choose

to replace this video with a video

that represents the learners with

whom you are working. The

video should depict students in

the context of active learning.

eJournal

• Educators can use the eJournal,

Video-Viewing Activity: The

Process of Pedagogical

Documentation, Stages 1 to

6, to record their observations,

thoughts, wonderings, and

questions as they practice the

actions of pedagogical

documentation.

Facilitating Notes

• Parts 5 and 6 of the video-

viewing activity correspond to

Question 2 of the online module,

How might your practice evolve,

and what might it look like?

which begins in the next

segment of the module. You

may wish to have participants

take a break before working on

these parts of the activity.


Online Module

4. Hypothesize and Draw Conclusions

• Use the onscreen prompts to facilitate the conversation around

this action of pedagogical documentation. In addition, ask:

- What are we thinking about as a result of this

documentation? Why?

- How might we respond to this documentation?

- What are we continuing to wonder about?

- What kind of documentation might we need to consider

next as a result of our interpretations? In what contexts?


Online Module

Segment 3

Question 2: How might your

practice evolve, and what might it

look like?


Video: Students in a Kindergarten Classroom (Screens

21–22)

5. Reflect and Respond

• Convey that after drawing some conclusions about the student

learning that is documented, we can begin to think about how we

might respond to the documentation. Good documentation will

cause us to think about implications for our teaching practice as

well as possibilities for growth in student learning. As we try to

view the documentation beyond the lens of assessment and

curriculum, the possibilities for responding become much greater.

• It is important to record these possibilities for all participants to

see. Then each educator will walk away with different possibilities

and reflections from the video in addition to those based on their

own classroom experience. Use the following prompts to initiate a

discussion and generate a list of the possibilities:

- What are the various possibilities that emerge for student

learning? For teaching practice? How has viewing this video

together helped us see the multiple ways to respond to

learning?

- What might you try first after this discussion? Why?

- How will you know your response is making a difference?

What kind of evidence will you collect? What context?

6. Share the Documentation

• Use the onscreen prompts to facilitate this part of the activity.

The online facilitator suggests that educators record their major

takeaways from this process. Have group members talk about

what this process meant to them and record their thoughts. Ask:

- What did you learn from this process?

- What are you wondering about?

- What happened as a result of sharing this process with

colleagues?

- What might happen if this video was shared with parents?

- How might you support one another to continue this work?

• Convey that it is important to record these takeaways for all of us

to reflect on and respond to. The process of pedagogical

documentation may be new to many of us, and it is important to

recognize that we learn as we go and we begin with what we can

manage. Encourage educators to revisit these reflections as they

become more familiar with the practice of pedagogical

documentation.

Module TOC: Screens 21–25 Recommended Resources

• Documentation: Both Mirror and

Light by Pam Oken-Wright,

Innovations in Early Education:

The International Reggio

Exchange, 8(4), 2001, 5–15.

Facilitating Notes

• As educators went through the

process of examining

documentation together, they

supported each other’s thinking.

Multiple views and perspectives

were brought into the discussion

through each phase of the

documentation process. Having

colleagues puzzle through this

video documentation together

allowed for each educator to

look at learning in a different

way and to deepen their

understanding of the relationship

between learning and teaching.

As the online prompt suggests,

we would like educators to think

about what the sharing of

documentation meant to them.

https://reggioalliance.org/resources/free-resources/

https://reggioalliance.org/resources/free-resources/


Online Module

Video: Studying Co-Constructed Negotiated Learning:

Spiral Story (Screens 23–24)

• Have educators view this video twice. On the second viewing,

invite educators to record the points that resonated with them

and then discuss these points with a partner or small group. Pose

the following questions to take the conversation deeper as

needed:

- How does pedagogical documentation support the

pedagogy of play and inquiry?

- How does pedagogical documentation build collective

ownership of the learning?

- How does pedagogical documentation support the “study of

learning” and teachers as researchers?

- How does reflection on documentation support responsive

teaching practices?

- Why might educators choose to collect a series of

photographs, rather than a single photograph?

- How can the practice of pedagogical documentation

provide an opportunity for children to study their own

learning?

- Why might educators and children choose to revisit

documentation repeatedly over time?

- How does documentation support relationships between

students? Between students and teachers? Between

parents and teachers? Between parent and child?

Return to Dewey Quote (Screen 25)

• As educators reflect on the onscreen quote, say:

- We shared this quote at the beginning of the module. After

going through the actions of pedagogical documentation

and reflecting on how pedagogical documentation is

integral to our work as teacher-researchers, let’s take

some time to reflect upon how our interpretation of the

meaning of this quote might have deepened.

- How does pedagogical documentation support the teaching

pedagogy proposed by John Dewey?


Online Module

Segment 4

Between Modules


Activities (Screen 26)

• As educators consider the activities onscreen, you may wish to

summarize, elicit, or list the following as best practices of

observation for pedagogical documentation:

- Observe without judgement.

- Record only what the child is saying and doing.

- In group work, you may choose to focus on one child only.

• As educators begin observing their chosen student or group, have

them share description notes with a partner or small group.

Colleagues can consider:

- Have you removed any assumptions, judgements,

interpretations? Is this pure description?

- As you work through the actions of pedagogical

documentation and share your analysis, interpretations, and

responses to the learning with your partner or group, how do

their analysis, interpretation, and reflections impact on your

thinking about the student and your practice?

• Encourage educators to revisit the videos and research articles

presented in this module, and to connect and share their thoughts

with each other before beginning work on the next module.

• Between modules, educators may wish to record new questions,

thinking, and wonderings in a journal to critically reflect on the

process of pedagogical documentation.

• Between modules, facilitators are encouraged to check in with

participants to determine any areas that may be benefit from

further exploration and/or discussion before beginning the next

module.

Module TOC: Screen 26 Approximate Time:

3 weeks

Option

• Interested educators may want

to conduct a book study of

Opening Minds: Using

Language to Change Lives by

Peter H. Johnston, 2012,

Stenhouse Publishers.

eJournal

• Participants may wish to

complete Check Your

Understanding as a self-check

of the module’s content.

Documents

Pedagogical Documentation: Module 2assets.pearsonschool.com/asset_mgr/current/201547/...Pedagogical Documentation: Module 2 Facilitator Guide Page 1 of 17 ... centres of research,