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Sherina sings helloSherina sings hello

What’s happening here?

Sherina’s teacher knows that Sherina isresponsive to music, and her portfolio has lots of examples of her happily involved in musicalactivities. The teacher records this story becauseshe is excited to find out that Sherina can singpeople’s names when greeting them. She goeson to use this strategy whenever she wants togive instructions or information to Sherina,helping to promote an inclusive environmentwhere Sherina’s unique way of communicating is valued.

What aspects of inclusive assessmentdoes this exemplify?

Good communication between home and thecentre is vital for successful inclusive practice.Here, by listening to the parent and recordingwhat she learns from her, the teacher discovers a strategy she can use in communicating withSherina. The written record demonstrates toSherina’s mother that her input to the curriculumis valued: her voice, along with Sherina’s, hascontributed to Sherina’s programme.

How might this assessment contributeto this child’s learning anddevelopment?

This teacher’s follow-up note shows us how usefulthis documented assessment has been. Sheincreases the amount of singing she uses, and as Sherina responds, the interactions snowball.Documenting this knowledge shares it with theother teachers who work with Sherina and givesthem a strategy for development.

What might this tell us about informalnoticing, recognising, and respondingin this place?

This is an example of recognising success at the point at which a child is operating andconsequently identifying a powerful teachingstrategy. Sherina’s teacher tells us how she hasgone on to use this strategy and that Sherina hasbeen responsive to it.

Later, she also comments that “More learning tookplace when there was an emotional impact.” Thisis true for her as well as for Sherina – one of theinterventionists had already recommended singingwith Sherina, and she and the other teachers hadbeen trying to do so, but it is seeing Sherina’smother doing it successfully that has a real impact.