Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
We have so many quality enhancement initiatives in our state now. Each of these adds another
assessment tool for programs to deal with. It's like the alphabet visitors have arrived.
The I.T.E.R.S, the E.C.E.R.S, P.A.S., C.L.A.S.S. and D.R.D.P. At some point we have to stop
and take stock of how this is all working. I don't know if we're getting better outcomes
for children, and I worry that we are sucking the joy out of teaching. To reconsider all
this, let's listen to the reflections of two experienced early childhood coaches. They
engage teachers in using documentation in meaningful ways.
When we are hired to work as a coach, a mentor, to improve scores on those rating scales,
we usually don't do much face-to-face time with the practitioners. The temptation is
to focus on the assessment tool,rather than on deepening understanding of how to work
as a reflective teacher.
You know what? That just won't work. You have to build relationships over time to be an
effective coach. Coaches aren't the ones that really improve quality. Only the practitioners
can do that. They benefit by being guided to think through their work and how it relates
to Early Childhood Education (ECE) standards.
Yes, and we tend to see the opposite. Teachers just get stressed-out with all of these documentation
and assessment requirements. They don't see them as relevant. They complain that documentation
requirements take them away from what they find more valuable, enjoying the time with
children in the classroom.
You know, I'm thinking about the experience each of us has had with working with Hilltop
toddler teachers, Nick and Emily. They've shown us how teachers can figure
this out.
After five years of working together, documentation has become a way of teaching
for them.
So, let's see if we can summarize how this observation-documentation process has evolved
for Nick and Emily.
The first thing they've come to understand is the role of the environment, and making
it possible to easily observe and document.
Yes, the director has played a big part in their success. She's provided tools, work
space, and meeting time for them to study their documentation. Each week they gather
with other staff members around a piece of documentation to get ideas about its meaning.
They've been guided to use a protocol, and it now comes naturally for them.
We listen to Nick and Emily talk about their observations. You hear them searching for
the child's point of view and trying to understand "the why" beyond what the child is doing.
That's a whole different way to think about child assessment.
Emily talks about shifting her practice to seek out the parents' ideas about documentation.
She adds their perspectives to deepen her insights.
I've noticed
that they never enter team meetings without making a plan about what they will do next.
They are careful to make the next step; build on what they think the child's interest is,
instead of taking it off of a familiar curriculum theme, which is usually more of adults' ideas
of something interesting, rather than the children's idea.
Ijumaa, if you could call out a turning point for Emily and Nick in using documentation
as the central aspect of their teaching, what would it be?
I believe it would be how they know themselves and work together as a team. They pay attention
to their values and goals for children, and to discover the true intention of the assessment
tools.
You know Emily and Nick are inspired by their observations of ordinary moments with children.
When they study their documentation closely, they remember why they got into this work.
They don't let children's behaviors, lack of resources, or assessment requirements dampen
their delight in spending their days with children.
They sure inspire me, and they have become a resource for me in my work as a mentor.
Oh, me too.
If you are a teacher or provider, how can you make your observations and documentation
more meaningful in your work? If you are a mentor or coach, how do you shift your focus
from compliance to reflection and the intent of the assessment tools? If you are a director,
what steps can you take to provide time and technology for your staff to make documentation
the heart of the teaching and learning process?