Write That Down!

        In this blog post I would like to discuss the idea of pedagogical documentation.  Also called pedagogical narration, this is a process in which teachers become the learners alongside their students (Wien, 2013). Through a variety of methods, educators observe and record their students learn in the moment in which they are actually learning. This is especially useful in early learning or kindergarten classes where assessment can be exceptionally difficult. Student learning can not usually be measured fully through pencil and paper assessments, and pedagogical documentation allows for students of any learning style to exhibit their knowledge organically (Wien, 2013). 

Saanich School district (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRWKp4hXadQ

        To learn more about what pedagogical documentation can look like, especially in a kindergarten classroom, visit https://tecribresearch.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/pedagogical-documentation-why-when-who-what-where-how/ 

Some of the forms in which pedagogical documentation can be seen is in the teacher taking pictures of the children engaging in the classroom activities, jotting down notes of observed behaviours, and answering predetermined questions such as “What does this child know?” or “What do they want to know?” Not only is the teacher able to see what the children have learned, but they gain a deeper understanding of how the children learn (Wien, 2013). I love the fact that this form of assessment recognizes the individual learning styles of each student. Not only is a more accurate assessment of their abilities made possible, but the teacher is also able to learn more about the student as a person, and about how that child thinks and processes information. A more genuine and authentic teacher-student bond is formed, resulting in more effective teaching hopefully and a more positive classroom environment. 

Pedagogical Documentation (May 17, 2015) Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research.

An especially important result of pedagogical documentation, in my opinion, is the fact that teachers can often end up learning just as much about themselves and their teaching as they do about the students and their learning. A teacher who is aware of their students’ behaviours will see how the children respond to the teacher’s own behaviour. Teachers are role models, whether they want to be or not, and it is very important that they recognize the impact they have on young minds. I have seen teachers that simply want to get through the day, and their lack of enthusiasm for the subject they are teaching leaches through to their students. Not only will the students want to learn more about the subject if the teacher shows energy and genuine interest in the topic, but the teacher will then have an easier time of teaching it! The Ontario Ministry of Education has an entire section of their website dedicated to pedagogical documentation and the importance of understanding the students' perspectives http://edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/document.html 


The idea of “shared accountability” comes up when discussing pedagogical documentation, as the student takes on a larger role in the teaching process, effecting change and helping to determine the flow of the lesson. Students themselves can help with the pedagogical documentation, recording what they feel they have learned and showing how they can display this knowledge

                             Teacher and Student Pedagogical Documentation (February 23, 2014). Trifold Learning.

         Ultimately, I would like to try to use this form of assessment in my classroom, as it combines many of the educational philosophies that I ascribe to. I want to have that meaningful connection with my students, and I want them to feel as though their voices are heard in my classroom. I want to have that awareness of what my students are taking away from my lessons, and I hope to build the kind of positive classroom environment that any learner can feel comfortable in. 

References

Kashin, D. (2015). Pedagogical documentation: Why? When? Who? What? Where? How?. Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research. Retrieved from: https://tecribresearch.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/pedagogical-documentation-why-when-who-what-where-how/ 

Ontario Ministry of Education (2015). Think, feel, act: Lessons from research about young children. Ontario Ministry of Education. Retrieved from: http://edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/document.html

Saanich School District (2014). Learning stories: Documentation project- pedagogical narration in saanich elementary schools. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRWKp4hXadQ 

Wien, C.A. (2013). Making learning visible through pedagogical documentation. The Ontario Queen's Primer. Retrieved from: http://edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/Wien.pdf

James and the Giant Project

     Assessment is a crucial part of the educational process, but it can be hard for teachers to break outside of the test and quiz norm. It is an important skill to develop however, as teachers need to be able to assess their students accurately, and tests rarely are able to show the full potential of all students. Another issue to consider is how to properly assess that students are actually learning properly under the Know-Be-Do Framework. To accomplish both of these goals, a teacher could create a Rich Performance Assessment Task (Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, 2014). I personally love the idea of the Rich Performance Assessment Task. Essentially, Rich Performance Assessment Tasks, or RPATs, are large projects that require a significant effort on the students’ part. The task that they are expected to complete should be one that the students feel is worth doing, and that gives them authentic opportunities to use their skills and display their abilities and what they have learned (Drake et al., 2014). It also can involve some degree of authentic assessment, where the students are not just expected to memorize, but instead learn skills they will be able to use later in life, in more practical contexts! This video does a really great job of explaining (in a creative way!) what authentic assessment is.

Chelvanayagam, M. (2014) Authentic assessment. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlHUqHTxgLc

     I realize now that I have completed Rich Performance Assessment Tasks in school, and personally I loved them. Creative projects are almost always more fun than taking a test, in my opinion anyways, and I feel like it can give students a better opportunity to fully show what they know. I remember completing an “Unconventional Book Report” in grade four on the novel James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl. We were given the option of either creating a short movie summarizing the book or a diorama that showed the main events of the book. Alternatively, we could write a short paper summarizing the book, but I do remember that NO ONE  chose that option. The dioramas and movies that people made were all so different, and represented so many different ways of looking at the book. It demonstrated not just our memory of the events of the book, but also our abilities to identify important plot points, who the main characters were, and our presentation abilities, as we had to give a short talk about our projects, explaining them to the class. We had an amazing time completing this project, and learned so much from it. 

Michelle de Sa (2013) https://www.pinterest.com/mihmel/school-projects-ideas/

     This method of assessing is so valuable for teachers to keep in mind, and as future teachers we need to start considering things like this now. The website TeachHub offers suggestions for creative assignments that could be given at http://www.teachhub.com/40-alternative-assessments-learning  
With a little bit of creativity, teachers can find so many different ways to assess the Know-Be-Do areas of a lesson in their students, and make the classroom a dynamic and fun learning environment!

References

Chelvanayagam, M. (2014) Authentic assessment. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch v=tlHUqHTxgLc

Drake, S.M., Reid, J.L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford. 

de Sa, M. (2013) James and the giant peach dioramas: School and project ideas. Retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.com/mihmel/school-projects-ideas/

To "Know, Do, and Be" or not to "Know, Do, and Be"

​Teachers have many responsibilities in a classroom. They have to meet the individual learning needs of their students, provide a safe and effective learning environment, keep the classroom organized and efficient, and on top of that, of course, is actually teaching the required curriculum material.

​This year has been my first year learning about curriculum, how it works and what it consists of, but I did have some preconceived ideas of what that might entail. I will not go into detail on the particulars of these ideas, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised to discover the "Know, Be, Do" framework (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014). I had assumed that curriculum frameworks would only describe the kind of material to be taught to the students. Instead, I was happy to see that the curriculum framework was structured so that students would not only memorize the information, but that they would take it in in such a way that it would have an impact on who they are as people (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014). 

 Figure 1. The Know, Do, Be Framework. This framework breaks down curriculum learning goals into three categories. (Drake & Burns, 2004)

      The goal of education should not just be to have students memorize facts but to have them become responsible and capable citizens in society and to actually be able to use the information we've taught them. Therefore this framework takes a very progressive view of education and I like what it means for the future. As is described by Drake, Reid, and Kolohon (2014), this kind of curriculum framework is built around a new form of pedagogy in which deep learning is the ultimate goal.

​I do have some concerns however as to what this means for teachers. There are some excellent teachers out there who very much know their craft, but there are those that may not be up to the task of teaching material in such a way that students can "be"a certain kind of person. This may be due to a lack of experience or a lack of confidence in their own abilities in what is, admittedly, a daunting task. It is therefore very important in teacher education, to introduce the idea of deep learning early enough that future teachers can start preparing themselves mentally to teach this way. What we may see however, is that the students who have been taught by teachers who use this framework will be able to teach it better themselves should they decide to become teachers in the future. Either way, this framework is an excellent idea, and it will be very interesting to see what direction education takes in the future, especially as we seem to be moving towards more meaningful teaching, a concept that I personally would be very excited to explore more deeply.

                                                          Sources

Drake, S. M., & Burns, R.C. (2004). Meeting standards through integrated curriculum. 

     Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford.

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014) Interweaving curriculum and classroom 

      assessment: Engaging the 21st-century learner. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford.