See, Think, Wonder...a mantra

The Reggio Institute was inspiring this weekend. The focus on documentation led to a deeper presentation of the topic and rich dialogue. Ms. Anna came as well, which was a great opportunity for us to share excitement and hopefully keep one another motivated back in the real world. I will try to share a few of the things I learned from the women of the Bishop Strachan School in Toronto and L’atelier in Miami (both of which I hope to one day visit).

You choose the pictures that tell the story

Mary Murry of the Bishop Strachan school shared a great deal of her own classroom documentation. One of her daily forms of documentation that I thought was so relevant and useful for parents, children, and the teacher was her use of a documentation clipboard used in each center. As she said “When someone goes into a center they should understand what the children value and what was done two days ago, or a month ago. Make the learning visible.” She has a clipboard in each center with a few photos, anecdotes, and maybe some dialogue if it is relevant. This is something she updates daily or as needed to make visible what children are currently experiencing. This is something I put into practice right away, but am starting small with just light center, building, and communication center for now.

Can you feel the story in this series of photos? 




I’m curious how other educators make learning visible through the centers. I am curious to see if the children refer back to the clipboards and if they do what their motivation is for revisiting.

Documentation should be a provocation for what will come next, not merely an artifact.

Using arms and hands to express the idea of how the girls think the pink tulip will continue to grow and open soon. A sentiment stated and restated during the weekend - to value children's theorizing. It's important to document children's beginning theories and later theories so they can see how their ideas have grown and changed.

The hesitancy in exploring the materials and the wonder - why?

Their entrance to exploration through storytelling, planting rock seeds as princess's.

A boat full of people sailing away.

 "All experiences and theories, from the simplest to the most refined, need to be narrated, documented and listened to in order to exist." - Carlina Rinaldi