Reggio-Inspired

Image - Tripadvisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/LocationPhotos-g194875-Reggio_Emilia_Province_of_Reggio_Emilia_Emilia_Romagna.html#31920815

Making deep learning experiences visible for high school students and adult learners

Group learning and documentation

Image - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140622234255-77314263-8-game-changing-principles-for-lasting-business-success

Throwing Your Money Away Step 1: The Activity (10 Minutes)

Divide into small groups of four to five. Introduce yourselves to each other.

Instructions for learners: You will have ten minutes to come up with two

different designs for paper airplanes that can fly at least three metres carrying at

least five 5 cent coins.

Instructions for documenters: Please observe with the following question in

mind: What do you notice about the individuals’ and group’s process of building

knowledge and what can you point to that makes you say that? Watch for

interesting and important moments or shifts in the ways ideas are being

developed. Document your observations individually. You can document in any

way you wish – jot down bits of conversation, take pictures with your mobile

phone, write short descriptive notes, or draw pictures or diagrams – but you

must document in some way!

Throwing Your Money Away Step 2: Debriefing in Small Groups (8 Minutes)

Documenters: Share with the learners selected observations and

documentation about the individuals’ and group’s process of building

knowledge. Try to identify interesting or important moments or shifts in the

ways ideas were being developed and offer an interpretation of how they

advanced the learning process.

Learners: Share your responses to the documenters’ observations and

interpretations as well as your own reflections regarding interesting or

important moments or shifts in the learning process and what you learned

about aerodynamics.

As a small group: Choose one thing you learned about the principles of

aerodynamics and one thing you learned about individual and group learning or

the process of documentation to share with the whole group. Feel free to walk

around and look at the designs of other groups.

Throwing Your Money Away Step 3: Whole-Group Discussion (8

Minutes)

Small groups each report one thing they learned about aerodynamics and

one thing they learned about individual and group learning or the process

of documentation.

(From Mara Krechevsky, Ben Mardell, Melissa Rivard, Daniel Wilson. (2013). Visible Learners: Promoting

Reggio-inspired approaches in all schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass)

The practice of documentation has several distinct features:

• It is guided by a specific question about the learning process and this question determines how, what, and when to document.• It engages teachers and students in collectively analysing, interpreting, and evaluating learning.• It uses multiple media to create tangible artifacts, which provide new vantage points on learning.• It is selectively shared with audiences to provoke new understandings.• It shapes the design of future contexts for learning.

Image – The Integration Engineer: http://theintegrationengineer.com/10-tips-on-making-effective-documentation/

Reggio educators refer to documentation as “visible listening”

Image – Wamda: http://www.wamda.com/2012/05/4-ways-to-create-a-culture-of-observation-at-your-startup

Start by simply noticing moments when things are going poorly or well and stepping back to observe closely

Image – The Bridge Initiative: http://www.thebridgeinitiative.net/notice/

Commence a routine of sharing a short video clip of documentation at the start of class

Take a photo of an especially powerful learning moment to revisit with students

“Jot down a provocative or insightful quote from a student and share it with the class or write it directly onto a speech bubble.”

Ask students to do the same

Students develop greater attentiveness to the value of remembering pivotal experiences when recording them is part of the classroom culture

Image: http://kyfifer.com/?page_id=153

Involving students in the documentation process enables them to identify moments they want to remember

Image – Whole-Hearted Men: https://www.wholeheartedmen.com/what-will-you-remember/

The result is empowered students

Qualitative forms of sharing evidence like student work, photos, and video are powerful ways to provide a more complete picture of student learning

Image: http://feministing.com/2014/12/08/7-things-you-should-know-about-evidence-in-campus-rape-proceedings/

Image – All Things Learn: https://allthingslearning.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/learner-engagement-in-a-culure-of-learnacy-part-01/john-hattie-quote/