A Guide to Documenting Learning Read online

  Silvia created the majority of the visuals based on our frequent Skype and Facetime calls, Google Doc comments, and text messages. Our decision-making process involved agreement on the placement of images and the written text for each visual.

  The majority of the QR codes in this book will take you to specific Langwitches blog posts for extended reading and viewing. Given Silvia has been working on the action-researched documenting learning framework we share in this book for over 10 years, there were plenty of posts for us to read through together to determine the one that best enhanced a particular key point.

  When I asked Silvia what she felt I contributed to our book’s collaboration, she shared insights that included:

  There is no denying that I am a blogger at heart. I love the immediacy of being able to link, embed, publish, edit, and add to posts at any time. I love my forgiving blog audience with my tri-lingual spelling and grammar errors that naturally occur. With Janet’s book-writing experience and meticulous attention to detail, I was reminded often throughout our drafting, revising, and editing process that her patience, explanations, and editing of my German run-on sentences and Argentine culturally influenced metaphors helped to make us the perfect writing team for this project.

  Just as the opening quote suggests, one learns and grows through collaboration with others. Growth for both of us as textual writers and visual communicators was invaluable. Our hope is that as you read through the chapters and begin to apply what you discover and realize about our documenting learning ideas, phases, and routine, you will find a colleague (or two) with whom to collaborate. Together, you can grow wiser as you begin or make advancements in your classroom and professional documenting learning journeys.

  A Guide to Documenting Learning Rationale

  We believe, and have found in practice, that the documenting learning framework—making thinking about learning processes visible, meaningful, shareable, and amplified—provides students and educators (as active learners) with an interconnected, metacognitive approach for creating evidence of their learning.

  Our framework aids learners in owning their learning process, as well as assisting others in their learning growth. When deep learning experiences are visible and involve students directly in the documentation process, it enables them to identify moments worth remembering. When teachers are co-creators with their students, both gain valuable insights that inform future learning and empower students as engaged learners.

  Educators will find the information shared in this book thought-provoking and invaluable for improving pedagogical and heutagogical practices, including those involved in

  personalized learning and ensuring student voice,

  contemporary learning and assessment alternatives,

  competency-based classrooms,

  technology integration that transforms teaching and learning,

  social-media engagement to foster learning and teaching,

  Reggio Emilia’s framework for pedagogical documentation, or

  becoming a National Board Certified teacher.

  As the title indicates: This book is a guide: a how-to that provides insights into contemporary learning and teaching documentation practices in classroom and professional learning environments. There are other documenting learning books available that have a similar call for observing, recording, interpreting, and sharing to positively impact student engagement and learning. While we were inspired by Reggio Emilia’s early learning philosophy, and affirmed by the book Visible Learners, which shares practices for fostering K–12 learning through documentation, A Guide to Documenting Learning is unique because it

  Extends the use of documentation for all learners—pre-K through lifelong learners

  Uses the power of technology to amplify teaching and learning beyond the walls of classrooms and schools

  Expands students and teachers sharing beyond displaying and discussing their learning with peers at the same school

  Focuses on amplifying to reach from parents and a local community to a global community in dynamic ways

  Takes advantage of transformative teaching and learning opportunities through authentic uses of social media

  Encourages educators to document, reflect, and share their professional learning beyond same-site colleagues to inform immediate or future teaching and learning

  Disclaimers

  While the documenting learning framework is not meant to be considered an add-on,

  we are not advocating you document everything every day, every lesson, or in every unit; and

  we acknowledge that documenting is a process. There is a learning curve involved, and putting it into practice will help you and your students improve its use and application.

  Documenting learning is not the answer to all teaching and learning problems:

  We do not have every answer related to documenting learning figured out. We are continuing to search, research, pilot, revise, retry, share, and ask for feedback to become better at our documenting work.

  Assumptions

  We will rely on your imagination and inspiration to tweak the examples and vignettes sprinkled throughout the chapters for you own purposes and personalized situations.

  We will count on your willingness to push yourself outside of your comfort zone to observe, reflect, and share your work openly and transparently.

  We will trust in your readiness to be (or continue to be) a globally connected educator who disseminates his or her own learning to collaborate, communicate, and connect with learners outside your zip code.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to Alan November for his vision that pushes our thinking. Thank you for being provocative and continually questioning the ways learning and teaching have always been done.

  Thank you to Heidi Hayes Jacobs for being a mentor, coach, guide, and inspiration. She started it all with her collaborative book, Curriculum21. We are honored to keep the collaboration going.

  Thank you to Mike Fisher for taking any idea we come up with, getting passionate about it, and adding your genius spin and out-of-the-box thinking to push our thinking even further.

  Thank you to these educators and learners from around the world who have contributed their work, thinking, and curiosity to dive deeper into documenting OF, FOR, and AS learning: Claire Arcenas, Gabriela Bechmann, Catalina Behrens, Verónica Behrens, Andrea Berteloot, Joel Bevans, Jamie Bielski, Jocelyn Blumgart, Rivka Cohen, María del Carmen Correales, Ana Paula Cortez, Graciela Cusman, Mark Engstrom, Lily & Charlie Fisher, Florencia Gavelio, Marisa Gonzalez, Shana Gutterman, Karin Hallett, Marissa Heavener, Gaby Holm, Cata Horny, Maggie Hos-McGrane, Laurel Janewicz, David Jorgensen, Bena Kallick, Karin Klingspor, Deb Kuhr, Evelyn Mahler, Cristina Massen, Jon Mitzmacher, Mónica Müller, Heidi Musterós, Alejandra Oberbeil, Andy Raitt, Judy Reppert, Esteban Gonzales Rittler, Marjie Rogozinski, Edna Sackson, Mechi Schenzle, Uschi Schwartz, Melina Seifert, Mariana Sturmer, Laura Tagliabue, Stephanie Teitelbaum, Luciana Vallejos, Emily Vallillo, Arlene Yegelwel, and Shelly Zavon.

  Silvia

  Thank you to my grandchildren, Elena and Benjamin, for allowing me to look for, see, and capture the wonders of learning through your eyes.

  Thank you to Andrea Hernandez, Katrin Barlsen Jurado, and Silvana Scarso for always lending a listening ear when I spill over with thoughts, ideas, and plans.

  Thank you to my teacher cohorts from the Goethe Schule in Buenos Aires for their dedication to building windmills instead of walls in times of change.

  Thank you to my fellow bloggers, specifically Donna Miller Fry, Jackie Gerstein, Diane Kashin, and Angela Stockman, for their work in advancing heutagogical and pedagogical documentation and sharing it.

  Thank you to my Langwitches blog readers who show me that documenting and sharing learning amplifies around the world.

  Thank you to Janet Hale for suffering through my German run-on sentences, and for caring about the stories behind them.

  Janet

  Thank you to
Silvia Tolisano for continually stretching my thinking and understanding. Drafting, revising, and refining our words, images, concepts, and examples so that educators and students around the world can grow from their own documenting opportunities has created special memories that I will treasure forever.

  Thank you to Valerie Lyle for your willingness to drop everything multiple times to review and make recommendations that definitely improved our chapters.

  Thank you to Mike Fisher for your friendship, laughter, energy, passion, and love for your family that continually inspires me and always makes me smile.

  Thank you to my husband, Johnny Hale, for always encouraging me to grow in my learning, including the time-consuming world of professional writing.

  Publisher’s Acknowledgments

  Corwin gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following reviewers:

  Michael Fisher, Author and Consultant

  The Digigogy Collaborative

  Amherst, NY

  Andrea Hernandez, Educational Consultant and Co-Director of edJEWcon

  amplifiEDucation.com and edtechworkshop.blogspot.com

  Jacksonville, FL

  LaQuita Outlaw, Principal

  Bay Shore Middle School

  Bay Shore, NY

  Cameron Paterson, Head of Learning and Teaching

  Shore School

  North Sydney, Australia

  Kathleen Rodda, Literacy Coach Affiliation

  Eucalyptus Elementary

  Hawthorne, CA

  About the Authors

  Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

  is a Third Culture Kid (TCK). She was born in Germany, raised in Argentina, lived shortly in Brazil, and is now planted in the United States. Her multicultural upbringing fueled her passion for languages, travel, global awareness, and global competencies.

  Silvia holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish with a minor in International Studies, and a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in instructional technology. She has worked as a world language teacher, technology integration facilitator, 21st century learning specialist, social media coordinator, and professional development and educational consultant.

  She is a Curriculum21 faculty member, co-founder of edJEWcon, author of Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators (Lulu, 2010), and coauthor of Mastering Digital Literacy and Mastering Global Literacy (Solution Tree, 2013).

  Her passions include globally connected learning, technology integration, contemporary upgrades, amplification of curriculum and instruction, blogging as a pedagogy, developing and maintaining a personal learning network, and documenting learning.

  Visit Silvia’s consulting website: globallyconnectedlearning.com; amplifiEDUcation website: amplifieducation.com; documenting learning website: documenting4learning.com; and blog: Langwitches.org/blog; and follow her on Twitter @langwitches.

  Janet A. Hale

  grew up in a military family, which allowed her to see the world. When she was 12 years old she volunteered to teach swimming lessons to children with special needs and English to Korean children who were blind, while her father was stationed in Seoul. She was hooked and has been involved in education ever since.

  Janet earned a bachelor’s degree with dual majors in elementary education and special education, as well as a master’s degree in educational leadership with an emphasis in curriculum development. She also graduated from the Institute of Children’s Literature.

  She has worked as a special education high school teacher and a general education elementary teacher. Janet also worked as a seminar/workshop creator, presenter, and trainer for Teacher Created Materials, and authored or contributed to 40 books for Teacher Created Resources. She is the author of A Guide to Curriculum Mapping (Corwin, 2008), coauthor of its companion, An Educational Leader’s Guide to Curriculum Mapping (Corwin, 2010), and coauthor of Upgrade Your Curriculum (ASCD, 2013). She has been an independent educational consultant for more than 20 years.

  Janet presents at national and international conferences, and works with schools, districts, and dioceses as a consultant, trainer, and coach. She also assists for-profit companies and non-profit organizations to align their curriculum and materials to standards.

  Her passions include systemic curriculum design and curriculum mapping; standards literacy and alignment; modernizing curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and documenting learning.

  Visit Janet’s consulting website: CurriculumDecisions.com; documenting learning website: documenting4learning.com; and blog: CurriculumDecisions.com/blogs; and follow her on Twitter @janet_hale.

  Introduction

  Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

  —Joseph Addison

  Chapter Descriptions

  Our book contains 13 chapters (see Image Intro.1) that can be read in sequential order or by reading and applying the chapters that most interest you. That said, it is recommended you begin with the first three chapters simply because they lay a documentation foundation that

  explains the nuances among three types of documenting—OF, FOR, and AS learning;

  expresses the need for learners to embrace and put into practice the now literacies; and

  addresses the differences between pedagogy and heutagogy in the context of learning evidence.

  Chapters 4 and 5 provide in-depth information regarding learner engagement and the gradation of sharing and amplifying when planning for and implementing documenting learning opportunities.

  The core of our framework is found in Chapters 6 and 7, which consist of the three documentation phases—pre-documentation, during-documentation, and post-documentation; and the five steps involved in the documenting learningflow routine. You will discover that the phases and routine are not completely separate components, as there are times when the two overlap.

  Chapters 8 and 9 contain activities and narratives that help you put the phases and routine into practice with a variety of media platforms and tools, while Chapter 10 explains how to unpack collected media.

  Chapter 11 features a documenting learning vignette based on the three phases and routine steps coupled with specific learning focuses and goals.

  A school’s or district’s collective visible evidence of learning helps to convey its mission, vision, and values. Chapter 12 focuses on the concept of branding as an identity tool through the use of sharing and amplifying documentation artifacts.

  Chapter 13 addresses three questions related to implementing or expanding the use of the documenting learning framework: What to cut? What to keep? What to upgrade? The first question is viewed through the lens of mindsets and attitudes; the second through the lens of academic necessities; and the third through the lens of upgrading assessments and grading practices.

  The Appendix includes sketchnote and infographic planners to aid you in summarizing the phases and routine for your documenting learning opportunities. It also contains a KWHLAQ template to assist you in your planning process.

  Given a word or phrase may be unfamiliar to you while reading, a Glossary of Terms is also included.

  Throughout the book, there are images and infographics to aid your understanding, as well as QR codes that lead to additional reading on a particular topic or concept. Given some QR codes take you to public materials, we do not have control over whether these sites are removed or edited. We hope we have selected ones that are timeless, but one never knows!

  Lastly, you are invited to contribute using the #documenting4learning hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram; or by mentioning @documenting4learning on Facebook and Instagram, and @doc4learning on Twitter.

  Image Intro. 1

  1 Documenting Learning Types and Purposes

  Telling will never be as effective as experiencing.

  —George Couros

  Outside of the brick-and-mortar or virtual school day, we are living and thriving in a time when where we learn, how we learn, when we learn, and with whom we learn changes based on what we are currently curious
or passionate about learning. More and more, these contemporary learning characteristics and experiences are being replicated within school time.

  We are living and thriving in a time when where we learn, how we learn, when we learn, and with whom we learn changes based on what we are currently curious or passionate about learning.

  We can no longer rely on any one tried-and-true methodology or practice because what it means to teach and learn is evolving exponentially. As mindful documenting learning educators, we must purposefully have the

  self-motivation of life-long learners, who are never satisfied with the status quo and see continued learning as part of their regular work and life;

  restless hearts of adventurers and pioneers, who are willing to try new things and step outside of their comfort zones and thrive on exploring uncharted territories;

  inquisitive minds of scientists, who push beyond what they can see with their eyes and imagine what could be by articulating their ideas, generating new theories, and providing evidence to dispute or confirm their thinking and reasoning;

  curiosity of researchers, who continuously search—and search again, try, test, and document their journeys to contribute to a larger purpose of advancing understanding and practices;

  courage of innovators, who continuously wonder “what if . . . ,” and are not afraid to fail as part of the creation process;