Reflection 3

 Documentation:

During this week, we continued our discussion on documentation which is a way of recording a child’s progress with their academics, behaviors, child’s discussions and ideas, and their ideas. There are different types of documentation: Panels and Portfolios. 

Panels: 

The purpose of this type of documentation is to show what the students in the classroom are learning. The panels may include pieces of work from a child, multiple stages of completion of an activity, voices written by what students are saying, and any other ways to show what students are doing in class. This is good for students to have the opportunity to revisit what they have been learning in their classes. The most important part about this type of documentation is that the children’s learning is visible to everyone. 

Portfolios: 

The purpose of this documentation is to systematically collect evidence of children’s work and knowledge over time with demonstrations of a child’s effort, progress, or achievement. This is a way to store and represent evidence from types of assessments. Both the student and teacher are actively participating in this type of documentation. Portfolios can also apply to the development of a child including: cognitive, social-emotional, physical, language, and creative expressions.  

Reggio Emilia Approach: 

The Reggio Emilia Approach is learning as the process of construction. The roles of the children and teachers are important. A child is viewed as the protagonist and the teachers are viewed as a listener, partner, and collaborator. The environment is also important which is viewed as the third teacher. In this approach, evaluations are represented through documentation and displays that include their experiences and their work. Loris Malguzzi, who developed the Reggio Emilia Approach also created “The Hundred Languages” which describes how children uniquely see and discover the world around them. This makes me understand that all children discover and learn differently.