Documentation Examples > Documentation Exhibition

In 1972, the Upper Arlington Informal Program (Columbus, Ohio) was begun by teachers and parents working closely with educational visionaries at The Ohio State University to create an alternative form of schooling for children in the community. The program continues to be offered today as a parent-choice alternative. Beginning this fall, our new name will be the Wickliffe Progressive Community School. Our goals are to foster intellectual growth, curiosity, and excitement in learning through progressive education practices.

Although we have existed since 1972, in the past decade our teaching practices have faced challenges from state and federal mandates. As society demands that we cover more curriculum beginning in kindergarten, our best hope is that (our relationship with) learning to document will help us renew our philosophical roots and once again take the time to listen to children.

A core group of teachers, the Wickliffe Inquiry Group, have begun a dialogue with each other and The Making Learning Visible Project. Represented here are the beginning attempts at documentation which represents both student and teacher thinking.

The Wickliffe Inquiry Group has found that working with others creates energy, depth (aesthetic, ethical, affective) and wisdom. This is one example of our 10th Foundational Principle as we "view our school as a center for teaching and learning for all ages and we are students our our own teaching."

Dialogue between teacher and student:

Mrs. W: What did you discover?

Drew: The science project was fun. And I am looking forward to the mystery.

Mrs. W: What mystery?

Drew: The mystery between the vial and the large cup.

Mrs. W: What clues do you have?

Drew: They were filled up by the same vial so they were probably the same.

Mrs. W: So, if you know they were filled up with the same vial, then why is the mystery not solved?

Drew: We haven't come to agreement yet. After our agreement it will be settled.

Here are other children?s ideas and observations about which container has more liquid:

"The big one looks bigger - It's not the tall one is."

"The skinny container is larger because the water came up?"

"The big one has more because it?s a bigger one and doesn't have much on the sides."

"All of them are different."

"When you pour it in it doesn't have enough room and goes higher on the sides."

"The water spreads out in the wide jar."

Sharing With Colleagues

Clearly the children did not come to an "agreement" to settle the "mystery" that Drew referred to. At this point this project was shared, using the collaborative assessment protocol, with our Wickliffe Inquiry Group (WIG) using the collaborative assessment protocol. My goal in sharing with colleagues was to help me generate classroom experiences I could provide to challenge those children who believed that the tall, thin container held more liquid then the short, wide container.

Children's writing, drawing, photos and video provided multiple lenses for the WIG to view students' understandings when they were sharing their theories and discoveries with each other.

Sabrina's Reflection

Using the collaborative assessment protocol during a staff retreat helped generate classroom experiences we could provide to challenge those children who believed that the tall thin container held more liquid than the short wide container.

During our study of world hunger, children recognized Africa as a world "hot spot" for this problem. Cindy and I made a decision to study what these cultures bring as contributors to a richer world as well as the problems.

With this goal in mind, Cindy is working with 3rd graders exploring African fabrics and printing.

The fourth graders are in my room exploring mask making.

I have broken the mask making into a 3- stage process. We began with sketching from photographs looking at details through small windows that allowed us to isolate and focus on various features. We then sketched the entire head (the part that will become the mask) from more than one perspective. After the sketching we are moving into 3 dimensions making modeling-clay animal heads using the sketches and photos as references. The final step is to use a variety of materials to make a permanent mask.

We are a couple weeks into the mask project and I think I am learning more than the children. Most are done with their sketches, some kids are finished with their 3-D clay models and a few have begun their permanent masks. Before beginning the work today, children responded in writing to one of 4 questions posed to them. (Thanks to Cindy for posing these or similar questions first.)

THE PROCESS STEP 1: SKETCHING

While sketching from photographs, children were taught how they could use windows cut into cards to view elements of a subject rather than the whole animal.

Students drew various parts of the animals before attending to the whole from different points of view. By eliminating the full image, their attention was redirected to specific details. In most cases students' work became more detailed and accurate. Even in the case of a student who joined us mid-process and who missed discussions about how this could work, the focus provided by using these windows made a significant difference in attention to detail through the remainder of the project.

STEP 2: MODELS

In asking children to precede the making of masks with a clay model I was inspired by animators who frequently develop 3-dimensional models to guide them when drawing characters from various perspectives and in different positions.

For me, effectively teaching an artistic process means modeling the work I am asking children to do. (Not being a trained or skilled art teacher I have not found any other way.) During the modeling process I think out loud, making revisions and discussing mistakes. I invite students to think with me. Children's observations and suggestions are incorporated into my work.

Kathleen's Reflection on Looking at Documentation with Colleagues:

As part of our journey into Making Learning Visible, I presented my documentation of The Zoomer Project from my first and second grade multi-age classroom to my colleagues following the Collaborative Assessment Conference Protocol. The experience was energizing.

The ability to look at a project in collaboration with colleagues expanded everyone's view of what had been done. Multiple layers of learning and teaching were uncovered. Of course, as a teacher I found it very difficult to be silent and not respond as everyone else described what they saw in the documentation.

The questions that were raised gave me a window into how others were thinking about the documentation. Responding to these questions I was forced to think even more deeply than I already had about the roles of the children and teacher in the Zoomer Project.