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Early Learning » Communicating Learning

Communicating Learning

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Overview

ELF

 

A pedagogy of listening and critical reflection support us in knowing our learners and communicating student learning. Educators and families work together to support the child along their learning journey. Opportunities for student voice help children feel a sense of pride and ownership of their learning.

 

Pedagogy of Listening: Paying attention to the incredible range of children's expression and to what they bring that may never have been heard before. It means suspending judgement and being open to difference.

 

Critical Reflection: The practice of questioning taken-for-granted understandings, assumptions, and values that are implicit in how we think about children, education, and learning. Reflection alone is not transformative; becoming critically reflective means stretching our thinking beyond our known understandings.

 

"The fundamental purpose of assessment is to support and improve children's learning."

- B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care
 
 
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Documenting Children's Learning

 

CSLDocumenting learning involves noticing indicators of learning and growth and collecting traces to reflect on children's developmental progress, skills, and experiences. Documentation serves different purposes at different times. Children, families, and educators participate in this process individually and collectively. The following traces provide can insight into the child's learning:

  • Children's conversations
  • Observation notes
  • Photos and videos
  • Audio recordings
  • Children's stories and quotes
  • Samples of children's work
  • Digital portfolios and records
  • Rubrics and continuums
  • Descriptive feedback
 

Displays are converted to documentation by enriching them with interpretation, explanation, thinking, questions, and reflections from children and adults. Differentiating documentation from display helps us understand how to go deeper:

 

  • Does the work involve a question about learning? 
  • Does it highlight a child's uniqueness, competency, and/or strengths?
  • Does it celebrate growth?
  • Is it shared with learners?
  • Does it involve more than one medium?
  • Does it include multiple perspectives?
  • Does it focus on the process as well as the product(s) of learning?
  • Does it focus on the learning, not just what you did?
  • Does it revisit past learning?
  • Does it raise questions?
  • Does it promote conversations about learning?
  • Does it help inform future learning experiences?
  • Does it support deeper learning?
 
Working towards the questions above means educators are being intentional about honouring children's voices and making their thinking and learning visible.
 
"Documentation invites inquiry about the children's thinking and invites predictions about effective teaching."

- George Forman and Brenda Fyfe
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Reflecting on Children's Learning

 

Reflection involves thinking carefully about children's learning. Through the process of reflection, educators come to better understand who children are as learners, where they are at in their learning, and how they might nudge children forward in a way that honours their strengths and individuality. Reflections are then used to produce descriptive feedback linked to curricular areas, learning standards, and goals. Descriptive feedback that empowers students and drives learning forward is strength-based, ongoing, and meaningful.
 
Children, families, and educators consider traces and documentation in order to reflect on:
 
  • Connections between learning at home, in the community, and at school
  • Trends and common themes
  • Each child's starting point, progress, and accomplishments
  • Goals to drive learning forward
  • Areas needing support
  • Strategies to meet needs
  • Planning forward based on the child's interests, strengths, and goals
 
"Families are their children's first teachers, their caregivers, and the holders of knowledge about them."

- B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care
 
 
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Sharing Children's Learning

 

Opportunities to acknowledge, highlight, and celebrate learning give children the chance to show what they know and make their learning visible. These opportunities, when accompanied with descriptive feedback and self-reflection, are an integral part of communicating student learning. There are many ways to highlight and celebrate children's learning, such as: 
 
art gallery
  • Informal conversations
  • Take home folders
  • Digital portfolios
  • Classroom apps and/or websites
  • Newsletters
  • Gallery walks
  • Exhibitions
  • Student-led conferences
  • Three-way conferences
  • Performances
  • Celebrations of learning
 
"Simply put... listen deeply, be curious, embrace wonder, and share the story."

- B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care
 

 

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