Reggio-Inspired

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

We are going to engage you in solving a problem and building understanding in order to ground conversation about individual and group learning.

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

Step 1: The Activity (12 Minutes)

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

Instructions for learners: You will have 12 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!

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.

Step 3: Whole-Group Discussion (5 Minutes)

What did you learn about aerodynamics?

What did you learn about individual and group learning?

What did you learn about the process of documentation?

What might you do with this in your own context?

(From Mara Krechevsky, Ben Mardell, Melissa Rivard, Daniel Wilson. (2013). Visible Learners: Promoting Reggio-inspired approaches in all schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass)

Features of documentation:

• Observing – being curious, focusing attention, inquiring

• Recording – multiple media artifacts, group memory

• Interpreting – reflecting

• Sharing – building collective knowledge, public exhibitions, wider audiences

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

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

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.”

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

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

Kid Cam: https://vimeo.com/112387481 Image: Tim Kaegi

Michael FullanImage: Liz Davis