Photographing Children – Observations and Documentation

Hi all,

Observations and documentation are a regular, daily occurrence in the lives of teachers working with children. There are plenty of ways to go about it; learning stories, anecdotal records, running records, parent postcards and plenty of others. With all these different ways of approaching how to document your student’s experiences and progress, it’s easy to find one that works well for you, your classroom and your student’s parents however they all have one thing in common, photos.

Recently, I have seen a push towards more visual oriented observations. In an early childhood settings, these can be seen in display book portfolios, shown proudly on group display boards and handed out in the staff room for inspiration. The rationalisation is that parents are more likely to engage with these observations because they are quick to decipher; you simply need to look at the photo and the words are put into context. In a recent primary placement, the visual element to documentation was imperative; many of the families at the school were immigrants and refugees which made text heavy communication difficult due to language barriers.

So here it comes to the part of putting together the most important part of the observations, the photos. Photographing children doesn't seem too difficult but it is important for the photos to seem genuine and authentic. I typically use 3 types of shots that help to vary the types of photos you can include in your documentation…

Work in progress

I feel like this angle really lets the viewer see what the child is doing and the focus is on their action, preferably the one you are documenting. It works for a range of activities and actions and doesn’t distract the child from their task.  

 Birds eye view

These photos are great if you want to capture a play setup, piece of art or group interaction. The frame is filled up with the play the children are engaged with and often, their interactions with each other.  

 From my perspective

In this photo, you are seeing exactly what the child is seeing and what they are choosing to do with the materials in front of them. This shot is great for documenting the journey from blank slate to finished product, capturing the child’s process in between.

So long as the photos you choose to capture are focused on the child and their play, there is no wrong way to photograph children. Not only do these shots capture the essential but they can also be tweaked so that the photos are non-identifiable, in order to be shared in the public forum.

Happy snapping!  

Miss Tracy xx

The Staff Room

Hi again!

Now, as important as it is for providing for the children in early childhood is providing for the staff. When you have staff who truly work together as a team, support each other within and outside the centre, collaborate ideas and question methods, the quality of the program you are working to provide skyrockets! These sorts of staff relationships and behaviour have to be built and nurtured somewhere, and for most centres this place is the staff room.

At my first placement centre, the staff room was positively tiny however the space in there was set up in a way which allowed traffic to flow through and yet still allowed staff to have a place to come to where they could sit down, unwind and converse. 

In contrast, when I first arrived at my current centre, I noticed they had a significantly large staff room but it was crowded with ill placed furniture. When another director came in, she too noticed this problem and set out to fix it. The current set up has distinct spaces; a table for eating and talking, a small desk to read important updates, read the roster and update the timesheets, two couches for occasional napping and a large table specifically for heating and cooking appliances.

Another update was the staff discussion board. While they are common, they are often not used to their fullest potential, which was the case here until the educational leader rubbed it out completely and redrew. This was the final result…

Staff began writing positive messages on the board; the updates were regular and well communicated and included ways that the staff could improve their practice. The educational leadership update was posted every Wednesday as a result of visiting each room weekly and really looking at what they were doing well and what needed improvements. Sharing concrete and local examples of good practice was so much more meaningful then grabbing examples from online or other centres. If you can walk next door and see what a lovely portfolio looks like rather than having to go research, so much easier! The staff also had a more informal way of communication…

This little exercise book had little notes about how a child was sleeping that day, happy birthday notes and messages letting staff know who appreciated and special they were to the children and to the staff. Staff were very eager to check this book in the mornings and after breaks and loved the opportunity to write and read something in.

These were two changes that came from looking at how the staff room was organised and what the staff at the centre needed to take away from it were extremely effective. Take a look at your staff centres; what do you need, what do you have and how can things be changed?

Keep me updated!

Miss Tracy xx

Parent Postcards

Hi all,

I am currently in the midst of my block placement and slowly getting accustomed to the new expectations. one of those is documented in my placement booklet as follows:

"Implement a parent communication strategy during block placement." 

It says so much and yet ...it doesn't. Many of my units, my assignments and my readings have discussed different ways of involving parents and the many benefits of a early childhood service who does.

Taking what I knew, that parents usually love photos and something specific to their child, I came up with the following template...

Each day, I document 5-6 things that their child did or engaged with and hand-write it onto the left side. On the address lines I write the children's name, the room they are currently in and the date of the observation. My current placement's logo, which I have placed under the address lines, features puzzle pieces on which I place pictures of their child and how they spent their day at kinder.

The children in the kinder room absolutely love writing their names at the moment so I have been asking them if they would like to write their names instead of me doing it. For the uninterested children, I usually just write their name myself.

Just like the learning stories, I try to choose easily identifiable photos of the children and their friends. I also try to include pictures from group time, outside and scheduled sessions, like Hey Dee Ho.

These postcards have proved to be a success! They give the parents a quick slice of what happened that day and something to stick on the fridge. Since they are dated and often approved and requested by the children, they are also something which can be included in their portfolios.

The only problems I have had so far is the timeline. I try to complete one per night with a different child each time but taking and downloading the photos, putting it together, printing, writing and photocopying, it can be really difficult to produce the amount that I would like to send home. I have also been having some issues with whether or not it reaches parents; they seem to be staying in some children's bags and not being read until a few days later.

These aren't massive problems but it means I may have to tweak my approach further down the track. I'm going to stick with this communication method until the end of placement (next week).

Would really appreciate some ideas on what you think all think and whether this is something you would consider implementing!  

DOWNLOAD SAMPLE POSTCARD HERE 

Miss Tracy xx