Group Observations and Learning Stories

Hola!

I have shared how I write my individual observations for portfolios and planning on here before but am yet to share group learning stories. I only started writing them this year but they are an incredible tool!

Most kindergarten classrooms ave a space where we educators post what we are doing in the classrooms and pieces of children's work to share with parents and caregiver. this was no different in my placement centre...

Featured on this board are two group learning stories printed on A3 paper and photos taken from the group experiences. Writing a group learning story, I feel, is quite different from writing them for an individual child.

Rather than focusing on the specific, I tend to focus on what all the children are doing, what they are learning, what they all have in common. I also try to include some individual responses, sometime included in the story or by writing/typing them out and sticking them up near posted story. This one was an example from the creek experience I set up earlier in the year...

As always, include lots and lots of photos! I cut mine off the bottom, but taking and selecting group phots is one of the most fun parts of writing these! These group experiences are wonderful to have but even better to document and share with families. Slightly adjusting how we write these isn't too difficult but the end result is completely worth the extra time and effort.

Some key things to remember:

• keep it general, try not to write about specific children or their responses
• chose to an experience where about 80% of your students were involved in, not just one or two
• linking to the curriculum framework is important so think of the learning that happens, what thinking did this inspire, what relationships are being built?
• link the chosen experience to how you will plan in the future - this is one of the most important aspects!
• display these printed stories in a well trafficked area and make the presentation appealing to look at - the point of these are to share what happening on the inside with the outside.

Would love to hear from other educators who do these... or are planning to!

Miss Tracy xx

My Learning Stories

Hi there,

As placement progresses, I have been diligently recording observations on my three focus children. On my last placement, I never wrote one learning story but I completed an infinite amount of anecdotal records. As an educator, these gave me a lot of information about a child and their developmental and learning needs. However, they were never included in C's portfolio and the few that my last AT included were hardly commented on by parents.

And it was this placement when I realised it, parents hate records, almost as much as I do! They are boring to read, they have no pictures and can come off as clinical and non personal. Considering this, I asked my current AT what she recommends, and the answer was learning stories. I began to look at the ones she had included in the children's portfolios and honed my skills. This is a sample product of what this placement has produced...   

Scroll down to download the PDF version

For the Parents

The Title
This is the hook; it needs to be catchy and it needs to draw attention. Obviously, it needs to link to the overall theme of the observation which is why I like to use alliteration in mine, as you can see from the sample.

The Images
This is what differentiates a learning story form an observation. Choose photos where the child's face is visible and where their actions are clear. Try to take pictures of them in action or from their perspective, limit pictures that look staged. The more photos you can include, the better!

The Story
This is where you get to have the most fun! Recount what you observed, but in a less objective format then you would when recording a record. Let the reader know what the child did, what they told you, how they looked. Finish with how the child left the experience or what they planned to do next. The comment needs to add some finality to the story you have created. 

For the Educator 

Evaluation 
I suppose this is when you would take a more objective tone in your writing. Break down what you observed; what skills are emerging, what attitudes are present, what questions are they asking? This is not so much a description of what happened throughout the experience, but more about how the child in question engaged. This is especially important to note in learning stories which contain more than one child; the learning story would be the same but the evaluation boxes would be different.

What Happens Next
How can you take this experience further, the question you should be asking yourself when thinking about what goes in this box. What can extend the learning that you observed? In the sample, L most enjoyed putting the seeds into the dirt, which was the inspiration for the gardening sensory box. Writing these thoughts and links down will help you to look back and see what you can include in your future planning.

Link to Framework
There is nothing more important to an educator than this section here! This is where you directly link what you have observed to the learning framework in your sector. For myself and all other Victorians, it is the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Rather than type out the entire outcome, I like to give each main point a number and the sub-points, a decimal. For example, if  the child has demonstrated effective communication, by interacting non-verbally with their peers, I would have written it as 5.1, and following the dash, documented exactly how they did so.

Overall Formatting

Just some things to note about the organisation and formatting about my learning stories:

• choose simple and familiar fonts which are easily read
• page borders add a nice touch to the document but it's not necessary - try clip art if you can't find an appropriate border
• adding a border to the text boxes means that the text is contained 
• use colours that relate to the theme but are not to hard to read.
• size your photos appropriately, you shouldn't have to squint in order to see what happening

Please note that these are my ideas on what works really well. I have received a lot of praise for this format and it has worked incredibly well so far but I understand it's not the only direction to take. Please, free free to share how you do yours - I would love to see what's being stored in portfolios in other early learning centres around the globe.

DOWNLOAD SAMPLE LEARNING STORY HERE 

Miss Tracy xx