Our Journey into Pedagogical Documentation is the story of a team of educators in the Surrey School District who engaged in an professional inquiry into Reggio inspired teaching and learning.

1. BCTF Teacher Inquiry Project
OUR JOURNEY INTO
PEDAGOGICAL
DOCUMENTATION
A BCTF Inquiry Project

2. Welcome
Kerri Hutchinson, ELT /ENT/Grade 2, M.J. Shannon Elementary
Courtney Jones, ELT/ERA, James Ardiel Elementary
Niki Leech, Grade 1/2, Sullivan Elementary
Lora Sarchet, Grade 1/2, Sullivan Elementary
Laura Verdiel, Grade 2, Holly Elementary
Hilary Wardlow, Kindergarten, James Ardiel Elementary

3. Our Morning Together
Introductory Remarks
Gallery Walk
Please feel free to ask us about the various projects as you walk
through the Gallery.
Please help yourselves to refreshments.

4. The Spark
Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
- Mary Oliver

5. How might pedagogical documentation enable students to
better engage with and reflect on their own learning, by
deepening their questioning skills and strengthening their
abilities to communicate their understanding?

6. By using pedagogical documentation, will students develop higher
level questioning skills according to Bloom’s Taxonomy?
By using pedagogical documentation, will students be better able to
communicate and build upon their learning through exploration and
play?
Will pedagogical documentation be an effective and efficient formative
assessment tool?
Will pedagogical documentation allow us to look beyond our teacher
biases in order to more authentically interpret students’ learning?
How will the use of pedagogical documentation deepen collaboration
between non-enrolling and classroom teachers to support learning?

7. Trusting does not mean knowing how it will turn out.
Trusting means embracing the unknown.
Alejandra Sanchez and Claudia Ruitenberg

8. Reggio Emilia, Italy
City in Italy
World renowned for their stream of preschools
The importance lives inside Reggio’s deep historic, cultural, and
political history

9. Interweaving Guiding Principles
Education is a right for all children – democratic and inclusive
Strong Image of Children and Childhood
Holistic and Constructivist
Hundred Languages of Children
Languages are seen as ways to represent and re-represent learning
Environment is critical as a ‘3rd
Teacher’
Thoughtful placement of materials
Open to children, authentic children
Natural light and elements inviting children to explore and question
world around them

10. Interweaving Guiding Principles
Documentation
Pedagogy of listening – visible listening
Way of being with children
Role of the Teacher
Observe, listen, document
Provide avenues to deepen children’s understandings
Community and Family involvement – democratic and inclusive
“Progettazione”
Responsive/emergent/negotiated
Child Originated, Teacher Framed

11. “I think that it’s a mistake to take any school approach and assume, like
a flower, that you can take it from one soil and put it into another one.
That never works. This doesn’t mean at all that [we] can’t learn a
tremendous amount from it, but we have to reinvent it. … We have to
figure out what are the aspects which are most important to us and
what kind of soil we need here to make those aspects thrive.”
- Howard Gardner, 1997

13. Image of the Child
Through pedagogical documentation I have a broader and deeper
image of my students.

14. Pedagogical documentation provides the lens to view students as
capable, competent problem solvers.
Teacher asks, “ What are you building?”
Learner says, “ I am counting out the pieces. I need to add one more so that it gets
higher.”
Teacher asks, “ Why do you need to make it higher?”
Learner says, “ We are making a ramp. We need to keep adding pieces
so that it gets higher and our marble can go down it.”

15. Pedagogical documentation shows strengths outside
of the academic areas allowing each child a place for
success.
Learner says, “ I am so excited because I built a tower that won’t
fall down”.
Teacher asks, “ Why do you think that it won’t fall down?”
Learner says, “ I know that because I put some pieces up and some
down. I build lots of towers and now I know that it is sturdy if I put
some pieces flat and some standing. My friends don’t know this so
their tower will fall down.”
Teacher says, “so putting the planks in different directions makes the
tower more stable.”
Learner says, “ Yes, I have made a more stable tower because I am an
architect”.

16. Pedagogical documentation highlights the necessity
of revisiting topics to deepen understanding.
Learner says, “ I know how to make patterns now. Look, this is a pattern. It is green,
blue, green, blue.”
Teacher asks, “ How do you know it is a pattern?”
Learner says,” I know that after green comes blue and then green again. It
keeps repeating”.

17. Making Thinking Visible
Pedagogical documentation highlights
the process and the journey of learning.

18. Pedagogical documentation enables children to
hear and see multiple perspectives.
What is soil made of?
Learner 1 says, “There is old leaves and sticks in
it and there is little rocks.”
Learner 2 adds, “…and pinecones and the
worm!”
(We recently put a worm into our soil bin)
Learner 1 responds, “Worms aren't part of
dirt.”
Ms. Verdiel adds, “Can soil be made up of living
things?”
Learner 1: “Well, maybe little things.”

19. Pedagogical documentation allows for
collaboration and conversations about learning
between students, teachers, families and the
school community. This provides opportunity
for new understandings.
Families
Students
Teachers &
School Community
Students
Students &
Families
Students

20. Reflection
Reviewing pedagogical
documentation encourages us to dig
deeper. The focus is on uncovering
big ideas and the shift from product
to process, allowing us to be more
thoughtful about our learning.

21. Teachers and students are encouraged to be reflective and
active in their learning.
The process can be captured and later revisited.

22. Sharing pedagogical documentation invites others into the
conversation.

23. Reviewing pedagogical documentation scaffolds learning and
possibilities for other students.
“Through documentation, students have shared and built upon each other’s ideas.”

24. Reflecting on pedagogical documentation reveals patterns of
children’s interests and curiosities for further inquiry and
wondering.
“After reviewing the documentation
and learning stories with my
students, I realized a ‘big idea’ while
building with these materials was the
concept of balance. I decided to put
out a ‘balance provocation’ and see
if it further engaged them and if we
could investigate the concept of
balance more deeply.”

25. Co-constructed Curriculum
Pedagogical documentation can drive a co-constructed
curriculum.

26. Documenting ordinary moments
develops a stronger understanding
of my students’ interests,
strengths, and knowledge.

27. Power of an ordinary moment…
Comes from slowing down during the day to listen to children,
observe and document what they are doing.
Curriculum directed from and connected to these moments
makes the learning deep and meaningful.

28. We invite you to explore, play, question and reflect
on the materials in our gallery.
Please offer your feedback on the exit slip.