%0 Journal Article
%T Students Learn about Documentation throughout Their Teacher Education Program
%A Carolyn Pope Edwards
%A Susan Churchill
%A Mary Gabriel
%A Ruth Heaton
%J Early Childhood Research & Practice
%D 2007
%I University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
%X Study groups and learning circles can offer a systematic way for early childhood teachers to interact about their work and create a culture of professional development. This paper describes how faculty systematically followed a collaborative co-inquiry process in order to improve a new early childhood interdisciplinary teacher preparation program. The team met on a regular basis throughout one academic year, with the stated objective of infusing observation/documentation knowledge and skills in a coherent and systematic way throughout the students¡¯ program of studies. The group created a template of the cycle of inquiry, which could apply to all courses, and analyzed the documentation process along a series of skill dimensions: (1) level that students are expected to achieve (awareness, application, refinement/integration); (2) focus of the students¡¯ observations (who, what, where, when, how); (3) width of the lens of observation (e.g., focused narrowly on one dimension of behavior or widely on a whole classroom environment); (4) intended audience of the completed documentation (e.g., children, parents, professional colleagues); and (5) finished product of documentation (e.g., project panel, memory book, slide presentation). The co-inquiry process allowed the faculty to improve the ways that the program helps students move from an awareness level toward a practitioner level in using observation and documentation. The students¡¯ reflections and finished work suggest how they learned to promote children¡¯s learning, partner with parents, and come to think of themselves as ¡°professionals¡± in their field.
%K Early Childhood Education
%K Teacher Education
%K Professional Development
%K Documentation
%U http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v9n2/edwards.html