Contact Jane T. Broderick at janebroderick@innovativECE.com if you want to organize Level 2: Brattleboro Option to start at a date that is convenient for your professional development group. Three is the minimum nimber needed for the course to run.

Level 2: 3 graduate credits

Observation, Documentation, and Curriculum Design I
A major focus here is the analysis of the documented data, which involves transcription of recordings, organization of data into documentation panels that make learning visible, and incorporation of the theoretical reasoning of the teaching staff throughout the learning process. At this level students will develop an understanding of the ‘concepts’ underlying children’s play. Finally students will critically reflect on the role of teacher-provocation and materials in curriculum development.

Level 2 Course Objectives:
1) Students will develop expertise with documentation.
2) Students will learn to effectively uncover the “concepts” that underlie children’s play.
3) Students will develop expertise at transforming concepts into provocations that promote extended learning encounters.
4) Students will critically examine the practical adaptation of the Reggio Approach.
5) An exercise with sign systems will provide students a knowledge base about languages as systems. This will prepare students to critically assess the language development of children that includes the many symbolic language systems that children employ.
6) Many experiential hours with materials will provide students with first hand knowledge of the role that materials and environment play in the early childhood classroom. This will extend the experiences with materials gained in the previous seminar, as the students will be challenged to have a closer relationship to the documentation and provocation processes that take place in this seminar.
7) Through readings and discussions students will gain a knowledge base about the principles of documentation in a constructivist classroom setting. Readings will cover observation and documentation methods, and the following of a Reggio inspired project.
8) Throughout, dialogues will incorporate the principles of constructivist theorists that include Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Mead, and others. The principles of disequilibrium, the zone of proximal development, co-construction, negotiation, transformation, and scaffolding will be discussed thoroughly.

Assessment will be a combination of self-reflection and facilitator’s reflection on:
1) Participation in discussion & activities during the seminar week
2) The Reflective Journal
3) The Research Paper
During the seminar week the group will establish goals and criteria for learning and self-evaluation that they will continue to refine individually (with the guidance of the instructor) and as a group.

Residence: One-week seminar at the school with presentations & group discussion, as well as plenty of opportunity for classroom observation.

Reading: (listed with journal): Combination of readings on theory, practice, reflection, and criticism of the approach. * By including reading in areas of early literacy (math, reading, art) and documenting the use of materials with children to support this learning – the student can use Level 2 towards certification requirements in these areas.

Reflective Journal: (Interfaces with Practicum, i.e., teaching internship, integrating learning into existing teaching practice, (other?): Log of how the reading and learning is of direct influence to your professional development and/or daily practice to be turned in by the end of semester.
Note: Students will receive online feedback of journals 2x this semester.

Documentation Panel: Criteria will be discussed during preceding seminar.

Research Paper: To be turned in by the end of the semester.
Write an in-depth paper, or series of essays where “documentation” is critically discussed. Possible ideas: Consider a concentrated focus on one element in the documentation process (observation, data collection methods, final documentation format, the development of emergent curriculum relative to documentation); on a particular project; on the adaptation of the Reggio Approach within - your practicum / professional environment or the United States; on contrasting the culture of the Reggio Approach in Italy with the adaptations in the U.S.; or you might contrast the ways in which the culture of two U.S. schools influences their adaptation of the approach.

Syllabus / Week Long Seminar – Level 2
Note: Documentatation (D) of the events will continually occur in any number of forms: Video recordings (V); Audio recordings (A); Written records (W); Graphic records (G).

Wednesday
8:00 Exploration / Encounter with materials and others - builds on the exercises of the last seminar.
9:00 Introduction to "Conceptst" - Transcribing and Analyzing transcripts for “Concepts”
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Creating Provocations (learning extensions) from concepts discovered in morning exercise.
3:00 Presentation of Provocations
The whole group will then visit each of the provocation “centers” to discuss its relationship to a “concept” within the transcript.
4:30 Viewing the Group 1 Documentation Panel
The group will gather to view and discuss the Group 1 panel
5:15 Closing with evaluation of the day

Thursday
8:00 Exploration / Encounter with materials and others.
9:00 Recording methods: 1) “concept” drawing 2) running records
10:30 Creating Provocations (learning extensions) from the morning exercise.
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Charting the benefits / principles of each recording method.
3:00 Reviewing what a documentation panels is, viewing, and critiquing documentation panels supplied by facilitator
5:15 Closing with evaluation of the day

Friday
8:00 Meet at Brattleboro Center / Leave for assigned Preschool Observations
Break into small groups to travel to local preschools for observation
purposes. Students will be asked to use running records or “concept” graphics to collect data. Either bag lunches/ or groups can plan
to go out to lunch.
2:00 Exploration / Encounter
The group’s exploration will be organized around the provocation of
Group 3. Group 4 will be responsible for documenting the exploration
/ encounter session.
3:00 Discuss Preschool Observations
Group will meet back at VC to discuss the morning observations. “The Reggio debate” will frame the discussion. Students will reflect on the pros and cons of the Reggio Approach, what they saw during the that successfully reflects the approach, and what they saw that did not reflect the approach. The intention of this discussion is to provide a forum for the many issues and questions that participants have with the approach, and to use these issues as a vehicle for reviewing what students can take away from the seminar and practically apply in their own practice.
At 4:00 Group 4 = will be analyzing the morning data to develop a documentation panel as well as a provocation for the next day’s encounter.
5:15 Closing with evaluation of the day

Saturday
8:00 Exploration / Encounter with materials and others.
9:00 Creating Documentation Panels
Students will begin to make documentation panels using
documentation brought to the seminar from their own teaching /
learning environments. The facilitator will provide documentation for those who are not ready with their own at this point in the program.
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Documentation Panels continued / Review of Panels
3:00 The importance of sign systems in learning and development
We will discuss the ‘notion of drawing to learn.’ Samples of video documentation will aid this discussion (“Jed Draws his Bicycle, A case of Drawing to Learn, by George Forman; and Documentation from Jane Broderick’s practice). Using graphic signs to encode ideas, small groups of students will collaboratively depict a sequence or an idea such as:
1) The early morning learning experience.
2) A notion of the child as a learner.
3) How something works (a toaster, a plane)
5:15 Closing with evaluation of the day.

Sunday
8:00 Exploration / Encounter
9:30 Discussion of the importance of sign systems in learning and
development. Through a review of the processes and strategies each group encountered during the graphic exercise we will generate a list of principles guiding the use and relevance of sign systems in learning and development. This discussion will relate children’s use of sign systems to their play and language development. Both are important factors in a Reggio inspired setting where art is considered the “language” of the child, and where the child is considered as having a “hundred languages.” ‘Systems” is a key word in this dialogue
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Closing: Students will be asked to use materials to reflect on and articulate the issues in the previous day’s “Reggio debate.” As we work in small groups the discussion can continue, and then we can join together as a group to share our thoughts in a final closing circle where many may want to briefly share their graphic representations.
3:00 Sign out and fill out evaluations.

click here to register for Level 2

Contact for registration:
janebroderick@innovativECE.com

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InnovativECE: Exploring the Essence of Reggio Inspired Practice

4 Course Overview & Contacts

Online Courses

Level 1: Online

Level 2: Online

Level 3: Online

Level 4: Online