Share the Learning

Sharing with others what we’ve learned is rewarding.  Others are able to benefit from what we’ve discovered and we feel good about helping others with their learning.  The saying “it is better to give than to receive” really is true isn’t it.  I think the “movement” to document student learning provides a powerful way to share and reflect on learning.  In my work in my District I have the privilege of visiting classrooms and documenting and sharing the learning teachers and their students are experiencing.  Visiting classrooms regularly is one of my personal goals.  One such recent visit was to a Kindergarten class to talk with the teacher and one of her students.  The teacher had documented a young learner who became a “Mathematician at Work” one morning. 

Jennifer Lawson

Come along with me and enjoy Keira’s learning journey…

Our District created a focus group this past school year.  About 20 K-3 and literacy support teachers are researching and learning how to capture and share student learning.  I’ve written previously about the group’s journey, in particular how they are using technology to support their work:

• Capturing the Journey of Early Learners
• Make Learning Visible
• Learning Exposed
• Complex Classrooms

These teachers might use this approach to support students reflecting on their learning.  Students watch video or review pictures of themselves and/or other students learning while their teacher observes and hears their comments.  Teachers might record their students explaining their emergent writing and pictures so they can provide accurate written feedback to their students.  Parents are able to “see” how and what their kids are learning, on a regular basis.  It is likely that this approach to documenting learning will reduce formal reporting for early learners.  Perhaps one day more learning will be documented and reported through the use of a learning portfolio that begins in Kindergarten and carries on to Grade 12.  Such portfolios could become powerful living learning spaces that inform students, teachers, parents, and later, universities or potential employers.

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