What is a Documentation Board? For teachers:

“By documentation board, we mean the practice of observing, recording, interpreting, and sharing the process and products of learning through a variety of media in order to deepen and extend learning.”

Process and Product = the how and what of learning

1. Identify a theme for your board
   1. Learning environment, classroom routine
   2. Special event
   3. Specific curriculum
   4. Skill acquisition
   5. Child development, expected behaviors
   6. Projects

2. Collect
   1. Photographs
   2. Artwork
   3. Child dictation
   4. Anecdotes
   5. Work samples
   6. Educational information

3. Review your collection with your team and identify a learning moment

4. Develop a teacher narration for the panel, a synthesis of what is happening, no more than 2 paragraphs including names of teachers, students, and the date or time period.

5. Put the board together
   1. Title, large and prominent
   2. Strong focal point
   3. The viewer should be able to “read” the board from 2-3 feet away
   4. Balance of artwork, photos and text, matted for display
   5. Clean/uncluttered flow, left to right, top to bottom
   6. Typed, use Large Type
   7. Edit and have someone else edit
   8. Lastly, add parent comments

Benefits

• Communication with Parents
• Accountability
• Extending Learning
• Insight into curriculum that informs future curriculum
• Living document, change/add new info continually

My next post will be, Documentation Board: for families.