We are often used to thinking of reflection and reflective questions occurring after the learning has taken place. As mentioned previously, reflection needs to be a part of the during- and post-documentation phases. When one becomes aware of his or her thinking during the act of documenting based on the focus, goals, and how to best capture the desired evidence, documenting AS learning is taking place.
For example, an eighth-grade class is about to participate in their first Mystery Skype call. Two classes, unaware of where they are geographically located in the world, will be asking each other questions with yes/no answers in a race against the clock to be the first to narrow down and finally determine the location of the other class (see Image 6.7).
Each teacher discusses the rules of participating in a Mystery Skype call and reminds his or her class what the focus and goals are for participating in the call, which are threefold in both schools: content—meaningful application of geography vocabulary and useful application of geography skills; one of the school’s missions—global awareness; and framework—21st century skills and literacies, specifically critical thinking and communication.
Figure 6.1
Image 6.7
Each teacher also predetermines the students’ roles and responsibilities necessary to capture the learning during the call within each classroom. (Note: While the collaboration for this narrative is during a Skype call, the roles and responsibilities described below can be applied to a variety of collaborative contexts.)
Image 6.8
During the Skype call, one student is the Photographer, armed with his cell phone, and is responsible for capturing images that best express the class’s collective activity and visible thinking (see Image 6.8). He cannot do so without being reflective in the moment when contemplating the question: How can I best make our thoughts, ideas, and thinking visible to others?
During the post-documentation phase, the Photographer knows he will also be responsible for filtering through and selecting the photographs he captured that will best aid his class’s collective evidence that reflect their articulated goals.
The Questioners are responsible for asking the other class questions pertaining to their location on behalf of the entire class. They need to synthesize the multiple forms of information being provided to them by their classmates.
The Cartographers are using a world map and Google maps to apply information gained through the other class’s yes/no responses, while the Twitterers who tweet the call highlights in real time, as well as monitoring the live backchannel comments and any additional potential questions.
One student, the Notetaker, is stationed at a whiteboard and responsible for documenting the questions his or her class asks the mystery location class to narrow down their location, as well as the other class’s yes or no responses (see Image 6.9). This documentation provides critical evidence of whether the class can truly apply their geography vocabulary and skills.
While documenting, a Notetaker cannot help but ask himself or herself:
How is what I am capturing helpful in conveying our focus and articulated goals?
Another important role is the Supervisor, who is responsible for observing the entire operation and taking personal notes on what appears to be working well, as well as what does not appear to be helpful. She will be leading a large-group debriefing session after the Skype call to discuss successes and her thoughts concerning areas of improvement. As she is recording her observations, she is thinking: How does my point of view affect and contribute to this learning opportunity?
Image 6.9
Silvia is taking short video clips to capture the students’ voices, overall atmosphere of the room, and the collaborative capabilities of the class to solve the mystery location of the other class. She is personally reflecting on the question: What am I thinking now about what is needed later when it is time to select and filter the captured texts, images, and videos as evidence of learning?
Keep in mind that using a video conferencing media platform (and Skype as the tool) is not the goal of a Mystery Skype call. Video conferencing is simply the best media platform to connect, communicate, and raise awareness of where people are in the world, which aids in meeting the articulated goals. In addition to using a video conferencing platform, the during-documentation phase also involved capturing:
Images and video using smartphones
Thoughts and ideas using backchannel
Logic and reasoning using virtual maps and physical atlases
Search skills using search engines
The interweaving of content learning and parallel goals (e.g., one of the school’s missions, global awareness, and 21st century skills and literacies) is often interwoven in documenting opportunities. For example, students in a STEM environment can be focusing on writing high-quality informational text by articulating the opportunity-cost details when creating a new iteration. While decisions about what interwoven focuses and goals will be part of a documenting opportunity are established in the pre-documentation phase, they are consistently on the primary and secondary learners’ minds in the during-documentation phase.
QR Code 6.10 Scan this QR code to view Mystery Skype: Roles and Collaboration blog post.
https://langwitches.me/mysteryskype
Summing Up
The during-documentation phase allows learners to take ownership of their learning because they are involved in generating meaningful artifacts as evidence of earning.
This phase is inherently designed to support metacognitive and reflective practices while simultaneously making thinking visible and audible for, and shareable with, a widening audience. Students and teachers look for learning during this phase based on the planning in the pre-documentation phase and are now capturing evidence as potential artifacts appropriate for selecting, editing, creating, sharing, and amplifying in the post-documentation phase.
Post-documentation Phase
Documenting FOR learning focuses on the interpretation of the learning that took place thus far by the primary and secondary learners. The interpretation takes place during the post-documentation phase when the learners explore and answer the question “Where do I/we go from here?” since the learning is still ongoing. Studying the evidence of learning captured in the during-documentation phase and analyzing the evidence (or lack thereof) as the learning progresses creates opportunities to personalize and own one’s learning (see Image 6.10).
Image 6.10
Documenting AS learning focuses on the process of learning. Metacognitively contemplating what evidence of learning looks like prior to capturing, while capturing, and after capturing is foundational to this type of documentation.
Guiding questions that aid in the post-documentation process include the following:
What do these artifacts tell you?
Did the articulated focuses and goals fully occur? Partially occur? Not at all? How do you know?
What should be the learner’s next step or action be and why?
What needs to be explicitly taught? What need to be re-taught in a different way?
What needs more application time to produce the desired evidence of learning?
The post-documentation phase is critical for both FOR and AS documenting learning because these types of documentation make meaning of the learning while the learning is taking place. Interpretation and process-focused learning zooms in and purposefully makes the learning visible and audible while the learning is taking place to inform both students and teachers. An OF learning artifact cannot convey the nuances of the learning process in action
What will be done with the captured evidence? As mentioned previously, photographs are often snapped and videos recorded in classrooms with the intent of sharing as is. Documenting OF learning turns into documenting FOR or AS learning when the learners do something with or to the artifacts captured in the during-documentation phase. For the act and art of documentation to be truly purposeful, it needs to deepen and extend the learning, wh
ich can only take place when cognitive and metacognitive actions are applied to the captured artifacts in the post-documentation phase.
The Post-documentation Phase Is Essential
It is imperative that teachers and students see the interpretations and processes involved in the post-documentation phase as essential. This is when and where the transformation truly begins. As Keenen Wayans mentioned in this chapter’s opening quote: Generally, post-production is longer than filming. And post-production can feel overwhelming to filmmakers. Raindance.com (2014) states:
During production, everything happens at once. The actors, lights, camera, props, schedule. . . . But you persevere. Your film is in the can. . . . What do you do now? The answer, of course, is simple. You begin post-production. Post-production, somehow, is the part of the process that intimidates people the most. Remember, it is not difficult . . . as long as you take it step by step.
There are nine steps in the post-documentation phase. Following the steps in order aids in transforming the evidence of learning into meaningful artifacts:
Unpack the artifacts to examine the extent of what has been captured and evaluate for usefulness or relevance.
Filter through and select the artifacts that best represent aspects of the specific focus and articulated goals.
Organize the artifacts so they can be arranged to collectively convey the evidence of learning.
Reflect on the details in the artifacts to determine and define the evidence of learning.
Connect the details in the artifacts to past or present learning or other’s work or perspectives.
Edit the artifacts to best articulate details of the evidence of learning.
Create media using the edited artifacts to support the learning narrative.
Share created artifacts with an audience for engagement and to obtain feedback.
Amplify created artifacts to extend learning and reach a wider audience for engagement and to obtain feedback.
Before delving into each step, it is important to note the role cognition and metacognition play in this phase. At the onset, teachers often feel these steps are arduous and time-consuming, but they need to be embraced during this phase. Whether annotexting a video recording; reflecting textually or orally concerning a specific portion of an artifact; or creating a composite of collected text and images, the act of transforming artifacts cannot be outsourced for someone else to do.
The mental process involved in each step provides learners with opportunities to deepen their own learning and understanding. For example, Costa and Kallick’s (2010) Habits of Mind are naturally embedded and nurtured during this phase, in particular:
Thinking About Thinking (Metacognition)
Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is our ability to know what we know and what we don’t know. It is our ability to plan a strategy for producing the information that is needed, to be conscious of our own steps and strategies during the act of problem solving, and to reflect on and evaluate the productiveness of our own thinking.
The post-documentation phase encourages learners to reflect on and wonder about their learning experiences, as well as evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of their own capabilities and performances.
Thinking and Communicating With Clarity and Precision
Language and thinking are closely entwined; like either side of a coin, they are inseparable. Fuzzy, vague language is a reflection of fuzzy, vague thinking. Intelligent people strive to communicate accurately in both written and oral form, taking care to use precise language; defining terms; and using correct names, labels, and analogies. They strive to avoid overgeneralizations, deletions, and distortions. Instead, they support their statements with explanations, comparisons, quantification, and evidence.
This phase also requires learners to be articulate when conveying the evidence of their learning to others, and being able to do so in a manner that portrays the learner as having a command (or lack thereof) of the details related to the learning’s articulated goals.
Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
Intelligent humans learn from experience. When confronted with a new and perplexing problem, they will draw forth experiences from their past. They often can be heard to say, “This reminds me of . . . ” or “This is just like the time when I . . . ” They explain what they are doing now with analogies about or references to their experiences. They call upon their store of knowledge and experience as sources of data to support, theories to explain, or processes to solve each new challenge. They are able to abstract meaning from one experience, carry it forth, and apply it in a novel situation.
The post-documentation phase requires learners to apply their past knowledge and experiences to the current documenting opportunity. This phase encourages learners to notice patterns and trends in their learning, which deepens their own understanding of how they learn by taking new information and connecting it to what they already know and can do.
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning
Intelligent people are in a continuous learning mode. They are invigorated by the quest of lifelong learning. Their confidence, in combination with their inquisitiveness, allows them to constantly search for new and better ways. People with this Habit of Mind are always striving for improvement, growing, learning, and modifying and improving themselves. . . . [Students] have been taught to value certainty rather than doubt, to give answers rather than to inquire, to know which choice is correct rather than to explore alternatives. Unfortunately, some adults are content with what they already believe and know. Their childlike curiosity has died. They exhibit little humility because they believe they are all knowing. They do not seek out or discover the wisdom of others. They do not know how or when to leverage a love of and lust for learning. As a result, they follow a path of little value and minimal opportunity. Our wish is for creative students and people who are eager to learn.
This phase also encourages learners to see that learning is a continuous process, as well as embrace a mindset that failure is part of learning rather than a result of not knowing. Being eager to learn is nurtured when learner share and amplify their artifacts, including those that express successes and those that express failures. Gaining global insights and feedback solidifies one’s realization that there are perspectives that can aid students and teachers when learning new information or deepening understanding.
The Post-production Steps
While learners’ interpretations and processing of captured artifacts will vary, the post-documentation steps remain consistent (see Image 6.11). The information shared on the following pages provide a general overview of each step. Application of the steps are featured in the Chapter 11 vignette challenge.
Unpack.
Unpacking is the first step in the post-production phase. Think of it as unpacking a suitcase filled with clothes you decided to take on a destination vacation. Before you left, you knew where you were going, what you would be doing, and even kept track of what the weather would be like, but now that you have arrived, what do you really need? Which artifacts will truly aid in making the thinking and learning visible and/or audible? Not all of the captured artifacts will end up providing the desired evidence, just like packing too many shorts or tops.
Filter and Select.
The unpacked artifacts will include the just right evidence, but only after sifting through the inadequate evidence, such as an artifact not showing any learning evidence taking place or the image or audio is of such poor quality that it is useless.
Image 6.11
Therefore, it is important to filter through the captured documentation and select the ones that best provide and support hearing and seeing the learners’ thinking and learning based on the specific focus and articulated goals. After selecting those artifacts, discard the unhelpful ones and archive any artifacts that may prove beneficial in future documenting opportunities.
Organize.
Now that the filter and selection step ha
s been completed: How should the artifacts be organized? The answer to this question is twofold: one, how to name and organize the artifacts to convey the immediate evidence; and two, how to store the artifacts in the cloud or on a hard-drive for ease of retrieval and usage.
This step is especially important when documenting growth over time (e.g., weeks, months, years). Organizing the artifacts can be accomplished based on a variety of purposes, such as topic, concept, perspective, process, or timeline.
For information on the how-tos for organizing, go to www.documenting4learning.com or scan the QR Code 6.11 to access the bonus chapter, “Organizing and Archiving Documentation,” which provides strategies for organizing artifacts using filters, archives, searches, and curation tips so the documentation artifacts can be easily used and accessed.
QR Code 6.11 Scan this QR code to view the bonus chapter: Organizing and Archiving Documentation.
http://langwitches.me/bonus-chapter
Reflect.
Reflection is already happening when unpacking, filtering, selecting, and organizing the artifacts. But now it is time to plan how to formally convert the mental reflections from inside one’s mind to textual or audible information (e.g., annotexting, voice over, creating a composite infographic or video, writing a blog post and embedding evidence) related to the learning focus and goals.
Guiding questions to aid in the reflection step include:
What do I see or hear occurring? What do I not see or hear?
A Guide to Documenting Learning Page 13