For my August blogpost, I read The Habit of Kidwatching. As many have already commented, much of this we already do in our normal practices, but may not have called it kidwatching. I feel that at our school in particular, we do a pretty good job of watching children, getting to know their interests, struggles, and strengths. I really liked the quotation from O'Keefe where she discusses the benefits of kidwatching, and how it is "giving a voice to students who might otherwise be silent." I feel that by taking the time to really pay attention to what drives our students, what interests them, what frustrates them, etc., we are able to make plans which cater to their needs both whole class and individually. Connected to this idea, I like how it is mentioned that it helps other kids learn about the strengths of others and who to go to for help with their own struggles. It makes me think of that quiet kid we all have in our classrooms who may be very insightful in specific ways, and could really add to classroom projects and discussions if we are aware of their talents and know to tap into them. Or perhaps the student who is equally silent because of struggles they are having...by kidwatching and discovering these struggles and interests, we can skillfully plan ways to meet the student's needs.
While we all do kidwatch in some way, I don't feel that I do as great a job of documenting it. I've used a notebook in the past, but it ends up just being hard to really look back over. I like the idea of a clipboard where various types of records can be kept and easily accessed. It makes me think of our old reading conference binders. I'd love to come up with a few pre-printed sheets to keep for my kids (but maybe not in such a large binder). :)
I love that you picked up on the need for teachers to personalize their kid watching style to fit their needs. Just watching kids and doing nothing with the information gained isn't helping us meet the needs of our students. We need to use what we are learning from kid watching to cater to our students and make learning more relevant to them. I remember those binders. Truthfully, even though it required a lot of work, it was a time when I knew my students better and was better able to help them as readers. Coming up with a simplified system is a great idea. I helped 5th grade create a conference sheet and would be happy to help you as well!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you see the ways that you and your colleagues are engaging in kidwatching in ways that help you know your students in ways that aren't always revealed in standardized data. As you mentioned in your blog post our students who are silent and/or who struggle have strengths as well that deserve to be seen and recognized and used to help build on the areas they need to grow. I agree with Heather that we would be glad to help you create a simple way to collect and utilize your kidwatching and conferencing data. Sincerely Dawn