All, right, Heidi, the kids are asleep and I have a few minutes, so I'm going to tackle the lesson plan question. Might have to start now, finish later.
Originally Posted by Heidi:
If you were required to document "lesson plans" or "activity plans" (to get 4 or 5 stars here, we do), how could you do that?...When you document, do you use anything like this?
I am required to do so. I'll attach the document I've made and tweaked over the years, which allows me to plan ahead enough to make them happy, while leaving space for the emerging curriculum that shifts from day to day. (I've come to call it my "projection sheet," which I've borrowed but forgot the source. It implies "projects" in the Reggio sense, steps away from the idea that I've planned down to the last detail what's going to happen, and gets rid of the concept of me sitting them down for "lessons.") But I have to explain that this document in itself is only a shadow of the planning and documentation I do. When my licensor looks at these, she's also looking at the daily journals (now blog posts) I send the families, which flesh out the ideas on this form.
I think the kind of form you included can be useful in college classes, to make sure that you're thinking intentionally, that you are well prepared, that you know why you're doing what you're doing, etc. But in my experience, in the real world, most of that stuff is done quickly in your head, and if you spent all the time it would take to fill all that out, you'd never have time for the richer documentation that is a part of Reggio-inspired teaching. Not only that, but you can't truly "plan" what a child is going to learn. You might plan to use magnetic alphabet letters with the idea that kids will learn to write their names, but actually find that someone doesn't want to play with them, someone else wants to sort them by color, someone else is intrigued by the patterns they can make with them, etc. And to me, what they're doing with them is far more important for them and has richer potential for learning than your pre-conceived ideas. In Reggio, a lot of the documentation comes after the fact. So you put out the letters and you watch and take photos and notes and reading them over later, you notice lots of pattern play was taking place. So you write about that pattern work for the parents, and then you support further exploration of patterns with the children, and continue observing and taking notes and reflecting and documenting.
I can't share most of my documentation here, because some of the parents would prefer I not share their children's photos online. But I'll find a few examples that don't include faces, and a filled-in projection sheet, so you can see how I use them. Don't have time now, but will get to it soon. And to your question about activities w/infants.
:-) Lise