Preservice Teachers' Visions and Understandings Surrounding Classroom Documentation and Displays of Children's Work

• In Event: Teacher Perspectives About Classroom Practices

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a qualitative investigation using a Photo-Elicitation Interview methodology to develop a descriptive account of preservice early childhood and elementary educators’ visions and understandings of teacher-generated, classroom documentation and displays of children’s work. Developing a robust literature base investigating the many facets of documentation of student learning is important as student work displays are regularly exhibited in the classrooms and halls of schools and child care centers. Findings reveal that participants held paradoxical views of student work documentation teetering between an appreciation of the adult aesthetic of early schooling and a valuing of authentic displays of children’s work. This paper concludes with implications for teacher preparation programs working to support student understandings of child-centered documentation practices

Author

• Angela L. Eckhoff, Old Dominion University