Kidwatching: Documenting Children's Literacy Development

by Yetta Goodman, Yetta M. Goodman

This smart, practical guidebook shows preschool, kindergarten, and primary teachers how to refine their literacy evaluation practices through careful kidwatching. By observing and recording children's literacy development, teachers also develop new understandings of the ways children think and learn. Ultimately, through kidwatching, teachers plan curriculum and instruction that are tailored to individual strengths and needs. Gretchen Owocki and Yetta Goodman are the perfect pair to guide teachers through the kidwatching process. Yetta coined the term in her seminal article in 1978 and has spearheaded the use of miscue analysis as a window into the reading process. Gretchen, Yetta's former graduate student, is an outstanding educator and published author on the ways young children develop literacy. Together, they have written a book that will serve as a professional development tool as well as a kidwatching handbook. In each chapter, they provide

Genres: Education

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Katrina Arndt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended by my colleague. It's dated (2002) but still quite valuable and the authors have not done a second edition. Students in an early literacy class use it to structure their observations of young children.

[m · Rating 3 out of 5]

eced lang and lit
a little outdated but bigger pictures are good

[jennyreadit · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my top reads for coaching... helps you understand the theory and importance of observing students to drive instruction and truly knowing them as children, not just students. Many teachers feel they don't have time do kidwatch, but by reading this book and practice, one can learn how to do it "on the run." Not ideal, but better than nothing. Provides forms for kidwatching and good information/tips for instructional coaches.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hokey title, but not a bad book. Geared more toward K-2 than ECE.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Literacy resource for working with kids. I love that it has all the documents you need in the appendices as well as many examples and ideas for working on literacy assessment throughout

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very theory driven. And far too idealistic to be completely applicable. Especially for the Secondary classroom.

[Jguempel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource on how to observe and document student progress in the classroom.