Windows on Learning: Documenting Young Children's Work

Early Childhood Education

by Judy Harris Helm, Sallee Beneke

The authors show that, through documentation (which includes narratives, photos, drawings, videotapes and captions), children, teachers and parents all learn more from school projects.

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Teri Pardue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book to help me prepare for using portfolio assessment with my preschoolers this coming year (in conjunction with Focused Portfolios by Gronlund and Engel). Since the book advertised as a resource for “documenting young children’s work” I thought it would be helpful).

Though I did glean some ideas and also used some of the reasoning found in the book to help form my own reasoning for why I do what I do, mostly I was underwhelmed.

Part 1 of the book, which is more than half of the book, is ‘Learning About Documentation’. Somebody new to the field may find this useful but it was not what I was expecting. I am familiar with the ways we document and was wanting more of the details on how to go about implementing documentation (this was Part 3, only two chapters, one of which is mostly forms you can xerox to use).
The book also wrote very much from a perspective of using the Project Approach with students. Part 2, Documentation in Action, is completely from a Project Approach perspective.

Though I incorporate some project work in my classroom, as I believe most early child ed teachers do, the heavy assumption that readers completely follow this type of curriculum made large chunks of the book irrelevant. I would have liked to have seen a better balance with different types of classrooms showcased. Considering the extent to which it was Project Approach-focused, I think this should have been a part of the sub-title of the book.

I also think it’s time for a 3rd edition. The technology discussions (taking pictures, video, audio recording, etc) are incredibly outdated (even though the latest edition is 2007!) I suppose this preceded the prevalence of smart phones and tablets, which have greatly revolutionized the way we collect media documentation in the classroom.
I had quite a few giggles over the content related to technology.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some valuable information. I read it in 2018/2019 which made it eleven years old since it’s publication date. Some of the information was no longer relevant as change has occurred with the use of technology in the world of documentation.