I am titling this as "Day Book ~ My Style Explained V.1" because it's simply just that ... It's very general and I've written it using generic and nonsensical terms. I'm going to reflect more on this and either provide some different samples or some guiding questions.
I have also done a few different things over the years, so I will create some mock-ups of those and post them in the near (or not so distant) future and title them V.2 and V.3 etc. If you notice, I have placed numbers in the sections. The numbers are used as reference points to explain my thinking behind those sections below the image.
1. The
Title ... You can say what you want here ... I used to say “Monday’s Story” or
whatever day of the week it was ... You can have it focused on one aspect of
your learning environment – you can use the terminology that you are familiar
with for example I might have used “The Creative Child” (DOCS, 2005) and
written about our experiences in collage or perhaps the buildings that were
created in block area using stones, branches and pieces of fabric. The title
can be simple, or it can be a headline designed to grab peoples’ attention!
2. These
are the =main= events ... it is not EVERYTHING that was engaged with on the
day. This is just what was really important or where the most learning was
observed by the educators ... It might not be the most important leaning that
occurred – but you don’t have eyes and ears all over your head so you can’t see
and hear everything that happens everywhere all day long.
3. I don’t like being tied to a future idea ...
or curriculum decision so I use “POSSIBLE future directions” ... Its just the
ideas at the time of writing the day book entry ... overnight my ideas may
change, indeed while driving to work the ideas may change – or the children may
come up with their own ideas or in fact they may not want to move from the
place of learning they were at yesterday. I think we get so carried away with:
What are we going to plan next? When it is perfectly valid to just experience
NOW! Notice that I used terms like: more, less, repeat, extend and then
something new. Again, these are only ideas of where the possibilities might be.
They are not set in stone!
4. This
is where I write about the main events in more detail. You can relate them to
the EYLF (DEEWR, 2009) and the concepts held within the learning outcomes or any other aspect
of the EYLF you’d like to refer to. You can paraphrase or you can quote
directly. It’s up to you. There is no particular prescription about how this should
look. What you do need to be talking about and reflecting up on is children’s
learning – not so much the specific outcomes, but the processes. I like writing this as a narrative because it means that its a story, its personal, its reflective, you are speaking to your audience and sharing your thoughts, but you are also able to refer to the past, present and future in your expression. And that is "linking" and making connections within your curriculum. Remember curriculum is:
"Curriculum encompasses all the interactions, experiences, routines and events, planned and unplanned, that occur in an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development" DEEWR, 2009 pp. 9).
5. This
is where there is a space for families to write a comment to the children or
the service. They can share ideas or what they are thinking about what the
children are doing. I would strongly encourage you to ask families to share
their voice in the day book. I remember one mother’s comment about rainbows
which to this day, touches me. She was one of the main parents to read the day
book and be involved. Imagine how her child felt, knowing that her mother took
such a strong interest in her school.
If you have any questions or comments, please post them here or email them to me! I'd love to hear from you: teachersink [at] gmail dot com
T.Ink
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