Frequently Asked
Questions
Are students allowed to use children’s real names in their Learning Stories?
Students should discuss this with their placement mentor. Unless given specific permission to use real names, students should only use initials or pseudonyms.
Are they expected to include pictures?
This depends on the policies at the placement site. If students are not allowed to take pictures of children, they may want to consider taking pictures of children’s work to support some stories, but it is not required. If the site will allow students to take pictures of the children, they must follow the program’s policies regarding what happens with any images of the children involved.
Are students supposed to use objective language in the “What Happened” section?
Learning Stories are intended to be used to increase our understanding not only of children’s skills and abilities, but also their identities, personalities, strengths and dispositions to learning. Even though most of the subjective interpretation is included in the “What it Means” section, the subjective lens of the observer is actually an important part of the first section. The “What Happened” section often includes the feelings, questions or thoughts of the observer and may even include interactions between the observer and the child.
Some of the language in the “What it Means” section sounds like praise. How is this different?
Learning Stories can be used to illustrate children ideas and thought processes, highlight their strengths and celebrate their unique identities. Although the language is often positive, it is different from the kind of meaningless praise associated with comments like “Good job” or “I like your picture”. It is not intended to lead to children’s dependence on external praise but rather to help children develop a view of themselves as competent, capable and full of potential.
Why doesn’t the “What it Means” section have to be objective the way most ECEs were taught to do observations?
What is written in this section is not intended to be factual. Instead, the writer is offering their interpretation of the child’s play based on both observations as well as their prior knowledge of the child. The Learning Story is intended to be the start of a conversation with families, with children and with other educators. The writer might offer an interpretation that changes as the result of input from others. There is nothing wrong with this.
I thought pedagogical documentation was supposed to include space for the reactions of parents or others.
While this is an expectation for the Learning Story assignments our students do in class, we wanted to leave it up to you to decide whether student Learning Stories would be shared with parents on placement.
Students should discuss this with their placement mentor. Unless given specific permission to use real names, students should only use initials or pseudonyms.
Are they expected to include pictures?
This depends on the policies at the placement site. If students are not allowed to take pictures of children, they may want to consider taking pictures of children’s work to support some stories, but it is not required. If the site will allow students to take pictures of the children, they must follow the program’s policies regarding what happens with any images of the children involved.
Are students supposed to use objective language in the “What Happened” section?
Learning Stories are intended to be used to increase our understanding not only of children’s skills and abilities, but also their identities, personalities, strengths and dispositions to learning. Even though most of the subjective interpretation is included in the “What it Means” section, the subjective lens of the observer is actually an important part of the first section. The “What Happened” section often includes the feelings, questions or thoughts of the observer and may even include interactions between the observer and the child.
Some of the language in the “What it Means” section sounds like praise. How is this different?
Learning Stories can be used to illustrate children ideas and thought processes, highlight their strengths and celebrate their unique identities. Although the language is often positive, it is different from the kind of meaningless praise associated with comments like “Good job” or “I like your picture”. It is not intended to lead to children’s dependence on external praise but rather to help children develop a view of themselves as competent, capable and full of potential.
Why doesn’t the “What it Means” section have to be objective the way most ECEs were taught to do observations?
What is written in this section is not intended to be factual. Instead, the writer is offering their interpretation of the child’s play based on both observations as well as their prior knowledge of the child. The Learning Story is intended to be the start of a conversation with families, with children and with other educators. The writer might offer an interpretation that changes as the result of input from others. There is nothing wrong with this.
I thought pedagogical documentation was supposed to include space for the reactions of parents or others.
While this is an expectation for the Learning Story assignments our students do in class, we wanted to leave it up to you to decide whether student Learning Stories would be shared with parents on placement.