The Writing Teacher?s Guide to Pedagogical Documentation

This book is a call to action for English and English Language Arts teachers who understand that data are not numbers alone, learning is impossible to quantify, and students are our very best teachers.

Writing teacher Angela Stockman shows us how pedagogical documentation?the practice of making learning visible, capturing what is seen and heard, and then interpreting those findings in the company of our students and our colleagues?is a humbling and humane practice that grounds what we think we?ve come to know in the lived experiences of those we intend to serve. In this rich resource, she offers:

• processes and protocols for documenting learning and analyzing data;


• resources and planning tools to help you design and execute your own projects; and


• a digital documentation notebook that you can download for guidance, inspiration, and examples

With the powerful tools in this book, you?ll be inspired to reach students whose needs have been ignored by big data and whose identities have been erased by oppressive forms of assessment and evaluation.

"We go down too many rabbit holes when discussing assessment, tests, data, and evidence.  Angela Stockman provides a powerful perspective focusing on interpreting the myriad of information that teachers, leaders and students encounter in every lesson. The book introduces the concept of documentation, which involves investigating the people, places, processes, practices, and products of teaching and learning. Through this approach, educators are encouraged to triangulate, deduce, induce, and find meaning, ultimately taking purposeful actions in their teaching journey. This book serves as a valuable gift, empowering teachers with a fresh perspective and the ability to make a significant impact on their students' learning experiences."

Professor John Hattie, University of Melbourne, Australia. A global authority on education effectiveness, his extensive research is the world?s largest evidence base on what works best in schools to improve learning.

"As we inch towards the overdue transformation of education into a learning ecosystem that places learning, and learners, at the heart of our work, key necessities rise to the surface. One of these is the need to shift away from assessment as accounting, with its focus on low-level, high-stakes, quantitative grading, and towards assessing what actually counts. This means learning how to look for, and document, a range of valid evidence of student learning, owned and curated by learners themselves. This profound move towards assessing what we truly value places documentation at the heart of our work as learning professionals. In this wonderful book, Angela confirms the central place of the documentation of learning, both our students' and our own. She does so with the clarity and confidence of a seasoned and reflective practitioner and in a voice that feels like your favourite colleague in the next classroom. I loved this important and engaging book, and will keep it close, as a key ally in the struggle towards authentic, evidence-based learning."

Kevin Bartlett, initiator and early leader of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, Founding Director of the Common Ground Collaborative, and former Director of the International School of Brussels (ISB).