Creating Learning Stories

Programme Introduction

From the very first time I discovered the work of Dr Margaret Carr and the Learning Story Approach – I have loved it and advocated for it as the most effective means of documenting the assessment of young children’s learning and development. I admire the way a child’s strengths are highlighted in a way that is very personal to the child – regardless of their abilities or stage of development.

A learning story is an engaging story of a child’s achievements, abilities, interests and viewpoint as an active learner. Learning Stories can focus on everything from a baby noticing himself in a mirror for the first time to a pre-school child creating a model from junk materials or helping a friend.

I like to think of learning stories in this way – an assessment report or developmental checklist show you a black and white snapshot of the child, cold and frozen in time. However, learning stories are vibrant, engaging, funny, full colour mini-movies that parents can keep forever.  They give a rounded, holistic view of who the child is as an individual and as a learner. This is, after all, what early childhood education is all about!

‘Creating Learning Stories’ will provide Educators with practical guidance on this wonderful pedagogical technique for early childhood education. The programme is presented in 5 short components - each one building on the learning from the one before and packed with practical examples. Participants will discover how to structure, compile, and use learning stories as a meaningful assessment tool, to engage parents and to showcase children’s individual strengths, interests and needs. 

Avril 

*PLEASE READ YOUR 'NOTES FOR THE COURSE' BEFORE STARTING YOUR PROGRAMME*

Programme Content

  • The importance of a child-centred strength-based approach to assessment for young children.
  • An overview of the approach itself and the core components of a learning story
  • A downloadable handout on this is contained in your reference documents section.
  • A range of practical examples of Learning Stories about babies, toddlers and pre-school children demonstrated in both paper copy and on Mosaic Educator.
  • A comprehensive overview of the different types of learning stories and a guide to how many learning stories you should compile
  • A downloadable handout on this is contained in your reference documents section.
  • Downloadable paper templates for Educators not using MOSAIC are in the reference documents section
  • Practical tips and strategies that the Educator can use when writing stories so that parents are more likely to engage with their child’s learning and development.
Key Learning Outcomes

 

Educators will: 

1. Develop an awareness of the importance of a child-centred strength-based approach to assessment for young children. 

2. Appreciate the approach itself,  what makes the approach unique, how it complements the child centred approach

3. Learn the core components of a learning story

4. Understand how a combination of story types can be used together to make up a child's storybook and how many can be included in a child’s individual storybook /portfolio per year.

5. Learn how to strengthen partnerships with parents by engaging them in their childrens learning and sharing their professional work with young children.

 

 

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03 Hours

€25.00

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Presentation with video/audio

Easy to follow components

Downloadable reference documents

Test multiple choice questions

Certificate of Completion

Notes for the course

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