How should a kindergarten create a growth profile?

I. Importance of creating growth records

1. Describe the process of children's growth and development. The growth file collects children's works in different periods, teachers' observation records, photos, video materials, etc., which can provide teachers and parents with rich information about children's growth and development.

2. Dynamic assessment of children's developmental level. Whether a child's development in each area is progressing or not, whether he or she has reached the prescribed or expected developmental goals, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of the child, all these need to be assessed in a scientific and rational way. Traditional assessments mostly use tests, checklists, questionnaires, etc. Although they are more convenient to use, they emphasize only the results and neglect the process, while the use of growth portfolios can collect and accumulate all kinds of children's works and related information, providing comprehensive, rich and vivid information for the assessment of children's developmental level. Teachers assess young children through the characteristics and records of various works accumulated in growth portfolios over a period of time, combining summative and formative assessment and also ensuring the accuracy of the assessment. However, it must be pointed out that the assessment of children's level of development is not for the purpose of rating and labeling, but for the purpose of better promoting children's growth; it is not to give conclusions about what is good or bad for the children, but to find out meaningful events in children's growth and development (e.g., skills, interests, etc.). Therefore what is collected in the growth profile should be the spontaneous and authentic work of the toddler.

3. Support child-centered learning. Through the collection of children's work, one-on-one conversations with children, and observations, teachers can discover ways to understand the characteristics of each child's physical and mental development, how children learn, and their unique interests, abilities, and needs. Based on these findings, teachers can think about reshaping classroom cultures and curricula so that they meet the developmental needs of young children, and this thinking and change can also enhance the professionalism of teachers. Files allow young children to reflect on their own progress. Research shows that young children who have experienced organizing their experiences, reviewing their work, and reflecting on their progress gradually learn to self-evaluate and set learning goals for themselves. This ability is important to the growth and development of young children, but of course, most young children cannot acquire this important ability without teacher guidance and practice.

Second, the content of the growth files Generally speaking, the content of the growth files can cover the children's physical, motor, cognitive, verbal, emotional and social abilities and other areas of development, and its specific forms are rich and varied, the main ones are:

1. The children's works. The children's works mainly refer to the children's art works and oral records. Oral records present the children's ability to express themselves verbally and record their thoughts, feelings and reflections. Adults should collect children's oral records over time and consistently and record background information. Children's oral narratives can be preserved in written form or recorded by audio-recording.

2. Transcripts. The written record includes the record of the interview with the child and the teacher's observation record. Interviews focus on an in-depth discussion of a topic with one child. For example, it can discuss a book the child has recently read or a game he or she has played. Informal questions can lead the child to verbalize his or her thoughts and comments about the reading or game, and help to understand the child's difficulties and needs in reading or playing. Interview notes record children's thoughts and needs, allowing teachers or parents to understand children's individual needs and to give feedback to children as time permits. Teachers' observation records may include systematic records of the children and anecdotal records, the former is mainly a record of the children's progress towards a predetermined goal, while the latter is a record of the children's spontaneous behavior, which is different from the systematic records in that it is not pre-designed, but rather captures some interesting events, which the teacher can match with photographs.

3. Visual materials. Visual materials mainly refer to photographs, audio tapes and videotapes. They provide a wealth of information about children's growth and development and are useful in promoting family involvement, allowing parents to see or hear activities without actually experiencing them. For example, a tape with a young child retelling a story, reading his or her own story aloud, and practicing singing is very powerful evidence of language development for the child, the teacher, and the parents. Teachers should always take photographs or videotapes of children and their activities, and when they do, they should keep a brief record of what or what objects are being photographed, including the date, the place, the names of the children, and the special places in each scene.

4. Various quizzes and survey results. Mainly some formal or informal questionnaires and checklists. For example, questionnaires on children at home, questionnaires on children's health, questionnaires on children's learning and so on. These questionnaires allow us to quickly understand the situation of young children.

Three, the principle of creating a growth file for children to create a growth file is not randomly put a few children's work or photos, it needs to follow the following principles:

1, to have a certain plan.

First, teachers should determine how to collect young children's work. Teachers need to think about collecting a single artwork, photos and drawings of activities, or some of each? Should they collect regularly or at the right time? Should the best or average work, or both, be collected? This can be during free time, when the child is encouraged to create freely, or when that child is found to have emerged with work that is worth collecting. Regardless of the timing of the collection, teachers should focus on collecting work produced voluntarily by the children, rather than work done at the request of the teacher, and should also ensure that a certain amount of work is collected for each child.

Second, teachers should plan interview times with children. Each child should have the opportunity to have an interview with the teacher once during the week, the teacher can choose free time or another time, as the interview is a one to one conversation between the teacher and the child, which takes a lot of time, the teacher should simply make a plan for the interview and plan who to talk to and when during the week. At first the toddler may not be comfortable with this kind of talk, but with consistency the toddler will grow accustomed to the program.

Third, teachers should make a plan for sharing the portfolios with the children and parents. Teachers should have a simple plan of how often they will use the growth files with parents to communicate with their toddlers over a period of time.

2. Value the participation of young children. Teachers should first let the children know what a file bag is, why they need a file bag, how to make their own file bag, and design the cover of the growth file together with the children, encourage the children to design their favorite cover in their own way, and stimulate their enthusiasm and interest in creating. Secondly, in normal activities, teachers can encourage children to review and examine their works frequently. For children, reviewing their work provides an opportunity for them to reflect on what has happened in their lives and what they have done and learned, and examining their work allows them to think back on the experiences they have had in producing this work, helping them to see how they have grown and changed.

3. We emphasize the importance of inviting parents to participate. In the beginning, parents should be made aware of the purpose of the archive bag. Parents can be invited to collect children's spontaneous works and photos at home, and encouraged to record anecdotes about their children at home and send them to kindergarten to be added to the archive, so as to understand the situation of their children at home. At the same time, we should also do a good job of sharing with parents, and should regularly report to parents on the growth and development of their children as reflected in their children's portfolios. An exhibition of the work can be organized, where parents are invited to review the work in the portfolio with their children, and the children are asked to introduce the work to their parents so that the parents can share the joy of growth with them, while the teacher can use this opportunity to communicate with the parents as well. Such a process is much more lively than a mere parent-teacher conference.

4. Writing is the main work of the growth file. The file collects mainly children's works, but these works should usually be accompanied by the teacher's records. The teacher should record next to the work the time, place, and background of the work, as well as the teacher's comments on the work and the children's own comments on the work. Teachers can ask the following questions to help children think: How did you create this work? What do you like about this work? Is there anything you find unsatisfactory? Do you want to revise it in the future? Encourage the child to dictate his thoughts, e.g. I like the color of this dress because I like pink. At first, the child may only answer with one or two words or simply say that he/she doesn't know, but if this method is consistently applied, after a while, the child will get used to this kind of question and answer and the answers will be detailed, and of course, if the child refuses to answer, the questioning will stop. Teachers can also record their brief comments, mainly answering the following questions: Was this activity started first by the teacher or was it spontaneous for the children? Was it a breakthrough for the young child? Does this work represent progress towards a particular outcome or goal for the young child? Does the work show that the child is able to apply or extend known concepts and skills in new situations? Teachers should also be careful to keep a record of observations from time to time in a file that should accompany the child throughout his or her time at the school.

5. Reflection is at the heart of the growth portfolio. Through the growth portfolio, children reflect on their work and learning goals, parents and other family members reflect on children's learning and behavior, and teachers themselves reflect on the current state of children's development, interests, special needs, and so on, so that they can provide appropriate guidance to support child-centered learning according to the characteristics of each child.

Fourth, the preservation of growth files most of the information can be stored in the folder, information bag, such as many kindergartens now use albums or folders as a child's file, if the use of videotapes or audiotapes, they can not be put into the folder, you can use cardboard boxes, and then put them near the TV or recorders next to. But be careful to label each growth file. All materials should be kept in an accessible and safe place where children can look through them at any time or add new work. These materials should also be accessible to parents so that they can look through them at any time to see how their child is doing at school. It is important to note that if there is personal information about the children, such as medical records and home phone numbers that are private, they should be kept in the teacher's personal drawer or cabinet to protect the privacy of the children and their families.