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Encouraging reflection is an important practice for early childhood educators. When young children reflect, they build skills like remembering, questioning, investigating, explaining, translating, sharing, and revisiting. These skills are crucial both in school and in life. Reflection is a valuable part of anything we want to teach preschoolers鈥攕elf-regulation, conflict resolution, planning, even literacy. It鈥檚 also an important skill to learn in and of itself.

At the Children鈥檚 Community School (CCS) we help children develop their own ideas and build connections with each other. Our practice revolves around the inquiry process. We encourage children to explore and experiment with ideas, collect and record information about what they know, and reflect and share what they know. They do all of this in the context of play. Through this process we help children think deeply and work together to make meaning from their work.

At CCS, we鈥檝e long used photographs as one tool to help children reflect on activities鈥攖heir own and each other鈥檚. For instance, a teacher might show a child a photo of the child working on a piece of art and ask him to recall the process he used. Or the teacher might show some photos of a previous day鈥檚 activity to a small group and ask them to revisit their ideas. Recently, we started to use tablets and phones to make audio and video recordings as well. By creating videos of children鈥檚 play and audio recordings of their stories and conversations, we offer children unique opportunities to reflect on their ideas and voices.

When preschoolers watch or listen to themselves, they have a particularly powerful window into their own thoughts and actions. For example, while listening to themselves tell a story, children can really听listen听in a unique way. It鈥檚 difficult for young children to talk and listen at the same time, so hearing a recording lets them think about what they have said. When watching videos of play, children can sometimes take a wider view than they could during the play itself. They can consider their own role, each other鈥檚 roles and actions, and the play as a whole.

The perspectives offered by recordings can be especially useful in helping children take ideas to the next level. They can connect different ideas, involve more classmates, and find ways to resolve problems in their stories (all demonstrated in the opening vignette). Asking children to revisit recordings is also useful when children are losing interest and leaving play, or when play is getting stuck and the children keep repeating certain ideas without developing them.

In addition, the process of making and sharing recordings is a wonderful experience for teachers. Teachers get to reflect on children (鈥淲ow, Elena really has a lot of great ideas in dramatic play!鈥�) and reflect on practice (鈥淥h, next time I鈥檒l ask a different question.鈥�). Watching children reflect on themselves is an empowering experience for the adults who teach them.

Here is how we make and use recordings with preschoolers:

1. Record.听It鈥檚 most powerful to create videos of activities in which the children are deeply engaged. Collaborative socio-dramatic play is often a good place to start. Collaboration and engagement are built-in elements for this kind of play, and its narrative framework makes it easy for preschoolers to come back to later. At first the recording device may distract children, but soon they鈥檒l get used to it and play normally. That said, just because you鈥檙e holding the camera doesn鈥檛 mean you have to stop the scaffolding you normally provide children during play. Your recording shouldn鈥檛 take you away from the children.
2. Share.听Viewing a video or listening to a recording should never interrupt play in progress; the focus should always be on getting children to engage as deeply as possible in what they鈥檙e doing. Share recordings of play after a little time has passed or during a community reflection time, such as the end of the day or the start of a new play period. Audio recordings of children鈥檚 stories can sometimes be shared as soon as the story is over, to help children hear what they鈥檝e just said.
3. Reflect.听The goal is for children to actively reflect and build on their own ideas. The teacher鈥檚 role is to serve as a support and guide, not as a director. Ask the children to describe what they see or hear. (鈥淲hat are you playing in this video?,鈥� 鈥淲hat do you notice about your play?鈥�) Ask them to revisit the play and change or expand it. (鈥淚f your story kept going, what would happen next?,鈥� 鈥淲hen you play this again, what would you like to do differently?鈥�) Ask them to translate what they鈥檝e seen or heard into a different form. (鈥淲ould you like to draw a picture of your play?,鈥� 鈥淵ou could write a book about the story you told.,鈥� 鈥淗ow about having a puppet show?鈥�) Ask them to share it. (鈥淲ould you tell the rest of the class about this at Together Time?,鈥� 鈥淲hat鈥檚 a good way to share this with your families?鈥�)

Use of technology in early childhood is a charged topic right now. Many teachers find themselves with tablets and phones in their classrooms, looking for supportive ways to use them for teaching and learning. At CCS, we use mobile technology with thought and intention, helping children focus on each other and create their own ideas. We use the recording and playback capabilities of phones and tablets to help children see, hear, and reflect on themselves. This deepens children鈥檚 thinking and reinforces their connections to each other, to their community, and to the world around them.

Happy recording!

Photo courtesy of the author