December 2021
The Teaching Cycle Series
Part 1
Are the children in my class learning?
 
This question is often asked by many teachers working with preschool children. As an early childhood educator, classroom experiences set the foundation for years to come for the children, but teachers want to see evidence of the children developing their skill sets. Teachers can believe that their children are learning but cannot know for certain without results and data. As teachers, we can know if a child is learning by collecting evidence. There are several ways to gain information about each child including child observations, progress monitoring assessments, interactions with the child, and discussions with their family.
 
A good starting point is to use the Teaching Cycle with observations and assessments to capture evidence of the child’s learning progress. After gathering information about the children, the next step in the Teaching Cycle is to evaluate the results. Then it is time to determine the learning objectives, select supporting activities, gather the appropriate materials, and determine the instructional approach. This process would improve a teacher’s ability for planning targeted instruction.

The Teaching Cycle
Diagram of the Teaching Cycle
Assessing children can include observational authentic assessment and direct assessment to collect child data to enhance their learning.
 
Assessments provide evidence for each child’s level of understanding with concepts and skills. It helps us move from “believing” a child understands into “knowing” that the child has an understanding. Observing an individual child and writing down their behavior is taking anecdotal notes. Anecdotal notes are descriptions of a child’s behaviors and skills they use during daily routines and activities. This collection of data about their knowledge of concepts or skills presents an opportunity to evaluate and gain information on each individual child’s level of understanding. Observations serve as an informal child assessment. 

Child progress monitoring tools, like the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System (CPM), provide an opportunity for teachers to use reliable and valid tools to formally assess the children in their classroom in a variety of domain areas. The CPM system provides on demand data reports that provide snapshots of student skill levels at the individual, group, class, school, and even district/community levels. Much of the evaluation part of the teaching cycle is done for the teacher. The reports use clear visual indicators to flag students below established benchmarks. The reports provide student grouping features and links to recommended activities to provide the teacher with the first steps in beginning small group instruction that targets identified skill areas.
Teacher observing a student
Another important part of gathering evidence on the child's learning is partnering with their family. Getting a family perspective on a child’s learning can inform the teacher of the implementation of a child’s learning at home. Families are valuable sources of information on children’s skill development, and teachers can ask informative questions to help them get to know their students. Parents may help to identify:
  • What learning the child doing at home
  • What activities the child is engaged in away from school
  • What meaningful conversations and listening the child was a part of

Teachers may also offer Family Observation Forms for families to document and share their observations and child information. The Family Observation Forms align with the learning domains of the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System and can be used in children’s portfolios to provide a fuller picture of the children’s development.

Best teaching practices include collecting child data through observations, anecdotal notes, family sharing, and assessments. Gathering child information allows an opportunity for reflective teaching practices with the remaining steps in the Teaching Cycle, and for teachers to have evidence of the child developing their skill sets.  
information, which allows us to get a clearer picture and increases the opportunity to provide more targeted instruction and better meet the individual needs of each child.
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Texas School Ready is part of the Children's Learning Institute at UTHealth