ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the forms of pedagogical documentation – derived from the philosophy and practices of the municipally funded early childhood centers of Reggio Emilia, Italy – as an approach to music learning assessment. It describes the adaptation of pedagogical documentation within an elementary school music program, and provides an analysis and interpretation of data from a two-year pilot project in which students explored the use of blogs as a platform to engage in this approach to assessment. The chapter examines the use of learning stories as a narrative form of assessment in music learning that also promotes discourse between students, parents, and teachers. In the act of pedagogical documentation, the teacher creates panels that contain photographs and texts to illustrate accounts of how children have expanded their knowledge through their learning experiences. Learning stories and pedagogical documentation provide a strong alternative to a proliferation of assessment tools that are more and more anonymous, decontextualized, seemingly objective, and not student-centered.
