Anecdotal Records Post!

In order for my to construct Anecdotal Records, I can observe my students working independently or in small groups and takes notes regarding what actions are taking place in my class. I can strictly take my opinion out of this and make it observational and informational notes, which will make it a more structured, helpful record when sharing with others.  These sorts of records will (hopefully!) make it easier to understand what students are working on in the classroom and what they need the most work with to improve on (What the child knows and is ABLE to do (pg. 2)). I guess I sort of “knew” this about any sort of records that are taken in the classroom, but I considered this as “something I didn’t know” because it felt like a great reminder to 1) keep your opinion out of it and 2) not use deficit language.  

Another aspect I liked and learned from was the portion when the article discussed that we should only try to focus on a few students at a time rather than all of your students at once. This makes a lot of sense to me and makes the taking of anecdotal records a lot less daunting. When you are able to zero in on a few students, you are really able to pay attention to what is going on with them and notice aspects that you may have not otherwise noticed. I liked the suggestion that said maybe group the kids into “day groups” where each day of the week you are more closely observing certain students for your anecdotal records and then you should add this to their individual files at the end of each day (or thereabouts). I really like this idea but I just wonder how practical it actually would be, especially at my school when teachers have 0 planning time. If I was in this situation in the future, I would probably make a spreadsheet on my computer to add notes because I type things a lot faster than I write them, and it would be easy to type notes during a transition, after school, before lunch, etc etc.

Also, I think it’s important to point out the “key words” that you will be looking for during an observation or making of anecdotal records. I think this is a good way to keep your observations on task and not getting sidetracked by a students’ personality or misbehavior if you are strictly focusing on the standards by which you are judging them.

P.S. I like the homework black book idea!!!