Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Anecdotal Notes

I have been thinking about anecdotal notes. I think they are a great way to remember the smaller accomplishments of my students. (Not that any accomplishment is small.) The big accomplishments are more evident and memorable. I believe that the smaller accomplishments are a great way to show process in a growth area for a student. Another benefit of anecdotal notes is a way to get to know students better. Progress report comments would be much easier to write with anecdotal notes. Now for a way to organize them. I am going to start by using a three ring binder. I think it would be great to have some kind of a weekly sheet and then a sheet for each student in class. This is a great time to ponder it because I am not back in my own classroom yet. I also think it would be great to use while I am doing the long term sub positions because then I could incorporate them into my routine.

Any ideas or thoughts? Do you have a system for anecdotal notes? Or is there a way you suggest remembering the everyday occurrences of your classroom?

5 comments:

ms. whatsit said...

With four preparations and 135 students, I really don't have time to keep anecdotal notes, which is a shame. It's those anecdotal notes that eventually can turn into viable educational research.

When I have a student who is struggling, I will often try different strategies and analyze their work to hopefully figure them out. I have a co-worker to whom I turn to talk about these students. To me, collegiality is very important to this process. There have been times when these conversations have turned into notes, but as I already mentioned, limited time is a detterent.

Mrs. Johnson said...

Thank you so much for commenting you made my day!

When I was in my own the classroom, I had a difficult time doing this. I plan on trying again during the upcoming long-term sub positions. In one position I have 20 students and in the other I have around half the number of students you do. They stressed the importance of it in my teacher training. I didn't have the benefit of seeing a working system though.

Unknown said...

dear
i have a confusion with the characteristics of Anecdotal notes..so my question is," is there any necessary that an anecdotal notes has to have some fixed criteria...

Unknown said...

dear
i have a confusion with the characteristics of Anecdotal notes..so my question is," is there any necessary that an anecdotal notes has to have some fixed criteria...

Mrs. Johnson said...

I don't think so. I would use them for things that I want to remember, especially things that could be easy to forget. All students shine in some area. It is just more evident for some students. This is a great way to find ways each student shines.

My goal was to use them during my long-term sub positions. I haven't gotten a chance to do that it has been so busy.