Some of the big questions I have heard are:
What exactly should I be writing down?
When should I be taking notes?
How do I take notes on a whole group?
What do I do with those notes?
How do I translate my notes into grades?
The answers to some of those questions can vary slightly depending on the constraints of your district. For example, mine does not yet use a standards based report card. So, the question regarding the translation of notes into grades may be answered differently for us than it would be in a district using a standards based report card. If you even believe the notes should be used for summative grading purposes! Personally, I fall firmly in the formative category but as I noted, we must all work within the parameters of our district's implementation.
One of my definite positions on the topic is that I believe tying your notes to the CCCS is a must. I have not seen a whole lot out there that does this. If we are using the standards to delineate what our students need to achieve, how can we not use them to guide us on instruction and assessment? Using the CCCS to assist in taking anecdotal records is just one part of the tutorial I am working on. I've also been doing a lot of professional reading on the topic. Once I finish putting it all together, my plan is to share it all with you here. No date on that yet, as I am still in the beginning "work in progress" stage, but it will probably be at the end of the summer.
However, before I pull all this together, I would love to hear some thinking outside of my district. There are so many different methods and forms for taking notes and so many varied ways to use them. It can be very easy to become overwhelmed by all the note taking. I would love a better idea of what struggles and success others have had when it comes to anecdotal records in reading.
If you have a minute, please take a few and let me know what your struggles and success have been with anecdotal records in the comment section. Please feel free to let your comments be a long as they need to be! I know this is a broad topic, and I truly appreciate the time you take in offering your thoughts.
If you get this together in time, this would fit perfectly with this week's Workshop Wednesday!! If you want to link up... ;-) I like to keep anecdotal records in a notebook- each kiddo gets their own page. I've also tried using printer labels where I don't have to flip around through pages... I can just put all the kids on one page, and then stick the printer label on their "page" in the notebook... but that can get expensive!
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ideas by jivey
I use anecdotal notes to record student progress often! We follow the reading/writing workshop model in our district - so I use anecdotal notes during the mini lesson to assess the student's understanding of the day's objective (which always ties back into the CCCS). However, during guided reading and independent writing I also confer with individual students and take notes on what they need to be working on to get to the next level of thinking. Some days I already have a goal in mind from looking at previous anecdotal notes, and some days I am simply doing research on what the child is working on in order to create a goal (again - connected to the CCCS).
ReplyDeleteI think the area that I still struggle with is the last question your colleagues asked, "How do I translate these notes into grades?" My colleagues and I are working on establishing year long benchmarks that show growth in a child's understanding of the CCCS so that we can have a way to measure their progress. But, it is NOT easy! I am looking forward to hearing how other teachers translate these notes and to your future posts on this topic!
Miss Ellis, I think we are pretty much on the same page in out note taking! I agree the grade issue is the sticky point in it all. I'm hoping more people comment as I am also looking forward to seeing how more people use them. Thanks for taking the time to respond. :-)
DeleteThis is my 13th year teaching, and my first year teaching in a combined 6th grade Language Arts/Social Studies classroom. Jumping into this pretty much blind at the beginning of the year, there are many things I will certainly do different next year! Sticky Note Stats, as I call them, have become an expectation . . . but I am overwhelmed with where to put them and yes, how to "assess" them without driving myself crazy with all the other grading I am doing. We have the Accelerated Reader program, but that is pretty much a summative assessment once the book is completed. I probably need some sort of CCCS checklist quarterly to show a student's mastery of these standards in their independent reading. Any insight would be great!
ReplyDeleteOh, Naomi I so understand your issue with all the sticky notes! I had to abandon the sticky notes earlier this year because it just wasn't working for me! I went to labels that I kept on a clip board. Once the label was full, I stuck it on a blank page in a binder. Each child had a page in the binder, so I could have all of that student's sticky notes in one spot. Not totally thrilled with this either, but it did work better than the sticky notes.
DeleteI am also in the mist of changing/evaluating my anecdotal note taking ways. I have used the sticky notes, the Daily 5/Café pages, and various other note taking practices. Nothing seems to fit well. I tend to like parts of one plan or the other. It may help if I would be able to stay in one grade level! (off topic) My next endeavor is to try a checklist type system like I used in Kindergarten. It worked best for me. The issue is the number of standards and essentials for 4th and 5th are many times the number given at kindergarten. The plan is to really delve into it this summer. I want checklists for NE standards and district essentials. Then rework my "Pensive" to match. BIG plans! But I will get graduate credit for it, so it works in my favor in many directions.
ReplyDeleteAnd, who says teachers don't work over the summers? :-)
DeleteI also have plans to really organize myself in reading via the CCCS this summer. I actually found a great CCCS checklist for ELA on Teachers Pay Teachers. You might want to search around on their site and see what is already out there before you give up hours of your time creating one yourself.
Hi~I loved reading your post. I use an app called CONFER to take my notes during my literacy workshop and it helps me stay organized. I am learning more everyday about what I want or need in these notes so I appreciate your post very much! It always helps to learn from other teachers. I added you to my follow list. ;) Creating Lifelong Learners
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of teachers in my school using Confer. The only issue they said they were having was when admin requested to see their notes. It wasn't something you could just hand over. However, they were both new to the app and said they hadn't really gotten to know all it can or can't do at that point. I don't know much about the app, but I think I'm going to take a look!
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