Anecdotal Records

Grace I. Mait
What are Anecdotal Records?
Anecdotal Records
a. Notes written by the teacher regarding student
language behavior, or learning.
b. Where teachers document
and describe significant daily
events, and relevant
aspects of student activity
and progress.
c. Are taken during student activities or at the end
of the day.
d. to provide
information about
students'
development over
an extended
period of time.
e. to identify the instructional needs of students.
Purpose of Anecdotal
Records
Purpose of Anecdotal Records
a. provide information regarding a student's
development over a period of time
Purpose of Anecdotal Records
b. provide ongoing records about individual
instructional needs
Purpose of Anecdotal Records
c. capture observations of significant behaviors that
might otherwise be lost
Purpose of Anecdotal Records
d. provide ongoing documentation of learning that may
be shared with students, parents and teachers.
Guidelines for Using Anecdotal Records
Guidelines for Using Anecdotal Records

a. Record the observation and the

circumstance in which the learning
experience occurs.
b. Make the task of daily note taking manageable
by focusing on clearly defined objectives or
purposes, and by identifying only few students
to observe during a designated period of time.
c. Record data on loose leaf sheets and keep
these in a three-ring binder with a page
designated for each student and organized
alphabetically.
d. Use adhesive note papers that can be
attached to the students pages or recipe card
files.
e. Design structured forms for collection
of specific data.
Sample Anecdotal Records
Anecdotal Records
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
Reasonably easy to do.
Do not stop you from interacting with the child can be
recorded later.
Useful for planning and learning.
You can focus on one area of development or skill at a
time.
No special training needed for the observer.
Observer can catch an unexpected incident no matter
when it occurs, for it is usually recorded afterwards.
The observation can be used to focus specifically on the
behaviors of interest.
Disadvantages
The observers involvement may influence the childs
behavior.
Relies on the memory of the observer.
Some detail may be forgotten eg. Direct quotes.
Difficult to use for research purposes.
The observer may overlook many crucial behaviors to
focus on a specific behavior.
 Why Observing children in instructional settings

Anecdotal When attempting to record observations of children, two problems

emerged, limited time and how to compose quality records.

Records Classroom Situation

A teacher works with group of students, leading them on a

Assessment? discussion on a work of childrens literature. The students are
making personal connections to the story, they are making
insightful comments and asking probing questions. The lesson
comes to a close just as the recess bell rings. The class files
out the door to play.

Now what?
 Why Observing children in instructional settings

Anecdotal Anecdotal Records

Classroom Situation

Records
Observing children is done with thorough planning
and preparation
Assessment?
Observations are recorded before the moment is
lost to short term memory

Observation and recording of multiple features of

student performance are done at glance
 Why Writing quality anecdotal records

When attempting to record observations of children, many teachers

Anecdotal write erroneous anecdotal records

Records Classroom Situation

Not observable: Wrote a few sentences, read a lot,

Assessment? misspelled words many times, knows vocabulary, or
understood the story.

Observable: Wrote 3 sentences, read for 5 minutes,

misspell 6 words, defined vocabulary, or answer 2
comprehension questions.
 Why Writing quality anecdotal records

Anecdotal Records
Anecdotal
Teachers Planning
The teacher clarifies the word choice for observable records and undergoes forecasting
Records Does the wording tell me what the student is doing?

Do I see the child matching words to pictures?

Assessment? Another set of questions deals with quantitative data.

How many words were spelled correctly?

How many times did the student self-correct?
How much time did the student read independently?
 Why Managing anecdotal records

When handling on-going observations, teachers often squander on how to

Anecdotal properly manage anecdotal records

Records Classroom Situation

Teachers often deal with anecdotal records as a mere document. After

Assessment? doing such it will be placed on the cabinet until eternity.

Once piled on paper, it remains untouched and invalidated.

 Why Managing anecdotal records

Proper management of anecdotal records can be done by a section for

Anecdotal sorting observations into Strengths or Needs.

Records The next section allows for writing instructional recommendations based
upon the childs identified Strengths and Needs.

Assessment?
The final section is a boxed area for noting any special needs
accommodations.
 Anecdotal Records Assessment Form
Students Name:______________________ Evaluators Name:_________________
1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

Assessment Statement
Summary of Records:___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Recommendation of next steps:___________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Accommodation for special needs:

 Why Analysis of anecdotal records

Anecdotal The exploration of observations written in anecdotal records are

difficult to be done if the teachers lacks knowledge on how to
properly analyze written observations.

Records Classroom Situation

Assessment? The teacher does not have a concrete standard that will serve as basis for
comparison on the students performance.

She just creates her make belief analysis for the entire grading period.
 Why Analysis of anecdotal records

Anecdotal Anecdotal records allows teachers to compare the standards to the childs
performance.

Records The standards also inform the selection of strategies and activities for
instructional recommendations.

Assessment? Periodically, analyze the compiled records for each student.

The period of time between analyses may vary according to your own
academic calendar.
1 Date: 9/26
Standard: Concepts about print:
Identify author, illustrator and book
features
3 Date: 10/3
Standard: Vocabulary and concept
development: Identify simple multiple-
meaning words.
5 Date: 10/17
Standard: Writing Applications: Write
a brief narrative based on their
experiences
7 Date: 10/28
Standard: Vocabulary and concept
development: Use knowledge of
individual words in unknown
compound words to predict their
meaning.
Vocab. & concept dev.: Identify
simple multiple- meaning words.
2 Date: 9/30
Standard: Comprehension: Ask for
clarification and explanation of stories
and ideas.
Organization and delivery of oral
communication: Retell stories,
including characters, setting and plots.
4 Date: 10/10
Standard: Written and oral English
language conventions: Grammar:
Identify and correctly use various parts
of speech, including nouns and verbs, in
writing and speaking.
6 Date: 10/21
Standard: Writing Applications: Write
a brief narrative based on their
experiences.
Spelling: spell frequently used, irregular
words correctly.
8 Date: 11/5
Standard: Writing Applications: Write
a brief narrative based on their
experiences.
Punctuation: Uses appropriate ending
punctuation marks.
Source
http://ftp.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/pdf/anectodal_rec
ords.pdf
Language and Literature Assessment: A Comprehensive Guide
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/1-4/1/Anecdotal.html
http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mewa/html/assessment/anecdo
talnotes.html
QUIZ
TRUE OR FALSE
1. Anecdotal Records are Notes written by the
teacher regarding student language behavior, or
learning.

2. One of the purposes of using Anecdotal Records is

to capture observations of significant behaviors
that might otherwise be lost.

3. In making Anecdotal Records, the teacher must

focus clearly on defined objectives or purposes and
identify a lot of students to observe during a
4. Special training is badly needed for the observer.

5. When attempting to record observations of

children, two problems emerge, limited time and
how to compose quality records.
Answer Key
1. True
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. True