Recipe for Efficient, Easy, Anecdotal Assessment
January 2, 2012 in Assessment, For Educators, In the Classroom, Tips & Strategies
Hassle Free, Sugar Free, Fat Free and Only 5 Ingredients! 
With all the demands on our teaching time, how in the world do we assess “on the run” and make it reliable, sequential, and easy. Here’s my favorite recipe for authentic, homemade assessment.
Ingredients:
- One 3 ring binder (any color)
- A tabbed divider for each student in your class
- Blank paper that will fit in the binder
- White shipping/mailing Labels, like Avery (I prefer 10 to a page approx. 2” X 4”, but you can also use 3 to a page, approx. 3” X 4”. May substitute sticky notes and clear tape.
- Clip Board
Procedure:
Step 1: Insert the dividers into the binder. Put the name of each student on one divider. Place a few sheets of blank paper behind each divider.
Step 2: Place several sheets of shipping/mailing labels on your clipboard.
Step 3: Begin recording/cooking!
As you observe and interact with students:
- Write the students name and the date on the top of a label
- Make a few notes on that label to capture:
- New learning
- Repetition of misunderstanding
- Improved behavior
- Quick running record, etc.
- When you have that illusive free moment, place each label on the blank paper behind the student’s divider. Keep them in sequential order by date.
Tips:
Keep your clip board with you or handy all the time.
- During small group sessions
- During whole class mini-lessons
- In the halls when moving from place to place
- At recess, etc.
Recipe serves any number. Handy to take to parties like, IEP staffings, RTI meetings, parent conferences and more!
I’d love to hear how you use this recipe and what new tips and ingredients you try.
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Bobbie,
Amen! I just convinced the 4th grade teachers at our school to do this. We are taking daily anecdotal records and periodic running records with students as they read independently and/or in small groups at their instructional level. We are using a combination of DRA and Lexile levels to make sure students are reading at their instructional level and making good book choices. This assessment data provides us with lots of information we can use to plan next steps for instruction and differentiate for our students. They are also excellent documentation of growth. As a classroom teacher, I always used them during parent conferences to provide parents with evidence of their child’s reading.
Enjoyed your post. Creative presentation of best practices in reading.
Thanks for your comments, Lana. It’s great that you have gotten these Best Practices going in your school. I hope they spread! Once teachers see how useful these kinds of records are for parent conferences, grouping, adjusting instruction, RTI, etc, etc, etc, they won’t want to give them up. I appreciate that you took the time to comment. Hopefully our Best Practices ideas will be helpful in your work with the teachers. Please pass them on. Next month I will have a 2 part blog on introducing books to students – with another quirky twist. Hope to hear from you again.
I’ve used this method in my classroom for reading workshop and for writing workshop. You’re right! It is quick and efficient. When I put the label sheets on the clipboard, I wrote each child’s name in one of the boxes. That way I could easily see which students I needed to conference with. Thanks for sharing a great idea.
Great addition, Denise. Thanks for taking the time to respond. The more we share, the better we get!!!
I hope to hear from you again next month when we post my next blog. Please share our blog with your friends and colleagues.