Anecdotal Records in School Education-Necessity and Benefits
What is Anecdotal Records?
What is role of an educator?
Examples of Anecdotal Records?
Ideas and Tips for Writing Anecdotal Records?
“What a child can do and his or her achievements, as opposed to what he or she cannot do,” explains the American Association of School Administrators (1992, p. 2)
An Anecdotal Record is the observed behaviour of a student. It is a record of some significant episode happened in the life of the student that sheds light on the conduct, thinking, skills and capabilities, revealing significant features and characteristics about his/her personality. (CCE, CBSE, New Delhi)
CBSE, New Delhi
Teacher-generated, anecdotal records provide an insider’s perspective of the child’s educational experience
(Baumann & Duffy-Hester, 2002; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1990)
Need of Anecdotal Record
•Helps teachers to write valid and reliable observation positive as well as negative i.e. participating well in group , fight, quarrels, crying, failure to attempt or complete assignment, refusals to participate in games or other
•Activities truancy, cheating, shyness, fearfulness, suspiciousness, withdrawal, and other signs of emotional problems could be recorded as they occur
Cautions During Writing Anecdotal Records
•Observations should be accurate, objective and specific as well as authentic
•Observers should not make assumptions or use subjective or ambiguous words
•Student’s behaviour, whether it is favourable, unfavourable or neither of the two should be recorded (CBSE, CCE Manual)
•It is done only when appropriate and is not forced; in fact, there may be days between entries
In fact, “Anecdotal Record “ is written after “the fact” so “the fact” should be written in “past tense” moreover, “the fact” should be written in “ descriptive language”. When we write “ the fact” it should be “ a beginning , a middle and an end”. Johnston & Rogers (2002) states that ‘Recording observational data “explicitly depends on the human expert”.
Anecdotal Records
Situation 2:- When I walked into the class, the students greeted me. All of them were in a joyful mood and did not want to study. I agreed. I divided them into groups and asked them to play games in groups. Suddenly, I noticed that Shivang was studying a science book and was totally engrossed in his studies. I became very curious and asked,” Why don’t you play games with your friends?” Shivang replied, “I do not enjoy playing these games. I enjoy reading my science books.”( CBSE CCE Manual, New Delhi)
Anecdote:-Shivang is an intelligent boy who has got a scientific temper but lacks social skills. He does not like to interact with others. He prefers to study Science in depth and thinks a lot. ( CBSE CCE Manual, New Delhi)
References
•Samuel Oye Bandele et al.: Anecdotal Records as Tools for Assessing Learners’ Progress in the Universal Basic Schools in Ekiti and Oyo States, Nigeria
•Hopkins Kenneth D. & Stanley Julian C. (1981). Educational and psychological measurement and Evaluation. 6th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice – Hall Inc. Engle wood cliffs
•Johnston, P. (2003). Assessment conversations. The Reading Teacher, 57, 90–92.
www.cbse.nic.in/cce/cce–manual/annexure_3.pdfregional educational laboratory
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/instrctn/in5lk37.htm
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/edu
http://toddlers.ccdmd.qc.ca/observing/anecdotal_records
www.teachersnetwork.org/NTNY/nychelp/need_to_know/anecreport.htm