Student Anecdotal Notes Made Simple

Do you take anecdotal notes on your students? It's a great way to document the ins and outs of the student's education in your classroom.  It's also great to keep documentation that could come in handy in the future for conferences.  I used to keep a notebook for every subject.  In order to make it simple I condensed to one notebook.  The notebook you see in the picture is from Walmart and cost less than $1. I assign every student a number and then I tab the notebook with the numbers.  This way the notebook is private and I don't have to write every one's names.  Keeping the notebook doesn't have to be overwhelming or time consuming.  I keep it nearby and jot notes that may be helpful later.   It only takes a second or two and I don't take notes on every student daily.  You might write reading notes in it, math, science, etc.  I like to write student's interests in the notebooks to help me order books for the classroom.  You can also use the notes when you are checking out materials for the classroom to help you remember just what every student needs.  You may also want to write when parents complain about different things or any behavior issues.  For example, I had a parent complaining about not wanting to do homework.  I took 2 seconds to jot it down every time the complaint came in.  Later on in the year when the parent complained about not getting homework I was able to pull open the notebook and cite the date that the parent complained about homework.  Another time I wrote about asking a student to adhere to dress code.  Later on when the parent complained that the student was never told, I was able to cite the date.  The most simple notes have really come in handy with a population that complains more and more.