Effective record keeping

Abstract

How often do we as teachers begin to prepare a conference on one of the children in our class and suddenly realize that we don't have much specific information? We have a general impression about the child and may remember some specifics — how she loves to spend time in the housekeeping corner or at the easel — but when we start to fill out our conference form, we have only scanty information to share with her parents. Often the children who cause us to scratch our heads at conference time are those easy, average children. They are the ones who most often escape the teacher's attention while we are coping with those children with more pressing needs — the aggressive or demanding child, the painfully shy child, or the ones having most trouble with separation. But even though we might have focused a good deal of attention on an acting-out child, we still may have forgotten to notice if that child is right- or left-handed, if he can hold a pencil correctly, or if he pedals a trike.