Classroom Record Keeping Made Simple: Tips for Time-Strapped Teachers
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About this ebook
These forms, along with invaluable author insight, will assist teachers in:
Learn how fast and accurate record keeping can save time and result in even more successful teaching.
Diane Mierzwik
Diane Mierzwik teaches at Parkview Middle School for the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District in California. She is also the author of Quick and Easy Ways to Connect With Students and Their Parents, available from Corwin Press, and Wishes in the Field, a middle grade historical fiction novel.
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Classroom Record Keeping Made Simple - Diane Mierzwik
Copyright © 2005 by Corwin Press.
First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.
Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or info@skyhorsepublishing.com.
Skyhorse® and Skyhorse Publishing® are registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.
Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Rose Storey
Print ISBN: 978-1-51073-692-4
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-51073-698-6
Printed in the United States of America
Title Page of Classroom Record Keeping Made SimpleContents
Preface
About the Author
1. Instructional Records
Course Syllabus
Lesson Plans
Assignment Records
Worksheets
Generated Directions for Assignments/Projects
Matching Assignments and Assessments to Standards
Substitute Plans
Conclusion
2. Grading and Assessment Records
Daily Grades
Homework Grades
Makeup or Late Work
Incomplete Work
Class Participation
Running Records
Grading Checklists and Rubrics
Tests
Final Grades
Sample Work as Records
Portfolios or Student Files
Attempts to Provide Support
Conclusion
3. Classroom Management Records
Seating Charts
Student-Generated Off-Task Paperwork
Time-Outs
Detentions
Discipline Referrals
Behavioral Plans
Conclusion
4. Parent Contact Records
Letters Home
Phone Calls
Whole-Group Contacts
Personal Contacts
Progress Reports
Conclusion
5. Special Needs and Accommodation Records
Special Instructional Time Logs
Intervention Lists
Accommodation Documents
Grade Justification Sheet
Conclusion
6. Using Your Records When Meeting with Students, Parents, or Administrators
Student Meetings
Parent Meetings
Administrator Meetings
Conclusion
Template Resources
References
Index
Preface
David had failed class, actually several classes, and his parents were livid, but not because David hadn’t received good instructional time or hadn’t been exposed to the grade-level curriculum. His parents were upset with the teachers for not notifying them of David’s impending failure.
Many teachers in the meeting pointed out that the parents had been notified via the mandatory progress report, which conveniently never made it into the parents’ possession. One teacher, on the other hand, produced a phone log indicating the times he had contacted the parents because of David’s missing work, provided the parents with several of David’s assignments with their signatures on them indicating notification of a failing grade, and a detention slip signed by the mother—the detention was for failure to complete a major project.
At first, the parents wanted to argue with the teacher, implying that he hadn’t done enough to notify them, but in the face of all the records, they admitted that they were disappointed in David and their trust in him had been broken.
Although 25 percent of all secondary schools are currently involved in lawsuits (see www.Edweek.org), the likelihood of you, as a teacher, being involved in a lawsuit is lower. Unfortunately, the chances of your classroom practices being called into question are much higher.
A colleague of mine was absent for the day, and the substitute teacher showed a video that was inappropriate. When Samson returned from his illness, he was bombarded by angry parents’ phone calls about the previous day’s lesson plans.
Luckily, Samson had written clear lesson plans for the substitute teacher that did not include watching a video. He had a record of his intentions for his students regarding the curriculum to be covered in his absence. Instead of wasting time defending his practices in the classroom, Samson quickly responded to the angry parents with a copy of the lesson plan left for the substitute teacher, which reassured parents of Samson’s professionalism. The substitute teacher was never called to work within the school district again, and Samson had parental support for the remainder of the year.
WHY KEEP MORE RECORDS?
Most teachers already spend a hefty chunk of time each day keeping records: recording grades, documenting classroom management, attending meetings, and keeping notes. If you are already spending so much of your work week documenting and reporting on your actions with students, how could you possibly keep more records without jeopardizing your instructional time with students, your planning time for students, or your private time with family?
Keeping more records does not require you to spend more time keeping records. It requires you to manage the paper trail already produced in your daily teaching to justify classroom decisions, protect yourself against unwarranted attacks, and provide your school and/or school district with records for improving instruction for future curriculum decisions. You will find that managing these records saves you time in the course of your day, your week, your semester, your school year, and your teaching career.
GOALS OF THE BOOK
As teachers, we deal with stacks and stacks of paper every day. How do we manage those and more papers without a full-time secretary to help us? The goal of this book is to provide you with tools and techniques to use the papers already generated in your day, fine-tune paperwork for use as records, and create time-saving records to alleviate some of the time-consuming practices you may be using.
In our daily teaching, papers are naturally generated that can be used for record keeping. Papers like messages from the front office, parent letters generated from the office, and school meeting agendas can all be filed for future reference. Your lesson plans or planning book and other papers you create in your day-to-day teaching can be used to inform your decisions. With an understanding of how these papers can be filed for later use, you will be able to begin keeping records without adding any time to your teaching day.
Finally, creating some record-keeping practices will actually save you time in the course of your teaching year and your teaching career. Using document records such as phone logs, tutoring sign-ins, or seating charts will help you to keep accurate records of your parent contacts, your time with students, and behavioral management in class. These records require very little of your time up front and save you time in the long run, especially if your practices are ever called into question.
The goal of the book is to help you keep records to inform your decisions, plot your successes, and save time.
WHAT KIND OF RECORD KEEPER ARE YOU?
Each year at tax time, I sit down and gather all my records. Now, my records are more like a paper trail, literally. I’m the Hansel and Gretel of keeping records, collecting rocks to drop along my path to find my way home so I don’t end up in the IRS’s oven. I don’t sit down once a month, as is suggested in most books, to log in my expenditures and record my receipts. I don’t use a computer program or any other electronic form of keeping records. Instead, I have a drawer where I throw all my receipts for the year or, if I’m really organized, an accordion file to throw these papers in until a week before my tax appointment.
A week before my tax appointment, I empty out my drawer of papers and begin stacking them into piles: rentals, school, home, child care, et cetera. Inevitably, I keep papers that I don’t need and that end up in the trash, but rarely is there something I need that I didn’t keep. Once I have stacks, I begin organizing them and calculating my numbers to give to Big Al, my taxman.
I know my system appears to be unsystematic. How do I keep track of whether or not I’m staying within my budget? How do I know if I’m going to come out ahead or behind at the end of the year for taxes? My answer: It’s all in my head. I’m intuitively a good money manager. I don’t need to sit down every month to keep track of my finances. Would I do a better job of managing my money if I did? That remains to be seen. Once my child is grown and I have more time on my hands, I may try another method, but for now, given my time commitments to my family, career, and hobbies, this system is working for me.
This is how I keep records at school, too. I have