Anecdotal and Reflective Writing Record

News from the field:

Recently, I asked my Facebook friends to share their approach to the writing process. My friend Vicky Mueller shared these ideas and images of how she records her notes as she conferences with students. This method seems "real" and "doable" for classroom use.

On the right hand side, she uses one index card per student. She records the date she conferences with the student and then writes a few notes about their discussions. This seems practical to me because she can do a quick scan of the papers when they come in to see if the writer has indeed addressed the elements of the conference. She can also quickly look over the goals set from the previous conference when she meets with them again.

On the right hand side of the folder, Vicky is able to make some comments about common things she is seeing in papers that she needs to address with her whole class in mini-lessons.