Nov 14 2009
Recordkeeping in the Montessori Classroom
With parent-teacher conferences just around the corner, I can’t help but think about all of the different record-keeping methods I have used over the years.
My first school had detailed checklists for each area, specifying skills and certain works within each. Progress was noted with the Mastery Triangle. Each “grading period” over the three-year period used a different color, so that you could actually see the child’s progress over the years. I found it to be a very visual way to keep track of a child’s progress. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep a blank copy to use, and have never been able to recreate it.
I did have a similar version that we used at my second school. Unfortunately, when I left, we were in the middle of having to realign our curriculum with the new state standards, so the last copy in no way resembled the original.
Other methods I have seen are literal checklists. Notations for progress include P for progressing and M for mastery. I think it is an I for introduced, and the date is to be included with each entry. For a visual person such as myself, I feel that the mastery triangle is a better technique.
Several other people I know have a chart with every child’s name and age on it. In each square, they write down the activities and lessons given to each child. If the page is used more than one day, different colors are used each day.
I am personally more of a fan of keeping notes by child instead of by day. I despise having to flip through numerous pages of notes to find the activities used by one child. It’s also easier to see which lessons have been presented, and how long it has been. I used to keep handwritten notes in a notebook or a binder. I can sit anywhere in my classroom, and jot down what I see, when I see it.
This year I updated a little bit and I now keep track on my laptop. I make it my goal to sit down at least once a day and go through the list of children, keeping track of activities they have done, things that have ben said, and lessons given. I find that because I type faster than I can write, I have more copious notes on each child than I have in the past, and I can do it in the same amount of time that I used to spend writing.
I do maintain a separate binder for reading, upon which I record which readers the children have done with me, as well as which ones they have taken home to practice with their parents.
What kinds of record-keeping methods do you use?
