Updated: Mar 2000 | Assessment - Classroom Approaches | Teacher Journals

Assessment - Teacher Journals

In journals and notepads, teachers can write freely about any aspect of the life of the classroom and the work of the individual students. A journal provides a place for describing what has been happening over a period of time, for writing reflectively about the success of a particular activity, or for noting the progress of an activity that has been introduced for the first time. In this way, journal entries focus on what is important or on problems that need clarification.

A journal can also be used to record anecdotal evidence about students' work, and this accumulating evidence may provide the database from which patterns of development and learning can be recognised.

Journals can take various forms, such as:

	jotters
	writing records
	project logs
	writing logs
	group work records

A variation on the teacher's journal is a classroom observation notebook. Its success usually depends on:

	planning your time: When do you observe? Are there some times of the day when you could snatch a few minutes to jot down observations? Can you observe while working and interacting with groups of children? Can you use other adults to help you?
	setting realistic goals/targets: How many? Who? Where? When? For how long?

There are two main ways of making observations. First, interesting and significant behaviour can be noted or checked against a criterion-reference format. It is important to record when the behaviour was noticed and in what context. Evidence of consistent behaviour provides clues about the outcomes being achieved.

Second, observations can be planned, by identifying a particular child, area, activity or time of day for deliberate 'targeting'. Targeting helps teachers to:

	systematically observe all students.
	collect information about the way students are using resources.
	monitor students' development.
	interpret outcomes being achieved.