Lesson 3: Anecdotal Records and Self Care

Attention

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able

• Demonstrate competence in using Anecdotal Recordings to document a child's development in the self-care, adaptive domain.
  
• Discuss how personal bias can influence teaching approaches.
  
• Connect the observation with the appropriate MELDS.
  
• List environmental planning ideas to encourage children’s independence.

Teaching

Read Chapter 2 in Week by Week

Anecdotal Records

An objective observation is written without bias or opinion. The observation captures what was seen and heard without interpretation. It reports ONLY what happened. Data only.

• Example of incorrect objective observation: “S. is happy today. She really likes serving herself at the table. She loves potatoes and took extra. I didn’t have to ask her to pass the bowl to J.”
  
• Example of correct objective observation: “S is smiling. She uses her right hand to scoop potatoes onto her plate without teacher assistance. She passes the bowl to the child next to her without teacher prompting.”

A subjective observation is influenced by state of mind, point of view, is inferential, interprets meaning, and is biased.

A well-written and objective observation does not include words or expressions such as: angry, sad, happy, tired, energetic, misbehaved, had a tantrum, was bored, etc. Describe HOW a child acted, what they said and did, including facial expressions and body language! See example on page 54.

Remember that you should always protect confidentiality. Use initials or “fake” names only and never name the students other than the one you are observing if you plan to share the anecdotal with families or include in the record you are keeping for the focus child. You can refer to them as male/female peer, student, or child.

The summary is where you should include opinion, reaction and comments about future planning.

Self-Care

Young children are learning to take care of themselves. They enjoy doing things independently. Caregivers should provide children with as many opportunities to do this as possible. The approach should always be to allow the child to do as much as possible for themselves with encouragement before intervening or helping. There are many ways to allow children to do this such as: dressing, feeding, toothbrushing, serving self at mealtimes, toileting, etc. It can be difficult for the caregiver to allow children to make mistakes or messes, but it is important to allow them to learn from these experiences.

Classroom environments should be set up to encourage independence. For example: place materials on shelves that children can reach, label cubbies for children to find and take care of possessions, provide child sized serving utensils and pitchers at mealtimes, etc. Children should always help clean up the room. You can make it fun by playing music, or an “I Spy” game to inspire them to pick up.

As you help children learn to take care of their own needs, you are also helping them to build self esteem.

Assessment

Lesson 3 Assignment

Use the Anecdotal Report Form.

Complete an objective anecdotal record of a child between the ages of 2-5 participating in a self care activity, using the form provided. This record should be a minimum of 5 sentences or bullets, but no more than 10.

Write a summary of your opinion and/or reaction to this event, using the form provided. Include activity or environment ideas a teacher could implement to encourage this child to develop his/her self care skills. Give 3-4 ideas for ways the teacher has or could set up the environment to encourage independence. Note the Maine Early Learning Developmental Standard that your focus child exhibited, as listed in the Emotional Development or Physical Health and Development section.

Obtain written permission from the appropriate person before you observe.

Submit a version of this form to the Lesson 3 Assignment Drop Box.

Lesson 3 Discussion

It is important to know our own biases when we observe children. These biases can influence how we react to situations. Discuss a bias you have and how this could influence how you work with children. Example: “I have a hard time with mess. Therfore it’s difficult for me to allow children to….for themselves. Now that I know this about myself I will need to….so that I can give my kids the chance to….”.