How much do you document? Some people claim they document everything. Not sure what they mean by that. Some only document certain situations. So how do you know when to document? There's no way we can document every interaction. Some realistic guidelines would be so helpful to me! Thanks!
Documenting could also include keeping copies of all correspondence between parents. It may seem like a lot but you never know when a parent will write you a note in their child's organizer and then when it comes back with a problem, the page mysteriously disappears.
Here's a tip that can save you a headache: make up a form called "Acknowledgment of Missing Work" that states that the student knew that the assignment was due and that your policy is that you will not accept late work. When you collect a major assignment (I call them "firm due date" assignments), give your students something to do that will keep them working quietly for a few minutes while you put a check in your gradebook for every kid who turned in the work. Have those who failed to turn it in fill out the form and sign and date it. It's a good way to CYA.
Here's a tip that can save you a headache: make up a form called "Acknowledgment of Missing Work" that states that the student knew that the assignment was due and that your policy is that you will not accept late work. When you collect a major assignment (I call them "firm due date" assignments), give your students something to do that will keep them working quietly for a few minutes while you put a check in your gradebook for every kid who turned in the work. Have those who failed to turn it in fill out the form and sign and date it. It's a good way to CYA.
My first two years I didn't document near as much as I should have. I now keep a student binder that has each student in there. I keep their info in there, parent contact sheets, and a sheet that's divided up into squares where I can quickly jot down the date and the behavior (I only use this in case of extreme behavior). I also have a discipline book where the kiddos sign it, tell what rule they broke, the consequence that was given, and I initial it. When one gets filled up, it goes in the student binder.
Mrs. K, I'm interested in that form too.
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'It is today we must create the world of the future.' Eleanor Roosevelt
On referral forms (the forms we use to send a kid down to the office to talk to the AP) we are supposed to document parent contacts, counselor contacts, and "conferences" we have with students. A conference can be something as simple as talking with a student about a behavior issue in the hallway - it counts as long as it's just between you and the student (or you, other teachers and the student.) Therefore, I document only those interactions. I've just starting keeping an alphabetical list in a Word document and each time I deal with a student I write down the date and make a note of it. That way, if I talk to the parent or write a referral, I have it all down in front of me.
Even if your school doesn't count talking in the hall as a "conference," this might be a good way of drawing the line between what's worth documenting and what's not.
Some kids already have a very long list and some have no entries yet. I also record "gold slips" which are slips they get for good behavior.
I'm lucky in that our online gradebook has easy access to parent information, so I don't usually bother writing that down unless I talk to the parent all the time or if they give me some info that's not in the gradebook.
