You have a student standing in front of your desk adamantly insisting that you gave them permission to hand their paper in a week later than the rest of the class. You can't find any notes on the subject, and your student's attendance has been a bit irregular. You are not inclined to agree but the student is very convincing.
A student claims that since you did not include attendance as part of the class grade on the syllabus and since you do not habitually take attendance, you cannot grade them for lack of attendance, in spite of the fact that you have stressed verbally the importance of both attendance and participation to the class. You do, however, have a 10% participation component figured in the total class grade.
You are asked by a student to write a recommendation for a scholarship, with an emphasis on the student's subject knowledge and commitment to the discipline. You go to your files and find your copy of the grade sheet, but nothing else. You gave all tests back and all research papers were returned with your notes, but you did not keep notes for yourself. You vaguely remember the student, but it was your first class at that institution, and the whole semester is a bit "fuzzy".
While these situations may sound more annoying than serious, you may find them to be serious if you must justify the grades you have assigned -- when writing a recommendation, participating in a grievance hearing, or seeing for yourself if you are satisfied with your own instructional methods.
There are a few niceties about record-keeping of which all instructors should be aware.
Not only are students entitled to inspect and copy most records directly relating to themselves, they are also entitled to a high degree of privacy. Check your department for specific procedures regarding student records and confidentiality of student records.
Be sure that you understand and follow your department's procedures for filing grades and student records.
When students ask you the same question for the millionth time about the same tiny thing on the syllabus, check it out! If that item is not clear, perhaps you need to reword the item, explain what you mean and re-type that section. You can hand it out as an "errata" or "addendum", but get the issue cleared up!
Find a method for planning your class lessons that allows you to record minor details such as allowing Student X an extra day on a paper, or noting that Student Y is going to be absent next week.
At the first class, hand out a stack of 5 x 8 index cards and have students provide the following information:
Name (preferred name in class)
Campus Address
Campus Telephone Number
Year in College (Sr., Jr., etc.)
Major / Secondary concentration
Interest in this class?
(Required/interested/elective)
You can keep the cards in alphabetical order and can make pertinent notes on the back of the card such as extensions, absences, books borrowed, etc, etc.
Some such record system is really necessary, particularly for larger classes. It may be a bit of a hassle the first day, but it is worth the effort. It also allows you an overview of the students in your class -- where they are living, why they are enrolled, their academic interests and academic level.
If you are teaching a large lecture section, you may not want or need to have so much information. Other methods of grading and evaluating student performance, and keeping adequate records, may be in order. Talk to your supervising faculty person, department chair, other TAs who have large lecture sections, or call Dr. Victoria Clegg, Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at 7828.
It is not fair or effective to lecture on concepts, then test only on what can be memorized, and then base the grades largely on class participation.
By keeping a journal or another form of anecdotal records, you can note a variety of incidents, out-of-the-ordinary occurrences, and class trends. It can be a good way to record your impressions of the success of a new instructional method or new materials, and then you can check your impressions against more objective data later.
Anecdotal records, or class journals, can also serve as excellent memory helps in the event that you need to remember or report any unusual circumstances.
Anecdotal records should be a fairly objective record of the event, date, place, persons involved and interactions. This is not the place to do nothing more than expound on personal philosophies. A good method to follow is the journalistic "who, what, when, where, why, how".
Class journals or anecdotal records are a tool for use by classroom instructors to help them remember the events as they took place. You should keep such records in a professional manner and regard them as confidential since you will have a variety of personal information about students recorded.
Just remember that the primary objective is to keep sufficient records to enable you to remember correctly and evaluate fairly. Whatever methods of record-keeping you use, be consistent. It's easier than trying to second-guess yourself.