ANECDOTAL RECORDS

Anecdotal records are a meaningful method for collecting the information about actions and opinions
ofthe students, Anecdotal record includes writing in a diary bythe student, events from history and
cumulative record prepared by the teachers etc. Daily supervision ofthe pupils by the teachers makes
the picture of pupil's behaviour absolutely clear. The meaning of anecdotal record can be defined by
following definitions:

According to John D. Willard: An anecdotal record is a simple statement of an incident deemed by the
observer to be significant with respect to a given pupil.

According to Louis Raths: An anecdotal record is a report of significant episode in the life of a student

According to J.Jones: It may be defined as an on the spot description of some obio incident, episode or
ocurrence that is observed and recorded as being of possible significance. When these reports are
gathered together they are known as anecdotal record.

According to Brown and Martin: Anecdotal records are descriptive accounts of episodes or occurrences
in the daily life of the students.

Types of Anecdotal Records

In the guidance and counseling procedure, various types of anecdotal records are used in order to guide
the students. Some types are as follows:

1. Objective type anecdotal record

2. Descriptive type anecdotal record

3. Remedial type anecdotal record

Objective type: In such anccdotal rocords, pupils' bchavior is objectivcly studied and his does not include
any type of personal opinions.

Descriptive type: In such type of anecdotal record, some comments are given along with the desciption
of a person's behaviour.

Remedial type: This type of anecdotal record, along with comments and description of pupil's behavior,
also includes a description of some remedies.

Steps of anecdotal record

There are three steps in anecdotal record:

First step: In the first step, cooperation is sought. This cooperation means first of all, cooperation of that
pupil or person whose anecdotal record is to be prepared. Without pupil's cooperation, his interests and
other characteristics cannot be described properly.
 Second step: In the second step, it is stressed upon the teacher that he should write the desirable
description only. It is often observed that the teachers write the description in excess, Hence, it is to be
taken care of in the step. Therefore the teacher should avoid irrelevant information.

Third step: In this step, the concerned form is prepared. This form has four columns. It scems as follows:

Example of anecdotal record

Name of the student Section:

Fourth step: In this step, there are many things and incidents in the class which can be recorded, but the
teacher cannot leave aside the teaching work. This results into discontinuity of the class work.
Distraction also occurs. In such a situation the teacher should use certain symbols so that he may recall
that incident after looking at those symbols and he may record that incident in the form.

Fith step: In this step, central filing is done. A well suited place should be searched out for the storing
the anecdotal record of a student so that it can be supplied conveniently on demand and can be easily
studied. It this record is kept in the counsellor's room, then its study and use becomes easy

Sixth step: In this step, the procedure of summarization is included. Anecdotal record should be
summarized once amonth and annual summarization should be done by the counselor himself.

4.5.2 Characteristics of a Good Anecdotal Record

The characteristics are as follows:

1. Objectivity: Objectivity is must in good anecdotal record. It should be free from the teacher's own
interest,jealousy, and favouritism.

2. Completeness: A good anecdotal record should present a complete view of the student or an incident

3. Information of the background: The infomation of background ofa person or a pupil must be
presented in good anecdotal record.

4. Proper description and sequence of events or an incident: The events described in the anecdotal
record should be iu proper sequence and their description should also be accurate. 5. Selecting relevant
and meaningful information: A good anecdotal record should include the main events only, only then
the diagnosis is possible. Also the events should be described in adequate detail.

Advantages of Anecdotal Record

The following are the advantages of anecdotal record:

1. This record makes the relationship between a teacher and his pupils more strong.

2. This is very useful in the guidance work because anecdotal records also highlight

the problems of the pupil.

3. Anecdotal record is useful for new teachers to know problems oftheir students in

a very short time,

4. With the help of these anecdotal records, a teacher can make necessary change in the curriculum
keeping in mind the interests and needs of the students.

5. With the help of this record, personality of a student can be assessed correctly. This assessment helps
the counselor in educational and vocational guidance.

6. Through this record, the teacher can pay attention towards every student.

7. These records also help the student in self awareness

8. These records are also useful in clinical service.

9. This method attracts the attention of the teacher towards the development of the student ater
withdrawing his attention from merely bookish knowledge.

Demerits of Anecdotal Record

Following are the demerits of anecdotal record:

1. Lack of objectivity: The chief defect of these record is their subjectivity. A teacher usually writes what
he/she wants.

2. Difficulty in maintenance: It is very difficult to maintain these records because most schools are too
crowded in tems of number of students per class. Secondly, ifanecdotal record of all the pupils is
written, then its maintenance becomes a big problem.

3. Difficult to explain: After studying these records, their interpretation is considered very difficult and
complicated due to interpretation being erroneous for the guidance, This work cannot be free of the
side effects.

4. Recording of undeniable behaviour: In these ancodotal records, there is every possibility of recording
undes irable behavior by the teacher. 5. Own reaction of the teacher: Sometimes fear or other
apprehensions decide whether a teacher registers his own reaction instead of the real description.

6. All types of information: These records include only good or bad facts. These should record all types
of information.