Running records. I’m going to speak for you, teacher, when I say that we loathe the process of getting them done, but we LOVE the information that we gain about our precious readers. After completing a running record, we can have clearer picture of the reader as a whole. We know what strategies they rely on and what bands of text are appropriate for that reader.
So, what about math?
I caught wind of a running record for fact fluency a few years ago. I was expl-trained on how to administer them. (Oh, right… Expl-trained is what happens when you need a full training on something but who are we kidding? and the neighboring teacher explains what she knows about it in ten minutes.) She gave me a bunch for forms and coding sheets and gave me the layman’s explanation for administration. I was totally overwhelmed.
I went ahead and administered them by giving it my best approximation. With every passing child, I found myself making up codes for what I saw them doing. I also realized that through it all, the only thing I really wanted to know was what strategy they were heavily relying on to add and subtract. If I could figure that out, then I could use that information to: