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  • More of an "office archive," I have collected in a file box all the materials that went into researching and publishing my book. This includes: early outlines, work schedules, drafts of chapters with revision notes, maps - including drafts and published maps of the area with my notes and highlights, interview notes, notebooks from field research. It includes a digital copy and a hard copy of the finished product.

    I will confess that I don't think the box is very organized, but I do know where it is.

  • I feel like there would need to be multiple types of documents to keep in my "classroom archive".  These would include past statistical data from my classes, lesson information, ancillary materials for my lessons, examples  and core materials for my lessons.  The statistical data would include student and teacher attendance and student grades, broken down into the same categories into which my gradebooks are broken down.  I don't write out lesson plans unless I absolutely have to, but if I were carefully archive my activities in the classroom, I would need to.  I suppose I would divide these lesson activities into ones which I developed myself, and ones which were taken from other sources.  I would also divide them based upon the courses to which they apply (so I don't teach how to properly execute a clean pull in AP World History :) )  Core materials would include any secondary, primary or tertiary sources which I use in the lessons.  They would be divided much the same way the lesson material is divided, but would add an index to refer to which lessons they are used in.  Ancillary materials would also be divided, and these would include documents and materials which I don't NEED to do a lesson, but which I could use to vary or extend the lesson (perhaps to accomodate different learning styles).  Finally, I would archive student work so I could have good examples of what has been produced by students, both for future lessons, and for a record of what students have done, so they could build a portfolio of their work.  

  • In my classroom I keep archives on grades.  One regret I have is that I wish I kept a printout of my grades from every semester.  I wanted to do this because I would better remeber all of the students I have taught.  My girlfriend has done this and I think it's really cool.  Luckily, we have had a lot of students in common because we started at the same time.  I have kept articles and records in our football program and stopped in 2007.

    I would create grade archives.  I would also create discipline archives.  Another archive that would be most helpful is to create a student work archives to show students would a good assignment looks like.

  • As a counselor and the confidentiality of my work, records are something I've really struggled with - what to keep, what not to keep, what should be recorded, what shouldn't be. Every counselor seems to do it differently! As far as school records, transcripts, 504 plans, etc. we keep those at our school for 5 years and then they are sent do our district office. What exactly they keep from there I'm not sure! 

    As far as my personal notes, records, etc. at this point I've been keeping things for 3 years back and then shredding. I do keep more information on my computer for longer though - letters of recommendation, Office of Children Services Reports, etc. I'm always nervous to get rid of a file, but I can't keep everything forever! I was interested to read that only 1-3% of government records are considered important enough to keep, it actually makes me feel better about getting rid of records!

  • I keep copies of grades, attendance records, etc., as well as all course documents that I have generated for every course that I have taught. They are organized by unit, with units sorted in the order that I teach them. I also keep exemplary student projects, my favorite of which are student videos. I have what I call "the Wheeles Vault," which is my collection of the best student-produced videos that have been submitted for my classes. These have included everything from short campaign ads to a DVD collection of a group of students' complete works to a 40-minute documentary on the 1960s that included a surprise interview with Carol Comeau.

    I also have a pretty long list of weblinks that I keep organized in folders (mostly by course) and subfolders (by topic). I maintain a digital archive (on Google Docs) of records for Dimond Student Government and an archive of pictures from our events.

  • As a teacher I keep grades, attendances, assignments by chapters and classes. I try to keep everything in folders by quarter for each subject so I can keep track of what I have, what I might still need to complete, need or change the next time I come back to that subject. I try to find lots of movie clips and photos for the subjects so students can see it and not just hear about it.

  • Aside from managerial documents, such as grades, lesson books and planners, and communications records, class photos, and yearbooks, I keep records of student work in my "class archives." Some examples might include a final draft of a paper and all the revisions leading up to it. Or, I might keep the digital media created by students to show future classes. 

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