Teaching to a Child's Strengths

I can't tell you how many times I've sat in meetings about particular students and someone asked me, "What can he do?".  At that question, I would stop and collect my thoughts and scan my notes on the student.  Now, I've learned.  Prior to meeting on a student, I make a T-chart in my notebook that looks like this:
____________________________________________
STRENGTHS     *      AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT 
                            *
                            *
                            *
                            *

On either side of the T-chart, I plug in my notes from my anecdotal records.  That way, during a meeting, I can state a PCP (Pro-Con-Pro) about the student.  I find it very helpful to jot these notes down even if it is just on 2 different sticky-notes because it allows me to see what the student needs and where I need to go with my instruction. 

And, if we want to succeed, we must teach to each student's strengths rather than their weaknesses.  Think for just a moment how much a 5-year-old does not know about reading, or how much a struggling reader at any age does not know about reading.  The list seems endless and doesn't really help in planning our next instructional steps does it?  But... if we look deeply at what our students CAN do, we know where to start our instruction.  Effective teachers build on what children know.  We, as teachers, must know what the child can do. 

Keeping this in the back of my mind has caused me think more clearly about the anecdotal notes I take on each student.  I only write what will help me make an instructional decision. 

What do you write in your anecdotal records?

Thanks for reading!

~*Gina*~