Writing reports can be an overwhelming process for all teachers. Most of us retreat for the first half of Terms 2 and 4, only to emerge bleary eyed and questioning our motivations for teaching. After a number of years of teaching I feel like I’ve developed a rhythm and process to reporting that has made the whole process far more productive and manageable.
Why do we report? Reporting is a critical part of formative and summative assessment. As teachers we have a responsibility to report the progress of students in our class. The reporting cycle should be helpful for informing future areas of teaching and growth for students, whilst also providing a summation of student learning throughout the semester.
These are my ten tips for smooth sailing reporting:
1. Assess in advance: In the month before you do reports have students complete a series of small assessments that target the exact outcomes you will be reporting on. This does not need to be a formal test, it can be a class activity. These assessments provide tangible evidence for your reports. Have your marking done a few weeks before you begin writing comments so that you don’t have to assess and report simultaneously.
2. Use comment banks: Comment banks do not mean your comments are impersonal. Using comment banks you can tailor your comments specifically to address the precise learning outcomes for each student. Comment banks significantly reduce spelling and grammatical errors whist making the process far more efficient and consistent. Always get your comment banks corrected by your supervisor in advance before you write your comments in full.
3. Read sample comments: It is perfectly acceptable to do a Google search for comment banks or report comment samples. This will give you new ideas when you’re feeling uninspired and will broaden the focus of your comments.
4. Vary comments each semester: Particularly in Mathematics and English it is a good idea to vary the focus for your comments each semester. For example in Semester 1 comment on persuasive writing and in Semester 2 focus on creative writing. This means you will not repeat or contradict yourself in your comments throughout the year.
5. Personal pronouns: In co-educational settings use HIS/HER in your comment banks. This way you the personal pronouns stand out and are easy to change. You can always use the Find tool in the Edit menu once your comments are complete to ensure you haven’t left any HIS/HER in the comments.
6. Double check names: There is nothing worse than submitting comments to your supervisor with the incorrect student name for the comment. This looks unprofessional and amateur. At the end of each comment be thorough in checking the name entered in the comment. For many reporting systems such as Synergetic you can use a question mark to generate the correct name.
7. Use specific examples: In your comments specifically reference pieces or work or learning activities to demonstrate that you really know your students. For example you might say “Jack has excelled in speech delivery this term. His talk on why he should be prime minister was persuasive and engaging”.
8. Find and replace: When you receive your corrections, if have a repeated error use the tools Find and Replace to make the change in all comments. These tools are in the Edit menu of Microsoft Word and Pages.
9. Set time goals: Give yourself a limited time frame to complete a set of comments or marks. I would aim to put aside a set period of time after school to complete comments for one KLA. Whilst it was an intense period of writing, I was able to focus and be far more consistent across the class because I did the work as a single batch. Reports do not need to take all of your weekends for half a term, set tight time frames to achieve specific goals.
10. Keep a record of your marks: It is very important to keep a record of what grade or band you allocated to students in Semester 1. This means that if a student goes down a grade or band the change is deliberate rather than accidental. It is perfectly okay for a student to be moved down a grade or band in Semester 2 as the content becomes more complex, but you want to preempt the parental inquiry. Sometimes I even contact parents in advance if a student has a lower performance in Semester 2 to explain why and provide assessment examples.
Question for you: What are your strategies for report writing?
