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The power of report card comments
Filed Under Evaluation, motivating students, underachieving students
It’s the end of semester, and I’m writing report card comments again. Ever since that conversation with Darryl, I’ve come to respect the power of report card comments.
I’m just trying to remember how long ago I taught Darryl. It was probably about 19 years ago, my first year at the vocational school. Darryl was in my grade 12 math class. It was one of the more lively classes I’ve taught over the years- if you get what I mean. Darryl, n0t his real name, really gave me a run for my money. While I was teaching the lesson at the beginning of the class, he’d pull out a small copy of the Bible and read it. When I asked him to put it away, he’d cause quite a commotion. It was the Bible after all. How could I complain about someone reading the bible he used to ask me. The class loved it. (I actually thought at the time that was an ingenious way to get the teacher.) He persisted. I persisted.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Darryl had been the student council president the previous year. Everyone love him. The sun shone brightly on him, so when I complained to the office they wondered what was wrong with me, the new teacher at the school. I found out that Darryl had actually graduated the year before but had come back to upgrade his marks. He was a very popular student and at the beginning of that first semester, he had more credibility with the office than I did!
Darryl and I finally got to the point where the Bible was put away while I taught the lesson. Things seemed OK for a while, but when we got to algebra he started skipping class regularly. He’d skip class and then come for help during his lunch which happened to be my prep time. I thought that strange but decided that I’d help him even though he skipped class. Don’t ask me why I did that. To this day, I have no idea. It doesn’t make sense.
The relationship between Darryl and I continued to be a bumpy one. When it came to the end of the semester, Darryl failed the final exam and the course. I entered the mark on his report card and wrote the comments just like I do at the end of every semester and really didn’t think any more about it.
A couple of years later as I was walking down the hall, I was surprised to see Darryl. He was visiting the school and saying hi to all his friends. When he saw me, he came over and started to talk to me. He was all excited because he had just started an apprenticeship as an electrician. I was surprised and very pleased for him but wondered how he got the apprenticeship. Didn’t he need senior math to do that? While I was wondering about that, Darryl told that what I had written on his report card had made all the difference. After reading what I had said on his report card, he decided go to another school for a fresh start and take the math class again, and that time he passed .
For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what I’d written on his report card that had made all the difference. I was actually quite embarrassed because I couldn’t remember, but I just had to know what that profound thing was so I asked him. This is what he told me, “You said I could do it if I really wanted to. It was all up to me.”
That was it “You can do it if you want to. It’s all up to you.” I was really surprised. Of all the things I had said all semester to encourage Darryl, it was the comment on his report card that made the difference. When Darryl told me how this comment affected him, I realized the power of report card comments. Ever since then I try not to waste the power that the opportunity writing them gives me.
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It helps if you can write your own comments but a lot of districts use electronic grading with comments already set up for you to pick for each student. I wish we could modify those comments
Anthony,
Luckily we can still create our own comments to write on students work. Kids look for comments, not just a mark.