Monday, January 10, 2011

Comments for Confidence!

So, here I am sitting on a snow day in my pajamas finishing up report cards with a hot, steaming glass of hot chocolate with fluffy, miniature marshmallows.  As I am writing my comments, I am keenly aware, as a parent myself, how much these comments impact a child and their parents.  I need to be honest and purposeful with my feedback, but I also need to be very aware of how my words are the ones that stick in my parent’s thoughts and minds.  This is their little baby that I am focusing on and making judgments about.


With that said, I am hoping that the following documents (created solely by information found in various sources on the internet…I DID NOT create these on my own-just formatted them differently to fit my viewing pleasure,) will possibly inspire you to focus future comments in a more positive fashion on your report cards!  Good luck with the next semester of teaching!



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13 comments:

  1. Miss. PartenJanuary 11, 2011 at 7:05 PM

    Jody, I am loving the top document. I printed it off right away. Wish I would have had it before I finished my report cards. Gracias!

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  2. Thriving in Third GradeJanuary 11, 2011 at 7:19 PM

    You are welcome!

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  3. AngeliaJanuary 11, 2011 at 9:03 PM

    Thank you! I'll be doing IEP goal updates next week and this is really helps!

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  4. JanineJanuary 11, 2011 at 9:17 PM

    This is perfect!

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  5. KristenJanuary 12, 2011 at 4:35 PM

    What a fantastic idea! I love how you put this together and thank you so much for sharing it. I am on a snow day too (yay!) with progress reports coming out soon and I know I'll be referring to these comments.

    Thank you again!!

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  6. Thriving in Third GradeJanuary 12, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    I am sooooooo glad that you are all finding this helpful!

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  7. ~*~Ash~*~January 13, 2011 at 12:01 AM

    I just found your blog and it is amazing!!!!!!!!!
    Very timely for report cards! Have you ever used Teacher Report Assistant?
    http://www.bestfreewaredownload.com/freeware/t-free-teachers-report-assistant-freeware-tcldoelp.html
    You type in the comments one time, then you can pick and choose to customize the report for each kiddo that can easily be printed onto labels.

    So, your pumpkin book reports were cracking me up big time! I'm going to have to remember that one! I also love Wordle. I like the sheets you have to go with it!

    I have been taking advantage of the snow days, and I started my own teaching blog. The last posts include how to score a very inexpensive document camera, steps to building a milk jug igloo and an arctic animals unit.

    http://teachinghappilyeverafter.blogspot.com

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  8. Thriving in Third GradeJanuary 15, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    Ash, thanks for your fun comments! I am heading over to check out your blog! I will have to follow you, too!

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  9. BrandyJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:17 PM

    I wished I had this when I taught 2nd grade. I was always so worried about what I wrote because I knew my words carried weight with each child and the words I thought of never seemed quite what I wanted to say in the way I wanted to say it. Now that I have one in school, I realize it even more. My daughter missed a test question back in Dec. (the only test question she's missed all year on anything) and the teacher wrote in all capitals beside the question "READ ALL ANSWER CHOICES!!!" with that many exclamation marks and it was underlined twice. My daughter (who pays attention to EVERYTHING and over analyzes EVERYTHING wasn't concerned that she missed the question, but was terribly offended that her teacher assumed she had not read all of the answer choices. In fact, she put so much thought into picking an answer that when she got her test back and read that on there, she immediately went up to her teacher to explain her reasoning for the answer she picked and the teacher was stunned that she had put as much thought into that she had. And when the teacher told the other teachers about it, they got to thinking that my daughter's reasoning made complete sense...I guess they don't expect 1st graders to really think about things...anyway, her teacher gave her credit for the question and the teachers changed the question so that only one answer choice would apply in the future. I loved it!

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  10. RachelleFebruary 1, 2011 at 8:19 AM

    Thank you so much!
    -Rachelle
    www.whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com

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  11. Mrs. CarsonJuly 1, 2011 at 9:20 AM

    Just found your blog! This is great! Thank you so much!
    A Little Bit of Kindergarten Fun

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  12. debraJuly 3, 2011 at 7:48 PM

    I would love to find out how to make these wonderful games and teaching materials including where to get the graphics and how to put them together. Please let me know where I can get a tutorial for that. Your blog is wonderful.
    Thank you so much.

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  13. Leanne DobsonJuly 7, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    Thanks! Sure will be helpful for me in Nov.!

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