A Stress-Free Process for Generating Awesome Report Card Comments

Most teachers agree that report card comments are important, but very few look forward to writing them. This is because every educator understands that working under tight deadlines is stressful, and writing 20 or more detailed, unique reports isn’t a simple process. Although no one knows your students and their work as well as you do, there are useful tips and tools to help you when writing your own report card comments or remarks. Check out these practical tips and comment ideas for report cards and find out where you can get timesaving tools for teachers.

Time-Saving Tips and Hacks

1. Type your comments instead of handwriting them so you can copy and paste without needing to rewrite every time for each student.
2. Consider creating comments in a Google Doc or Word doc first so you can refer back to it at a later date if you need to generate more feedback.
3. Be authentic and write how you speak. Don’t waste time trying to find the most formal and professional terms if you wouldn’t use them when speaking in person.
4. Collect resources that highlight the most common problems so you can provide links to parents or print them a copy. These links may include tips for how to help their children study for math tests or practice reading comprehension.

A 5-Step Formula for Generating Report Card Comments for Any Student

Best Attributes

Begin your report by writing about the students’ best qualities and accomplishments. Be specific for each student by using examples. This shows the students and the parents that you care about them.

Areas of Success

Share one or two areas where the student is doing well. This should be written before going into any significant problems or challenges the student is having. For example, if the student is acting up in class, talk about something positive about their behaviour before getting into the areas that need improvement.

Needs Improvement

For your report cards, it is recommended not to include more than three areas that need improvement. The report card is not the appropriate place to delve into every single issue the student has. This can overwhelm and discourage the students and their parents. Instead, save these issues for a parent-teacher meeting, and focus the report card comments on areas where the student can improve to be successful.

Do This to Help

After reading a report card, parents need to know what they can do to help their child improve. It’s frustrating for parents who want to help but don’t know how. Give some simple actionable steps to help them get started. You can request the student arrive to class early if they are often late or encourage extra-curricular activities if they are too rambunctious and distract the other students. If they need homework help and you realize the parents are very busy, suggest a tutor to help the student get on track.

Supportive Statement

Wrap up your report card by sharing your beliefs that with a little effort and some changes, the student can be successful. Show that you are on the same team and are invested in helping the student improve and do their best. Ending with a supporting statement also ensures that families don’t feel attacked.

How TIMESAVERS for TEACHERS Can Help You

Are you a teacher struggling to be more efficient in the classroom and at home? Is report card season driving you crazy? Our teacher’s Timesaving Mega Bundle is the perfect tool to help you manage your time more effective. If you want to be more efficient when writing your report cards, our teacher’s Report Card Comments collection is a great tool.

TIMESAVERS for TEACHERS provides downloadable and essential classroom time management tools and teacher resources. Looking for more ways to be more productive? Visit our web site to download these amazing time-saving tools!

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