How to Be Productive while Writing Report Card Comments

Report card writing is one of the most cumbersome jobs for teachers. Time consuming, specific to each student, necessary for student records—all of these factors need to be considered when Canadian teachers craft report cart remarks. Sometimes writing constructive and detailed report card comments can take a heavy mental toll and you might find your mind wandering.

Thankfully there are some guidelines to make report card comments writing a bit easier:

Face It Head on and Start Early

There really is no better way to tackle writing arduous report card comments than getting an early start and attacking it with gusto. If you’ve kept notes and grades on each student, the sooner you can begin going through them well before they have to be submitted, and the sooner you’ll get the job done with less stress.

Eliminate Distractions

Like you might tell students, you really have to unplug from everything to do a good job in report card writing. Switch off the stereo or TV, avoid jumping online or checking your phone, get yourself into a quiet workspace, and go for it.

Take Breaks

Once you get some report writing done, your reward is your break. There and then you can check your phone, get some coffee, or take a short walk. In fact, a break can help refresh your mind once you resume writing.

Work During Your Prime Time

Whether it’s earlier in the AM or later in the PM, you know the time you do your best work. That’s when report card writing ought to take place. It just depends on what sort of person you are but working at your prime time will make the work flow easier.

Fill Your Tank

Once some teachers get going, they can get a lot of report card writing done. But in order to keep that energy sustained, a little snack or drink is needed. Usually, a healthy snack like fruit or dried goods will keep you going at your peak while fending off any internal pangs.

Use a Generic Comment Bank

It’s great when teachers wish to tackle each student’s report card with unique prose and individual comments. But sometimes time or fatigue can impair this desire. Accessing online report card comments collections or keeping a hard drive file of report card comment ideas will allow you to address particular student comments.

Work Smarter

Along with having generic comment banks on hand, working smarter to develop particular comments will make your writing job easier. You can use certain starting phrases to begin your comments and, if you’ve been doing report cards for a while, feel free to access some older students’ comments to reuse and reword for newer students.

Get Help from TIMESAVERS for TEACHERS

All of these tips can help you with your report card comment writing, but sometimes a strong digital tool can be that much more helpful. At TIMESAVERS for TEACHERS, we provide a wide range of useful downloadable resources to help teachers stay on task and maximize their time.

Featuring over 1,800 commonly used report card remarks in Canada, our Report Card Comments Collection is one of our top-selling products. We also offer these other great resources that can make report card writing a lot easier for teachers of all grade levels: The Teacher’s Binder, Substitute Teacher Instruction Kit, and Classroom Awards. Contact us today to learn more.