Some Ideas about Teaching
Writing ReportsMany schools are going over to 'statement-bank' reporting systems, in which case what follows is fairly useless - unless you are the one with the job of trying to devise a set of statements!
The Principles of Written Reports to Parents
Alison is absolutely right
that reports are for the parents, not the child or the teacher. Be careful here - parents love their children, and they're not handing over the right to slag off their loved one, but they want to hear the truth. I always tell staff - tell the parents the truth, but ALWAYS see some good in the child. And it gives huge weight to your comments on performance etc. if it's clear that you LIKE their child.
Particularly, parents want to know where their child stands absolutely - compared to all other children. 'Top in 7N' is a worthless piece of information to a parent, as is '85% in the recent exam' - against what standards?? They need to know what skills their child is good at, and what bits they struggle at as well.
A good parent wants to be
able to sit down with their child and read your report and say to the child:
'Well, I like the way..., but I notice that... and so we've got to get that
corrected - and here, THESE ARE THE THINGS YOU'VE GOT TO DO TO IMPROVE (and
I will help you by...)'
PS: contrary to many
teachers, I don't believe that many parents are very interested to read a
long description of 'what we've studied this term'. Most parents are giving
up valuable time and they want you to be efficient in telling them how their
child has done, and what they have got to make them do to help them get
better? PPS: many of your parents will be secretaries/ typists etc on roughly half what we are being paid, and punctuation, grammatical and spelling errors are NOT just a minor blip that doesn't really matter - parents EXPECT teachers to be able to write and spell right, and the teacher that cannot or will not do so not only undermines his own authority to speak on their child's education, but the authority of the whole school. Parents DO notice and they DO think worse of the school because of it. I tell staff that their report is their open testimonial to parents that they are fit, trustworthy and professional enough to teach their child, and it needs to look the part.
Posted on: Jun 26 2003, 10:08 PM
Statement Banks These are the statement Banks I devised for my own pupils - you are welcome to them to improve, delete, supplement etc. as you please. Their advantage is that they relate directly to the department's AfL assessment markscheme - so you can translate their achievements in their assignments directly into your comments on their reports.
Year 7 When writing your reports, enter ticks in the appropriate columns as follows:
a. You MUST tick BOTH Intro statements
b. You MUST tick Achievements statement 00 c. Tick one of the statements 1-3 as appropriate d. Tick one of the statements 4-6 IF any are appropriate] e. Tick one of the statements 7-10 as appropriate f. Tick one of the statements 11-13 as appropriate
Then: g. You MUST tick Targets statement 00 h. Tick any THREE targets (the most appropriate), except that at least ONE MUST come from targets 12-17.
Next: i. You MUST tick BOTH S Stud statements.
and finally: j. You MUST tick Teacher statement 00 k. Tick the appropriate Teacher number
Intro 00 HISTORY 01 In History, Year 7 pupils have studied the Middle Ages.
Achievements 00 HISTORY ACHIEVEMENTS 01 <forename> is a pleasant, friendly and diligent pupil who has worked well in History this year. 02 <forename> is a pleasant and polite pupil who has made satisfactory progress in History this year. 03 I am sorry to have to tell you that <forename> has not always worked to a satisfactory standard in History this year.
04 <He> is capable of good written work and notably did a good assignment on the Monasteries. 05 <He> is capable of good written work and notably did a good assignment on 1066. 06 <He> is capable of good written work and notably did well within the class in the exam.
07 <His> work shows basic knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes. 08 <His> work shows deeper knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes. 09 <His> work shows deeper knowledge and understanding, and <he> is beginning to be able to explain events, people and changes. 10 <He> can explain different events, people and changes, and is beginning to understand that they can be and have been interpreted in different ways.
11 <He> can answer historical questions using different sources of information (without copying or paraphrasing). 12 <He> is able to select and combine information from different sources to answer historical questions. 13 <He> can select and combine information from a range of sources to answer historical questions, and is beginning to evaluate the validity and usefulness of different sources.
Targets 00 <His> targets for next year must be: 01 To maintain <his> excellent standard of motivation and effort. 02 To maintain <his> enthusiasm for discussion and activity in the lessons. 03 To improve behaviour and motivation. 04 To extend <his> concentration span, particularly as regards written work. 05 To be more pleasant and polite to other pupils. 06 To produce a greater quantity of work. 07 To slow down to improve the quality of <his> written work. 08 To be bolder to speak out in class discussions and dramas. 09 To improve <his> reading. 10 To improve the neatness of <his> handwriting. 11 To improve spelling. 12 To learn to write more complex sentences, which show consistency of person, tense and meaning. 13 To improve <his> extended writing, learning how to link sentences and ideas. 14 To work to develop <his> free writing, particularly the ability to explain in writing. 15 To understand how sources differ in reliability and usefulness. 16 To understand how events, people and changes can be and have been interpreted in different ways. 17 To work to improve <his> ability to develop a logical argument.
Self Study 00 HOME AND SELF-STUDY EXTENSION WORK 01 The History department has an extensive library which can be used after school, and there are ideas for further study on the school website at: http://greenfieldschool.net/History.htm
Teacher 00 HISTORY TEACHER 01 Mr John D Clare 02 etc. 03 etc.
Year 10 When writing your reports, enter ticks in the appropriate columns as follows:
a. You MUST tick BOTH Intro statements
b. You MUST tick Achievements statement 00 c. Tick one of the statements 1-6 as appropriate d. Tick one of the statements 7-9 as appropriate] e. Tick one of the statements 10-14 as appropriate f. If neither piece of coursework has been done tick statement 25, otherwise tick statements 15 plus one of 16-19 as appropriate and 20 plus one of 21-24 as appropriate.
Then: g. You MUST tick Targets statement 00 h. Tick any THREE targets (the most appropriate), except that at least ONE MUST come from targets 12-17. i. Tick one target from statements 18-20 as appropriate.
Next: j. You MUST tick BOTH S Stud statements.
and finally: k. You MUST tick Teacher statement 00 l. Tick the appropriate Teacher number
Intro 00 HISTORY 01 In History, Year 10 pupils are studying the AQA Modern World syllabus 3042 (coursework option), doing this year International Relations 1900-1948 and starting Britain in World War II.
Achievements 00 HISTORY ACHIEVEMENTS 01 I am sorry to have to tell you that <forename> has not always worked to a satisfactory standard this year. 02 <forename> is a pleasant and polite pupil who has made satisfactory progress this year, although on occasions <he> has found the content difficult. 03 <forename> is a pleasant and polite pupil who has made satisfactory progress this year, although on occasions <he> has struggled to motivate <himself>. 04 <forename> is a pleasant and polite pupil who has made satisfactory progress all year. 05 <forename> is a pleasant and polite pupil who has done well this year, although on occasions <he> has worried about <his> progress. 06 <forename> is a pleasant, friendly and diligent pupil who has worked well all year.
07 <His> work shows extensive knowledge and understanding of the course content. 08 <His> work shows deeper knowledge and understanding of the course content. 09 <His> work shows basic knowledge and understanding of the course content.
10 <He> attempts to answer historical questions, describing the topic in the question. 11 <He> can answer historical questions, explaining the answer to the question. 12 <His> written work demonstrates the ability to explain <his> answers and to develop the explanation factually. 13 <His> written work demonstrates the ability to explain <his> answers and to develop the explanation factually, linking ideas into a sustained argument. 14 <His> written work demonstrates the ability to explain, to develop explanations factually and to link ideas into a sustained argument, coming to make a reasoned judgement based on the evidence and <his> argument.
15 <His> coursework on a Suffragette poster: 16 has not yet been completed. 17 was mainly limited to description and not of an adequate standard to gain a pass grade. 18 analysed the issue of utility mainly with reference to the content and origin of the source, gaining one of the lower GCSE grades, although it did not sufficiently address the purpose of the poster. 19 analysed utility with reference to content, origin and purpose, and was worthy of one of the higher GCSE grades.
20 <His> coursework on why the Suffragettes gained the vote: 21 was of limited insight and not of an adequate standard to gain a pass grade. 22 showed some understanding of the issues, gaining one of the lower GCSE grades, although it did not go into sufficient detail of explanation and factual development. 23 showed good understanding and explanation, and was worthy of one of the higher GCSE grades. 24 was a developed and supported argument worthy of one of the highest GCSE grades.
25 Neither piece of coursework (on the Suffragettes) has been completed.
Targets 00 <His> targets for next year must be: 01 To maintain <his> excellent standard of motivation and effort. 02 To maintain <his> enthusiasm for discussion and activity in the lessons. 03 To improve behaviour and motivation. 04 To extend <his> concentration span, particularly as regards written work. 05 To be more pleasant and polite to other pupils. 06 To produce a greater quantity of work. 07 To be better at doing homework/ coursework on time. 08 To be bolder to speak out in class discussions and dramas. 09 To improve the neatness of <his> handwriting. 10 To learn how NOT to panic in tests and exams. 11 To attend lessons more reliably.
12 To work to improve <his> essay-answers, learning how to increase the depth of factual description in <his> essays. 13 To work to improve <his> essay-answers answers, learning how to improve the quality of his explanation in <his> essays. 14 To work to improve <his> essay-answers answers, learning how to link ideas and facts into a logical, supported argument. 15 To work to improve <his> sourcework answers, learning how to use Content, Origin and Purpose to build ideas to evaluate the source. 16 To work to improve <his> factual learning/ revision. 17 To improve <his> examination strategies.
18 A pleasure to teach. 19 Well done. 20 Improvement needed.
Self Study 00 HOME AND SELF-STUDY EXTENSION WORK 01 The History department has a well-stocked library which can be used after school, and there are extensive opportunities for further study on Mr Clares website at http://www.johndclare.net/
Teacher 00 HISTORY TEACHER 01 Mr John D Clare 02 etc. 03 etc.
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To cite this page, use: CLARE, JOHN D. (2003/2006), 'Writing Reports', at Greenfield History Site (http://www.johndclare.net/Teaching/Teaching_Reports.htm). |