Comments mean so much more than what you think!

darahrouge

Dec 23, 2021

9 min read

What’s in a comment? by Kerensa Johnston

We have all sat in a teachers' meeting where there are teachers with differing views on comments. There is the school of thought that parents don’t care about comments but only care about grades. Of course, in any book about teaching, comments should be actionable, should give almost immediate feedback and are crucial to a student's development. Some teachers hate writing comments either because they want to say so much or because they hate writing. Then there are those teachers who love writing comments. One thing that is for sure, everyone knows what they should be saying about comments, even if they don't agree. Yet rarely is there a discussion that encompasses what a comment means to a school, to the teacher or the community.

In the above screen shots, you can see a cross over of student names for different assignments in Year 9. You can see how comments serve different purposes at different times in the school year.

I see comments as serving more than just a means of helping a student to improve. Comments work on a variety of levels and I feel any discussion regarding comments needs to be addressing all of these points (especially when the discussion is trying to convince certain teachers of the value of writing comments.)

Comments and marketing.

Yes. That’s right marketing. As a parent, I want to be convinced that my son is in the best hands possible. Being a parent is stressful and I doubt there is a parent who ever goes a day wondering if they have made the best decision to keep their child in that school. I will be honest, there are teachers who I feel really care about my son’s education, and there are teachers I do not respect at all based on their comments - their lack of clarity, their lack of care that is perceived through their either non-existent comments or their limited comments. Impressions count a lot and regardless of whether you are the best teacher but non-comment writer, it's what you write that counts and helps build that impression. Not giving scores in a timely manner or feedback on assessments makes not only the teacher look incompetent but also the school. Teachers have a hard enough time with all those jokes about “ those who can do, do and those who can’t teach.’

As a parent, I am more open to criticism about my child from a teacher who gives the impression they care about my son based on how they write instructions for assessments (friendly, clear) and who give timely feedback on assessments as opposed to the teachers who don’t.

As a teacher, you want your parents to believe that you are the best person for teaching your child. If there are any issues with your job, you want your parents to have your back, to see you as a valued part of their child’s education.

I write comments that are designed to help the student and parent if they chose to do so. I don’t write “try harder” or “ excellent.” I write something specific that shows that there are possibilities, points out approaches for improvement. Parents shouldn't be expected to become experts in a topic or teaching to guarantee their child meets their teacher's standards.

Besides, what looks good for a teacher will look good for a school.

Comments for building relationships and facilitates deeper learning.

Kids don’t talk about school when they get home especially the older they get. A comment and feedback is the way in to build a connection with your child, to see them in a special way, to learn about a talent or a great idea. Then a conversation begins. The more connections a student can make with the support of a parent with their school work and life, the more likely they are going to enjoy learning, see the value in learning and the more likely they will learn.

I want parents to see and understand their child as being more than just a number. I want parents to see and understand and feel the joy I have when I see those moments of brilliance.

I am an active parent and pro education. Whilst I don't think I should be teaching my child, I do realise that schools aren’t always a place where every student can get the help they need. I need those comments so I can provide my son with the support he needs to improve and make school an enjoyable place. A concerned parent once said to me that she had been called into her school to discuss the change in her son's behaviour. He had lost. motivation. I suggested she look at the comments and the instructions and assignments and go from there. Was motivation lost because of a lack of clarity, lack of interest in the topic etc? Did he misunderstand instructions. Her response was, "How can I help my son or understand whats going on if teachers don't give scores back, don't give instructions, and don't post comments?" Parents should to be expected to have supernatural powers nor can teachers give criticism if there is nothing with which the parent and student can work with.

Comments model the behaviour and earn the respect.

If I expect my student to do hard work in time then I must also model the behaviour of good time management and discipline. That’s right. I tell my students when they should expect their grades back (usually within a week) and apologise profusely whilst explaining why I can’t on those rare occasions where I have fallen behind. In my own teaching, my comments are part of the reason why standards are so high in my classes. ( I have had third parties look at my student's work to confirm I am not biased.) Students know I appreciate their efforts; they have proof I have actually taken the time to read their work. One girl once wrote on feedback for me that my comments were her reward for her assignments, and that she relished them.

I have watched my own child slowly losing respect for teachers who not only don't give feedback on assignments but don’t give scores until a few days before report cards. And his reasoning is fair. ”I am getting fed up with teachers who talk tome about being disciplined but can't be disciplined myself. I hate teachers who don’t give scores back.” As a parent I do too. Remember my first point about marketing. You as a teacher want both your students and your parents to respect you and see you as knowledgeable in your content area and as a master of teaching. Once the seed of doubt is placed, the evidence for that seed of doubt will continue to grow. And it is hard to regain trust once you have lost it.

Comments are about making the writer feel seen.

Teenagers are going through so much already. Sometimes, a comment is about what can be improved on or about how brilliant their essay was. And we all know that any comments to encourage learning need to b actionable and reasonable with a balance between what and how something can be improved and the good things that can be built on. However, not all comments need to fulfil that criterion. Comments, I believe, can have as much value and meaning to building the self-esteem of students by simply acknowledging the importance of an idea, the value of their thoughts, connecting with the students' different perspectives in new ways. This will automatically have benefits to other areas of learning.

Recently I had that experience where students had written sonnets and rationale. There was more value in acknowledging the content of their sonnets, how it moved me, how it had changed my perspective, how their voices were important rather than focusing on the structure of the metaphors or the rationale. The perfect rationale can come later and I felt in this assignment ( partly due to the limited time they had had in developing their sonnets) that it was important to acknowledge the students and who they were and what they were experiencing.

Not everyone is going to be an amazing sonnet writer but I thought this is an assignment where it is important for them to see that I valued and respected them (in the same way I hope they value and respect me.)

With essays, much of my constructive criticism comes generally through the process. My students don't write essays at home but at school under my watchful eyes providing me with unique opportunities for differentiation in my teaching. Home is for family and outside activities. Home is where they will do initial research and bring in notes or polish their final draft.

When the essay is submitted, my comments tend to start with the positive, and then give them one or two points that could be worked on or improved over time. I also reflect on their working methods and what I observed. Did they procrastinate on there search thus not giving themselves time in class to write and thus take advantage of my role as teacher and guide? Have they taken notes in a way that doesn't really support their process? Did they take time to understand the points they had written down?

Dare I ask which teachers in the pictures above give the impression that the scores are justified, that this student's efforts have been appreciated? Which subjects do you think this child is most likely to do his best in?

I know. If you have got this far, you have read articles about the importance of giving feedback and comments that are actionable and immediate. That you shouldn't focus n everything that needs to be improved but on one or two points you deem important so I won’t go into that.

I get pleasure from writing comments. It actually feels good to genuinely appreciate a student's work and because I give a lot of autonomy to my students ( I actively encourage variety in topics, devising own questions) I get great pleasure in reading them. One year, I couldn't teach my classes for six weeks (visa issues) and another teacher took my class and gave an assignment where nearly every student had written about the same topic with the same information. I apologised to the students for taking so long to mark them and actually told them it was the most boring assessment I had ever had to mark. One student responded and said, "It was boring for us too."

The other aspect of comment writing that I find personally valuable is that time spent now means less time spent later when report card time comes. The action of looking and thinking about a student and their work and being present with the students' work will save time at the end of the year The Zeigarnik effect - you have opened a file in your brain to allow the subconscious to work on it. I often see teachers struggling to make up stuff at the end of the year, even when they have templates to use. There are often comments on my son’s report card which seem to not correlate what was studied ( I.e my son did marital arts one semester in online learning yet the report card seems to be referencing footwork in football - never the whole time of online learning had I seen my son move the camera to show footwork let alone was I ever aware they had been studying football), refer to behaviour that is out of character with my son (which brings to question if that was happening, why I had not been alerted to the problem earlier.)

In my report card comments, I try to help parents see the beauty and wonder of their own children and see beyond just the scores. I also try to give parents and students advice on learning and how they can be supported at home. I try to give parents and students a sense that next semester is going to see improvements if these things are done. I try not to blame the students mainly because I believe that what makes students appear " bad" rarely has anything to do with behaviour but a missing of certain skills. I do not want a student to go home and be hit, & I know some parents over-react. I once saw it in parent-teacher meeting where I was explaining different skills in reading and how the skill of reading carefully was still being developed. The mother hit her child in front of me and said, see you are being careless. The look of fear on that child's face is definitely counterproductive to developing him as a good student. I can almost guarantee that he probably sees cheating as a solution to this situation rather than actually working on improving those skills.

As a parent, I would prefer a fake comment that gives the impression that the teacher has read my son's work ( of course, honest is my first choice) over a sincere "excellent" or a vague "try harder next time." I call these rubbish comments that serve no purpose whatsoever and do not give me the impression that the teacher really cares about my son. As a teacher there are many ways to get around the issues of writing comments on most assignments and I will write about that - " Zen and the art of comment writing."

I want my classroom to be a space filled with hope and potential. I believe education should give hope. I don't believe effective learning can happen under conditions of duress. In a busy world, comments are a moment of sincere contact. And I accept many students don't really care about them, there are many that do. I give the students time in class to read my comments and value them and respond to them. Was I fair in what I said or do you feel I have judged you harshly or given you grades and feedback that was too good? How do you feel about the comments I made? Do you feel that you were supported enough in the assignment?

My classroom is a space where all of us learn. I maintain authority but I am never authoritarian and I believe from the range of feedback and comments I get, that my students feel safe, enough to be honest with me. I also believe that that sense of safety, is why m classroom atmosphere is conducive to learning.

Comments can be a great way to start working towards that space.