It’s that time of year where student reports are due. For me, this is the trickiest part of “teacherhood”! Having to be blatantly honest and straightforward about a student’s performance and overall disposition is draining and often leaves me feeling exhausted, especially when the news you have to report is not so good. But report we must!
This year it’s slightly trickier for me because I have only spent a term with my students so far and while I have gotten to know them quite well, it would have been a bit easier if I had more of a background history with them. Anyhoo, I thought I would do myself and you a favor and look for some report writing tips online. Here’s what I compiled:
5 Report-Writing Tips For Teachers
- Firstly, don’t do what I have done and leave reports to the last minute! In fact, start super early but making notes of each student as the term progresses. Write down the things they do well or need recognition for as well as weak points that you could help them strengthen. This way, you already have some good material to work with when it comes to summing up the term’s progress.
- Use “evidence” where you can to elaborate on messages you are trying to convey to the parents. This gives you some content to add to your report as well, making it more bulky and effortful. For example, if Jane has a kind disposition you could use a phrase like: “Jane has such a kind disposition, she welcomed her new classmate with warmth and was happy to show her the ropes. Such a lovey quality to have”.
- Write according to a checklist of things you think are important to include in the report. Make sure that you mention the child’s strengths and weaknesses, but also include a way forward. For instance, if you battle to get Simon to pay attention in class, raise this topic and follow with a bit of positivity. You could say something like: “Simon tends to lose focus during lessons and would rather doodle in his notebook than listen to the theory being explained. Perhaps we could encourage him to work on a more hands-on project that incorporates the theory during both school and home hours? Would you meet with me next term to discuss this approach?”
- Prepare the parents so that they are not surprised by the contents of the report. It’s unfair for parents to find out that their child has not been coping well at school right at the end of the term, this does not give them much leeway to help from their side. So, if a parent is shocked by a negative report, or did not know about some of the amazing achievements a child has made, this is somewhat your fault as a teacher. As teachers, part of the job description is to communicate and work with the parents. Knowing that the parents are expecting the contents of the report will make you less stressed to write it.
- Avoid teacher jargon. Remember we are writing for the parents, we are not writing to look smart ourselves. It’s important that we communicate well with parents s so that they are on the same page as us. When you write a report imagine yourself as the child’s parent and use words and phrases that they could relate to and absorb.
And on that note, I guess I should be writing reports instead of writing this, he he! It’s called procrastination! Thank goodness the report writing is followed by a nice and long holiday, so that my fried brain can be left to simmer a little before a new term and a new adventure starts. Next time around, I’ll be sure to keep all of the 5 tips in mind. Do you have any report-writing tips to share?
