Positive Communication Book or Report Card Comments

Credit to Alexandre from Planbox.com

As a teacher, one of my troublesome times was to write the communication book due the sheer numbers of them. Thanks for the improvement of technology; I don’t have to hand-write everything now. However, I still have to write the comments every week and it might be challenging from time to time. I will explain more later.

身為一個老師，我常因寫聯絡簿煩惱。一來因為我學生實在是太多，二來因為需針對每個學生的學習狀況來個別撰寫，我常寫聯絡簿寫到半夜兩三點。幸好現在有科技的幫忙，大部分都可以用文書處理軟體來解決。但是，學習狀況的評量才是最讓人頭痛的部分。

A good communication book should include two parts, one is lesson information and the other is assessment. The information part will vary depends on student’s age (For younger students, you can write it on the communication book or make copies; for older students, you can have them write it themselves.) but it should include the following:

聯絡簿基本上應該包含兩部分：課程資訊與評價。課程資訊會因為學生的年紀和需求而有所不同(年紀較小的學生，需要較詳細的書寫，有時候還要幫他們寫；年紀較長的學生，則可以獨立書寫)，然而基本上仍須包含以下內容：

1.      Progress on the all materials. (It could be pages or topic.) 上課進度 (可以是頁數或是主題單元)

2.      Homework (optional) 功課

3.      Review and Test (It could be pages or topic but I find pages easier for students to review.) 複習或考試範圍

Here is an example:

Ÿ Progress :

Grammar: 83-89

Phonics: 48-51

Reading: 39-45

Writing: 83-85

Ÿ Homework :

1. Grammar worksheet

2. Read Electricity P.39-45

3. Show&Tell worksheet

Ÿ Review and Test :

Phonics: 50-51

Grammar: 83-89

Reading: P.45

Spelling vocabulary: earrings, robot, necklace, postcards, radio, control, salesman, saleswoman, camera wrapping paper.

As for comments, there are many things that might require to be included such as: attendance, assignments (hand in or not), behavior, assessment on learning progress…and so on. It is important that teacher to loyally express the situation to the parents without offending them. Some parents might not react well or over react to the negative comments. I will go into more details in my next blog entry but now let’s look at few examples for positive remarks:

有關於評語的部分，可以包含很多部分如：出席情況，作業繳交情況，上課表現，學習情況等。很多時候，老師必須有技巧地告知家長有關學生不良的情形，以免產生反效果。關於該如何委婉告知家長負面的情況，我會在下一次的文章中詳細敘述，現在先讓我們來看看有關正向評語的部分。

Attendance:

________ always attends class on time.

________ is never late for class.

Assignment:

________ completes homework on time and with care.

________ always completes his/her homework with care and diligence.

________ puts forth a consistent effort to complete homework.

Behavior:

________ participates class with great enthusiasm.

________ consistently takes responsibilities for his/her learning.

________ is a leader of the class who cooperates well with his/her peers.

________ is a highly motivated student with unlimited ideas and creativity. 

________ inspires others to perform better.

________ is self-driven and keen in success.

________ works well independently and with others.

________ enjoys sharing his/her ideas, toys, etc. with others.

Assessment in learning:

________ is a fast learner who grasps all the materials effectively.

________ has great pronunciation and is able to express himself/ herself freely.

________ can sound/read out the materials and comprehend it without further help.

________ has impressive penmanship.

________ has excellent sentence structures.

________ has superb choices/ selections of words.