Reports

Honestly, I think too much about work. I have to write 88 comments for my upcoming report card. AND if I write 3 a day I'll be done in less than a month. I don't even know when they're due, but I love writing... even if it is report writing. What a weirdo, I know, but over time I've learned that I can't write well under pressure. So this is my solution: just chip away until it's gone. Usually by the time I'm about 40% done a class's reports I have enough Ctrl+C + Ctrl+V material to get through the rest which is also when my willingness to live tends to disappear.

This time could be different. I have already written five comments so at least one day is already down! Not to mention I haven't written a report since November. That's a four-month gap where we've had a science fair, 4 math strands (soon to be 7!), 2 literacy units, guided reading, a unit where kids created their own inventions... the list goes on, I have a plethora of things I can write about. I don't want to jinx it but this feels like if I finish this before for the shitstorm of May I'll be fine. Off the top of my head, there are some kiddos where I couldn't write 750-900 characters about their skills, talents, progressions in each subject area but they'll always get at least one. Being a frank writer, I usually come up short on my character count and that's the only frustrating part. This term I've made a list of talking points for each subject though and I'm hoping that'll get me over writer's block.

My favourite time to write reports is during another lesson when I'm not teaching. The clickety-clack of the keyboard is a B-grade David Attenborough watching a child in their natural environment:

The young mathematician puts his head down has he begins to write furiously in attempts to out-do his rival in the class to win the heart of his teacher. [Insert name here] applies his knowledge of factors and multiples to reduce a fraction to its lowest form to calculate 5/35 of 63 to complete the worksheet. In triumph, he raises his pencil into the air and screams "I'M DONE!" As the boy turns to the teacher, he sees a disapproving finger wagging in the air. He needs to honour classroom etiquette and remain silent.

I'm not a parent but I do have to proofread report comments and this is what I would want to read.

Alas, that is not report-writing etiquette yet. There is still the problem of developing unique boilerplate comments that sound professional. The key to that is staying organised (and letting Microsoft Word come up with synonyms for you). Every teacher has a document of general comments somewhere in their files within files on the cloud. Even though all kids are different there are still a bunch that are hard workers, timid, or incapable of shutting up. Eloquence is also an important aspect to keep in mind when writing reports, especially for the last two last traits. Like all professions, teachers have code words and clauses that flag students.

Do I look forward to writing reports? Not really. The process is too long. Write them. Edit them, send them off to someone else to edit them. Revise them. Recount the characters after making adjustments. Send them to admin. Make admin-recommended revisions. Revise them as a team. It's a long process. And these steps usually take an hour or longer. After a day of teaching, revising report comments is one of the worst PDs possible especially when there's no food... That first draft is always a fun challenge. Especially when you take the time to sit and ponder, not rush, and really just report how the child operates in class.