This book is a guide to assist any teacher who dreads writing those school reports every year! How frustrating is it searching for that 'appropriate' word or phrase to describe your students' achievements? This guide will help you to overcome those annoying mental blocks when writing your school reports. It will help you write crystal clear teacher comments for any grade from pre-school to high school. The words, phrases, and samples of comments can also be useful for parent-teacher conferences, marking and correcting children's work, or writing referrals for students. Counselors will find it useful for taking notes and keeping records of students. There are sample comments on children's social and emotional development. ESL teachers and language teachers will also find it a useful companion to finding the right word to express their students' progress. There are words and phrases specifically for 'Listening', 'Speaking', 'Reading', and 'Writing'. There are also words and phrases to help teachers in various subject areas, such as drama, music, sport, and art. The keywords and phrases help you say the difficult things nicely. The words and phrases under each subject have been divided into two general groups, 'Experts' and 'Apprentices'. The 'Experts' are those coping very well in that subject area and the 'Apprentices' are students who find that subject a real challenge. It's always important to try and be positive as we can in report writing and offer encouragement to students even if they are struggling. For general comments, examples have been included to help you. These are organized under three headings: 'Gold' - for the child who simply shines in all areas; 'Silver' - for the child who copes satisfactorily in class; and 'Bronze' - for the child who is struggling and finds learning a real challenge. There's also a page titled, '100 ways to say, very good', as all teachers know that by the tenth report it is a brain drain to avoid repeating ourselves! Saying the difficult things nicely can often be achieved by writing something positive first, followed by a more direct comment, or vice versa. It's about balancing the good with the challenging. Providing an alternative to negative comments leaves more room for hope for students to succeed.Many people love teaching and working with students. However, often report writing can be a challenging and demanding part of the job. This book will be of assistance, even a springboard for your thoughts when once again it is report writing time.
