".. could do better ....."

This is probably the most used phrase in our school reports throughout history. Apart from implying to the parents that you are underachieving and your lack of effort is to blame, surely something more positive can be written which addresses the same problem yet actually moves towards a solution.

My reports were full of

"could do better"
"if he applied himself then...."
"could get an A but will get a ...."
"is easily distracted"
"daydreams too much"

and while they are all true none of them helped move me on. I still could do better, which of us could not do any better? If something else is more appealing then I am still distarcted, which of us is not? I wish I could day dream with the levels of competence I used to be able to, day dreaming rocks!

What would you like to have been told all those years ago? What actually would make a difference to the problems we faced as learners at school?

I have the job of writing childrens school reports next term and while I have been dong this for numerous years now there is certainly room for improvement. Mr Sims could do better!

More that ever I am aware of the negatives associated with asking children to "try", or filling their small boxes on their report card with lists of what they will not achieve, or implying they "choose" to be easily distracted. Or that they know how to behave in all situations and that all their failings are due to them not applying themselves or not making enough effort. I know there are skilled speach writers, sales experts and motivational speakers among you, or maybe you can still remember what was written in your school report as clear as if it was written yesterday. What do you wish you had imprinted in your mind from childhood rather than just "you could do better"?

School reports are often the only communication between teachers and parents so help me to to turn this event from the annual bollocking to become the annual motivational kick!

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Quick reframe:


"could do better" "is full of potential"

"if he applied himself then...." ditto

"could get an A but will get a ...." ditto

"is easily distracted" "can quickly and easily make transitions between tasks


"daydreams too much" "has a fantastic imagination"

I used to have a similar issue writing appraisals for staff.

First you are making an assessment against a standard. However very often the standard is unclear. That may be the first problem.

From this you can work out specifically (sorry meta monsters you can switch off now) what the child is expected to achieve.

Once you have sorted this out you can describe the gap in precise terms, of what is child is not doing or not doing well enough.

From this you can suggest some practical things the child, the parents and the teacher can do to get the child back on track.

I am sorry again but some of these phrases are just crying out for the meta modelled

"Could do better..." "In what way specifically?"

Also what helped was that during the year I kept notes. Every week I wrote down an example of what they did really well and why it was good and an example of something they could have done better at AND HOW.

By the time the report was due I was overflowing with data which gave me an excellent overall picture of the individual with lots of detailed examples to back it up.

It really isn't difficult but it does require commitment.

John

Why do nearly all images of Adam and Eve show belly buttons?

Hi Matt,

What a great topic, if I may say so. I can only wish that some of my teachers had approached this task with a bit more thinking about their language.

I totally agree with the lack of inspiration or direction such writing instills in the developing young mind as predictions of future mediocrity are made by some teachers. My school reports were not great for me in terms of described personality type, and I would have welcomed at least some balancing comments that allowed for a greater nurturing of childhood self esteem. Ah well.

One of the issues for me is that rarely are the measures for making such judgments made explicit. The child "could do better" is down to how they are, not according to the indicators for achievement as laid by the school. That at least hints at a sense of direction, even if the parents do not agree with or understand implicitly how their child was assessed this way.

I guess however it would be difficult for you either to criticise either the school or the family too directly, unless there are issues out in the open.

Of course you could start to label the conditions under which the child might do better, i.e. "could do better if...

• he can put to rest the bullying of year three
• he can bring some of the enthusiasm he feels for sports into the maths class
• from now on his family life is more settled"

etc etc.

For me a neater way might be to comment on the times when he has shown the potential that leads to "could do better" i.e. "he excels himself when,

• he is working in a small group
• he has confidence in the lesson
• is genuinely interested in the subject

etc etc.

The other big annoyance of my school reports were the seemingly endless supply of comments that presupposed that if I stopped doing X Y and Z then that would improve matters. I understand such injunctions and their effects, and how to generate choices rather better now than I did then, thank goodness.

So good luck with your report writing. It may take you a little longer doing it your way.

Regards

MH

If I was writing a report I would write exactly what I believe because if you reframe it in a more possitive light, you would change the meaning and so approaching lying or at least a misrepresentation of what you actually believe.

It's one thing to write your conclusions but would be far more effective if you gave your reasons for those conclusions and some actual examples to justify those conclusions and then offer something that could be done by the parents to resolve any issues.

Otherwise, what are you really intending to achieve with the report.
After all, you can presupose the report will somehow be useful for the child.

If you want to motivate a child to learn, it might be a good idea to find his/her current motivations and supporting beliefs because then you can deal with the issues that are actually causing any learning problems.

I don't generally think that children (or adults) have an inability to learn but I do think they need sufficient curiosity, interest and motivation to direct their attention into that learning in a sustained way. Perhaps if the teachers made a little more inclusive effort to motivate each child in a way that works for each child then the teacher can begin to teach a motivated group.

So, I think writing a good report means writing what you really believe in a ballanced way so it is not a 'bollocking' and any 'honest' critisism can be ballanced by a few good points too.

James

I think more specificity as suggested by both Malcomb and John is a great starting point. I've read many school reports and there is a tendency to be vague. Perhaps this is because the same phrase can be used over and over without having to craft each report to the individual.

I have noted that pupils who excel or are problematic have individualised reports but the kids who are "in the middle" get these general wishy washy statements.

Maybe a good starting point for a teacher would be to anchor the enthusiasm for writing a good report for an able puil and transfering that enthusiasm to the rest of the pupils.

Please not that this is from experience of a sample of reports from the north west of England and may not be representative of reports from around the country.

I love this forum!

A big thank you to those who have contibuted so far. I really like many of the ideas, keeping a log throughout the year to ensure I can add numerous personal and real positives to each student is fantastic idea and will save me time when it comes to actually writing them.

The reframing of potentially negatives may make the report sound more charming but it may, like James mentioned, invite the reader to miss the point of the report. It is supposed to be an adult to adult conversation between teacher and parent and while students are aware what is written they normally are aware of their school progress anyway.

Malcolm, I like where you were going with

he can put to rest the bullying of year three

because it tells the reader that there are issues and things that need to be addressed. It implies the problems are temporary and that progression is 'normal' from here on. Maybe it is passing off a past problem by linking the cause and effect to an expired incident or situation. It allows the youngster a fresh start whilst still raising the fact there was an issue. Thanks for that.

If you want to motivate a child to learn, it might be a good idea to find his/her current motivations and supporting beliefs because then you can deal with the issues that are actually causing any learning problems.

James, I love that, thank you. I can make notes of this subject when logging events in the way John mentioned.

Chris, cut'n'paste is very popular with many teachers, over a 2 week time table I see nearly 700 kids. I know that does not excuse being less than 100% unique with each report and if I had my way I'd give staff time to perform more ethically in many more areas.

Anchoring enthusiasm for a good report is a great idea, quite often a bottle of wine and a good comedy on the TV while I tap away at the key board is how most of my marking or report writing is done. I have been reflecting on my school reports and how ineffective in achieving anything positive they were (apart from making me want to do better now it is my turn).

Maybe lets step up a level.

During your school life, what have teachers said to you that has had a positive and lasting effect on you? Sometimes a bollocking can provoke a lasting difference but why did that 1 bollocking stand out from all the others? Why from all the compliments you had did one motivate you more than others?

mmm.. very interesting.

The comment I remember most was by the art teacher who clearly had no idea who I was.

"Nigel seems to be improving this term"

It was "seems" that made the comment so perfect.

Nick

P.S. My partner is a teacher and keeps a book to note something about each student in every lesson. It helps a lot at parent evenings and report writing time.
Cut and paste is very much frowned upon at the school.

Once, when I was in high school, I was out on a double-date with my boyfriend, a girlfriend and the guy she was dating at the time.

Out of the blue, one of my previous teachers came up to us at a table at a restaurant and said, "I knew you girls would never amount to anything!" And then just walked off.

We were 15 or 16 years old at the time. Can you imagine!!!

Well, here I am, doing quite well, thank you. And my girlfriend? She committed suicide about 5 years ago.


I guess she felt like she never amounted to anything.


Don't ever try to tell me that folks don't pick up the messages -- conscious or otherwise -- that are delivered to them by folks in authority.

I'd like to think that teacher is dead, too. If I knew where her grave was, I'd go spit on it.

Venus

venus_brown wrote:

Once, when I was in high school, I was out on a double-date with my boyfriend, a girlfriend and the guy she was dating at the time.

Out of the blue, one of my previous teachers came up to us at a table at a restaurant and said, "I knew you girls would never amount to anything!" And then just walked off.

We were 15 or 16 years old at the time. Can you imagine!!!

Well, here I am, doing quite well, thank you. And my girlfriend? She committed suicide about 5 years ago.


I guess she felt like she never amounted to anything.


Don't ever try to tell me that folks don't pick up the messages -- conscious or otherwise -- that are delivered to them by folks in authority.

I'd like to think that teacher is dead, too. If I knew where her grave was, I'd go spit on it.

Venus

I hope you said "Fuck You" as he walked away.

John

My wife thinks more about going to the gym than sex these day so I have perfected a method of slipping underneath her while she’s doing press-ups

Venus,

Not sure if protocol requires me to give you post a thumbs up in support of you or a thumbs down as a show of unhappiness regarding your story. Seeing as I cannot give you both I will give you neither, just remember you have a supporter of who you have become sitting here.

It is those profound moments when so much good could have been done in which I want to send my kids off to adult life with a can-do attitude and an open mind. I am lucky or unlucky, depending on how you look at things, to be in a situation where my words count, so, I want to use them well. You seem to embrace both of those skills so someone must have do so much good for you that the nonsence has been overwhelmed.

What I did think about today was how powerful the motivation is to prove people wrong. Being told that you will amount to nothing in life certainly is the motivation for many people to do well. I know it is not very socially acceptable to use such a tactic but there is something there which seems to hold some merit. Can the motivational factor be separated from the asshole element?

Come on guys and gals, I want to hear your stories!

Thanks

Matt

I've just finished consulting to a community nurse and teacher who have been running an emotional wellbeing group for year 6 pupils( aged 10/11).

For the final session I suggested some timeline work with an aim to ease the transition to secondary school and ease some of the anieites to this. Part of this included the class teacher giving feedback about positive resources that the pupil had and could take forward into the future.

This worked wery well and the youngsters were much more positive about moving on after the session.........many myths dispelled e.g. getting "bog washed" by the older pupils on your first day, etc.

It was nice to hear the positive comments mde by the class teacher during this exersise and I hope that the experience serves them well in the future.

Chris,

What does "bog washed" mean?

Thanks,

Venus

Having your head put down the toilet and it being flushed. In my part of the world, this has been a long standing myth with regard to abuse as a first year in secondary school.

Chris,

So what you're saying is that it doesn't really happen, but its something some folks are afraid of/worry about?

Souns pretty grimm to me.

Venus

z8000783 wrote:

I hope you said "Fuck You" as he walked away.

John

My wife thinks more about going to the gym than sex these day so I have perfected a method of slipping underneath her while she’s doing press-ups

Venus never said it was a man....... but she does want to spit on her grave....

Now I am wondering if there was a male teacher who had a negative impact on you..

Persoanlly I prefer to let go of these types of situations from the past and move forward baggage free, but not everyone does..

aikijason wrote:

Venus never said it was a man....... but she does want to spit on her grave....

Good point.

Thanks. Even if I am correct it won't be because of anything skilful.

John

Well, John,

You are absolutely correct, but you've got some other miscreant I've run into in mind. And, yes, that's *exactly* what I said!

Gee. You seem to know me so well!

Venus

venus_brown wrote:

Well, John,

You are absolutely correct, but you've got some other miscreant I've run into in mind. And, yes, that's *exactly* what I said!

Gee. You seem to know me so well!

Venus

I knew I was right

I am The MAN.




John

This is a great thread and it reminded me of the time I went to a school reunion ( 25 years - yes I am that old!)

There were a few of the teachers from the school there and I saw my old English and Drama teacher Bob Brown who must have been about 80 at the time. I said hello and the usual I don't suppose you remember me line. He said yes of course I do Katie you were in the play the Crucible and he named the part I played!

Even I couldn't remember the part. I was astonished and said but I only had 3 lines and a scream to deliver! He said it takes fine acting to sit still and say nothing and come in at just the right moment! I remember all my pupils who were in the plays and every play we did.

How brilliant is that and I am posting this to balance the books - there are great teachers out there who are truly proud of their students. Venus's experience was awful, and I am sure lots of us have memories of bad suggestions teachers made. Can we also remember those who supported us and gave us hope?
Kate