Providing Feedback Blog #3

Since I read the chapter aobut providing feedback I have tried to leave some kind of comment on all the papers I grade. Sometimes this is more than time consuming. It's redundant and boring! But, I continue to do it because I want my students to feel like the work they have done is meaningful. The teacher I am working with is fantastic about feedback. She even gives stickers for 100% papers. The class is a Freshman honors class and they LOVE the stickers! Her 10 graders want some scratch-n-sniff stickers. So, yes! Kids do love to be recognized in some way. The way she provides criticism is always productive. She is never negative toward the students even when it is obvious that they are just lazy!! I've learned a lot from her about giving feedback and being positive even when there is nothing positive about the paper. This past week was so hectic. The students are working on a research paper. That takes up more class time than anyone can imagine. But, this is a block class so we also have to get in stories from their literature book. Certainly not an easy week by any stretch. I think it was around Thursday and I was asking my Teacher if there was anything I could do to help her that day. She looked at me with a desperate look and said, "Could you comment on these papers? I have graded them and recorded them, and they are on engrade but I just didn't have time to write anything on them. Could you possibly say something encouraging on their papers?" I got so tickled. Of course I said that I would. I sat in the back and read the papers and wrote comments on them for her. It was such a breath of fresh air to have to do that for her. She is always on toip of things and has everything organized. It was nice to see that even the Perfect Teacher needs a little help every now and then!