How to Write Powerfully-Impactful Comments

Last term of Academic Year 2021/2022, Ms. Iyut decided that all homeroom teachers needed to attend a special session on comment writing. This decision came after Ms. Iyut's concern when she proofread all the teachers' comments every time there is report writing period. She thought that some teachers, when putting their thoughts into words, did not result in a piece of written comment which sounds smooth, encouraging, but at the same time is able to spotlight which parts of the student to improve.

The session took place only a few weeks before the busy report writing time. Since Ms. Iyut and Ms. Vita thought that I am capable of sharing this information, they asked me to do so. The thought of me being capable may come from the fact that the comments I have written fulfill the requirements I mentioned earlier. No intention to boost up and show off, every time I got my comments proofread by Ms. Iyut, there was no major correction. I hope that it was a good "capital" for me to keep maintaining and improving the quality of my teaching.

Basically, a good comment should contain appraisal on students' improvement during the term, spots that the/she needs to improve, and motivating shout out. Starting with the positive development is a good thing as it will boost students' sense of accomplishment. By then, it will give them a feeling of positiveness about learning. Do not forget to explain a little bit the consequence of that quality. The process goes to writing the field that students still need to improve. Correction is good to make them aware of not being stuck at a point. Being stuck does not improve them in terms cognition self development in general. It is also good to add the impact of making this improvement. After that, a piece of tip to make the improvement would be wonderful. But make sure not to make it very detailed, as it will filled the comment box full, and at the same time, would no no longer impactful and becomes rubbish. Last but not least, motivating shout outs. I personally believe that shout out that is motivation will leave a trace in students' minds for a long period of time. When fulfilling these requirements, insyaAllah a comment can be considered good.

Then, the next step in the process is choosing the most suitable words. When we want our comments to be impactful and powerful, we need to make sure to pick the right words. Knowing the right words requires us to read a lot of English texts. Or, to make it simpler, we may search on google comments that are written by English native teachers. There are loads of examples of good English comments, of any subjects, particularly those which exist in English speaking countries' education system. And, even after doing this, we are not sure with our comments, we can consult each other with our peer teachers. It also will be an advantage if you have a peer whose background field of study is English, to ask him/her to write a list of expressions that are frequently used in comment writing. By then, when it's ready to get proofread by e.g. the principal, there will be no major corrections. 

Here is an example of simple but powerfully impactful comment of a student who I think quite a slow-learner. Hopefully, this short explanation would be able to help make clear how to write a simple but powerfully impactful comment:

Savana is a very principled student in a way that she follow all learning rules consistently. It helps her grasp the concepts being discussed quite well. Aside from this positive attitude, she needs to take-risk to speak out in class. By then, we can see how good her ideas would be. Sure you can do it, Savana.