Report Card Comments for STEM and Elementary Science
The following is a guest post from Dr. Jacie Maslyk.
If you are a teacher who looks forward to doing report cards, please raise your hand . . .
Not likely since the end of the grading period is a busy time, packed with assessment and long to-do lists. Report cards are an important tool to communicate to parents how their child is doing in school. It is also a way to provide feedback to students on their own learning.
In elementary STEM or science classes, you may or may not be responsible for providing letter grades or an overall percentage for students, but it is still important to share progress with students and their families.
Report card comments should be meaningful and personalized, when possible.
This post will share some suggestions to help you provide valuable feedback during report card time, as well as some areas to consider as you share progress on student learning.
21st Century Skills - “The 4 C's”
Within the STEM space, we understand the importance of the 4 Cs. Developing the creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills in our students is important. We design lessons that will help students to foster these skills, so it is important to let parents and families know how students are progressing in these areas.
While some aspects of the 4 Cs can be subjective, think about your students’ progress in terms of two major areas; their engagement and their attitude toward hands-on learning. When students are engaged in learning, we can observe their abilities, habits, and attitudes, providing use with evidence to share with parents and families regarding their child’s learning.
Engagement in Learning
It is our ongoing goal as classroom teachers to actively engage our students in learning. As we create engineering design challenges or science experiments, we plan experiences that will pull our students in and involve them in critical thinking and collaboration. As we plan group challenges, we want our students to communicate ideas with their group and design creative solutions to problems.
13 ways to describe how students engage in STEM and elementary science.
Actively participates in open-ended projects and experiments.
Uses higher-level thinking skills to complete challenging assignments.
Works collaboratively with others.
Makes meaningful connections to what they are learning.
Thinks flexibly and adapts to different situations
Identifies problems and investigates various solutions
Demonstrates creativity in their designs
Utilizes tools and resources appropriately and for a variety of purposes
Understands the engineering design process and can apply the steps
Follows the scientific method to discover ideas.
Demonstrates planning and design through writing and drawing
Asks pertinent questions connected to their learning
Is attentive to challenge criteria and limitations
Attitude and Behavior
As our students work on collaborative STEM projects or individual science experiments, we want them to develop dispositions toward learning. Dispositions like taking responsibility, persisting, and coping are characteristics that we hope students will demonstrate within the classroom. As these dispositions develop, it is important to report these developments to parents and families.
10 ways to characterize student attitude and behavior in the STEM or science classroom:
Demonstrates an interest in science/STEM topics
Shares ideas with others
Listens and follows directions in class.
Pays attention to detail during challenges/experiments.
Exhibits a positive attitude about learning
Perseveres when faced with challenges
Shows initiative and looks for ways to engage in projects/tasks.
Cooperates with others.
Accepts constructive feedback from teacher and peers.
Ask responsibly when using classroom tools and materials.
General Work Habits
In STEM, science, or other subject areas, we expect students to demonstrate positive habits when working in the classroom.
7 ways to describe the work habits of students:
Works well independently
Focuses on tasks
Consistently completes tasks.
Demonstrates care in the quality of their work
Is prepared for class
Responds to questions
Participates in class discussions
All of the report card comments shared can be used as is. At times, you may want to include language to share the quality in which students have demonstrated these characteristics. This is especially true if you are writing your own comments about a specific student or regarding a specific topic.
Using qualifiers like the ones below will help to provide even more specific feedback to students, parents, and families when combined with the report card comments already listed.
Communicating progress to parents and families at report card time can be time-consuming for teachers.
It is an important time to think carefully about the progress that students are making and provide thoughtful insight on their work in the STEM classroom.
Report card comments can be general feedback on work habits or may contain more specific descriptions of how students demonstrate the 4 Cs.
Comments on student dispositions and attitude toward learning can provide feedback on how they are developing as inquisitive and innovative STEM learners.
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An educator for the last 23 years, Dr. Jacie Maslyk, has served as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, elementary principal, and assistant superintendent. She is the author of STEAM Makers: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in the Elementary Classroom, Connect to Lead: Power Up Your Learning Network to Move Your School Forward (ISTE), Remaking Literacy: Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning and Unlock Creativity: Opening a World of Imagination With Your Students. You can read more on her blog, Creativity in the Making, at www.jaciemaslyk.blogspot.com. Connect with Jacie on Twitter @DrJacieMaslyk or email her at jaciemaslyk@gmail.com .