Reflecting on Teacher Comments

As I reflect back on our last class session together, it became much more clear to me how a teacher's comments and grading can affect a student- whether it be postively or negatively. Students now write with a feeling of fear of what they wrote on the paper is not sufficient, and will not be taken kindly by their teachers. The fear of red pen marks is what students (myself included) worry about when they are assigned a new project. It is imperative that teachers take into account the comments that they are writing on the childrens' essays and journals. If it is going to confuse or hurt the child, than it is not worth putting on the paper. As a future educator, I understand it is my responsibility to take into account what I am writing on the papers, and make a consious effort to HELP the student fix what is wrong.

I remember having a professor in my undergraduate class who tore apart every piece of writing that I turned in. I had always loved reading and writing and therefore; I thought I would love being an English major. I enjoyed writing freely and creatively, and I felt that this professor stripped away any freedom that I enjoyed about writing. No matter how great I thought a piece was I turned in, it was always returned to me with red pen marks scribbled off to the margins. Any thoughts or ideas were challeneged, and never seemed to be what the professor was looking for. What really upset me the most was when I would go for extra guidance on a piece, the professor would tell me to write how I felt, and how I interpreted different texts. After doing exactly that, and feeling very confident in myself, I would have a returned paper with a stamp of dissapproval. The way in which I felt was like a swift kick in the stomach; my self confidence was continuing to drain. I was afraid to write and turn in any writing because I did not want to have something handed back to me that showed I was inadequate at writing, something I USED to love. By the end of the semester I loathed writing any essays for this professor, I even contemplated changing my major. I know I was not the only person in the class who felt this way, because the expectations for assigments were never clear from the beginning.

Our last class session really solidified my belief that there must be a clear purpose for what teachers are writing on their students' writing pieces. You cannot just write whatever you want, and confuse the student. I think for any negative comment you need to write, you should justify it with two POSITIVE comments! This way, it will still encourage students to take the risk and write their thoughts and ideas on paper. Our class discussion was extremely beneficial to me because it sparked ideas that I had for a while now, but was too worried to express to anyone. I now understand how important it is to have clear expectations for students ahead of time (such as grading rubrics), that will outline exactly what students will need to do. I know for me, this is how I tailor my writing pieces in order to answer all questions and develop each of my ideas. Moreover, it was nice to hear other classmates' concerns about this matter, because overall, it affects each one of us.