Positive Remarks for Five Hundred, Please.

Note: All names are pseudonyms.

Ms. Iron decided that I should teach a lesson the day after Labor Day. I have to admit I was very excited to teach "Young Arthur", a short story about King Arthur as a boy. Ms. Iron told me to create a worksheet or activity of some kind that would ask the students to compare and contrast the two main characters. It just so happens that worksheets/activities are my forte. I love trying to come up with something I know my students will enjoy! Especially when I get to watch them enjoy it!

Of course nothing ever goes completely as planned. Ms. Iron had originally scheduled Tuesday’s class so we would have time to read “Young Arthur” at the end of class. After she was done with her lessons, I had eight minutes left. Not the most ideal of situations. Luckily for me, I had planned a pre-reading activity which asked for the students to predict the events that would occur in the story they were about to read. Now, being the clever person I am, I knew that some students would be familiar with the general idea of the story already (it was the story of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone). So I asked them to order the four events I had given them, all of them about Merlin, in the order they thought they would occur in the story; this way no one would have too much of an advantage (unless Merlin was their favorite character).

Wednesday we read the story, the students reordered the events, and they completed the worksheet I gave them. The worksheet included a double bubble map, short response (5-7 sentences), and creative decorating of the two main character’s shields, so that they represented what each character represented.

Thursday the worksheets were due. I took them home and graded all of them that night. I made sure to put a positive comment on every short response and shield set. Of course I made corrections and gave ideas on how to make their next short response even better, but I made an effort to focus on what was great! To my surprise many of the students really let their voice shine through, made great metaphors, or used beautiful language. If that was the case, then I was sure to comment on it. By the end of the night I was sick of grading papers and had a slight cramp in my hand, but I told myself that it would be so worth the effort!

Friday after Ms. Iron had plugged in the grades, I passed the papers out in class. I was so excited to watch their eyes scan over my comments! I was passing back a third or fourth paper, when Shay came up to me. I could tell from the smile on her face that she had been pleased by my comment.

“Ms. H, you think I’m smart.” Shay said, the disbelief in her voice clear.

“Yes Shay, I think you are smart.” I answer with a smile.

Shay knows I think she is smart, because I wrote something positive on her worksheet! I think to myself.

Shay is the only one who comments on my commentary, but the room is filled with looks of disbelief and smiles as the students read my remarks, the positives and the critiques! Who knew all of that grading would pay off?

This experience leaves me with a few questions. Have these students never had positive messages before? Is it not always important to find something positive among the critiques you may find? Think about it. Who wants a paper with nothing positive to say? I know I don’t, so I make sure my students don’t get one. Another question floating through my brain is this. Is it possible to seem insincere, in the students’ eyes, by giving too many positive remarks throughout the semester? If so, how do you write a positive comment without seeming insincere? Are exclamation marks (guilty) and smiley faces (not guilty) too much icing on the cake for some students, especially middle or high school students?

I suppose I will have to do my research and find out. So far with this first assignment, I think pairing suggestions or critiques with positive remarks is the way to keep positive remarks from seeming insincere (I choose to use a 1 to 1 ratio).