Obligatory Report Card ...Report

It's that time of year!  Report Card writing!  WOOOO!  /sarcasm.

I have to be honest here, I'm really not hating writing these report cards as much as I have in the past.  I mean, I'm a fairly good writer and a speedy typist, plus I know my students VERY well, so it shouldn't be so challenging for me.  I actually prefer having to individualize and differentiate the reports, I just open up an MS Word doc for every subject, and go to town writing about each kid and what they need to improve on. Bam!

The only thing that will always bother me about report card writing is how TIME CONSUMING it is.  It isn't the actual writing that's the problem, it's how long it takes even when I am efficient at it!!!  I have seven curriculum subjects to report on (most subjects for my 23 home room students, otherwise for 25 grade three students), and then 23 main learning skills paragraphs to write about each student.  Once I get through all of my assessment and generate final marks, time consuming outside of regular work hours as that is, it's then a good three or four hours per subject to make it through each and every kid and edit their comments well, too.

I've made excellent progress so far, my strategy this year seemed to be doing a little bit at a time as I could in the week leading up to our report card dedicated PA Day, and it really helped. Then, my immediate teaching partner and I worked together all through the PA Day to generate some next steps and opening statements for many of the subjects we plan together.  We were really on a roll, and it helped me stay on task and make great use of the day.  Today, I've spent all afternoon and evening plowing through as much as I can.  I've gotten pretty far, but still have to finish my learning skills, science, and literacy sections (marks are done, I'm working on comments).  My goal is to finish my learning skills comments before bed tonight, because I'm down to my last five students!

Then, I'll have plenty of editing to do!

So, all in all... it's a heck of a long process, but I'm not "stressed" about it, so much as I'm annoyed by how much time I have to devote to it.  At least I have to submit them Friday, then I can take a breath and relax and focus on enjoying the last couple of weeks of school with my kids.  I've enjoyed this class a lot, but am also ready for a change in the fall.

There we go, my usual June report card post.  I feel like I have a more positive outlook this year than in the past, but I'm afraid to look up my old posts in case that isn't true!