No matter how many years you've been teaching or how organized you are, it always seems like when report card times roll around, it is extra stressful for teachers. On top of your normal load of lesson planning, designing PowerPoints and activities and worksheets, reviewing curriculum, managing student behaviors, parent/teacher conferences, faculty meetings, and grading (to name a few...), you're now expected to make time that you don't have to review grades, enter behavior grades, and enter comments for each student's report card. Depending on your school and district, you may have different requirements and procedures, but there are FIVE universal things to keep in mind when you're at the computer with the report cards staring you in the face.
1. Keep a positive and open mind.
This can be extra challenging when students make poor behavior choices around report card time. I know I struggled here when I got to Student A (we will call her Anna), and all I could think about was how angry she made me today in class when she kept talking out of turn during our class discussion. If I've told her once, I've told her a thousand times to raise her hand!
When you get to Anna's card, take a break. Get out of the chair and stretch. Walk down the hall and back. Light a candle (if permitted by fire code). Count backwards from 100. Whatever you do, do something that relaxes you for a few moments.
You want to be honest when doing report card behavior grades and comments, but you want to be as positive and open minded as possible. The report card is not the time or place to go guns blazing. The more chill you can be during this time, the better.
2. Manage your time and be thorough.
I know it's tough enough to find extra time in your already hectic schedule to work on report cards, but plan ahead for the time you need to thoroughly work through them. If that means the stack of papers sits on your desk for one more week, so be it. Maybe pass some tests back that the kiddos can self grade. Even better, find the oldest assignments in your "To Grade" pile and throw those shits in the trash!! Most likely, your students have forgotten they did that quiz three weeks ago anyhow. You'll thank yourself later.
Going through report cards with a sharp eye is super important because for some parents, this is the only piece of communication they pay attention to, no matter how many newsletters you email out. You want to be sure that it's accurate for each student.
3. Consider the student and the overall average.
Things that grind my gears--
(1) Parents emailing for extra credit opportunities at the last minute.
(2) Students asking for their average and how to bring up their grade at the last minute.
(3) Principals pressuring you to change students' grades right as report cards are due.
I am seeing red just thinking about instances of all three of these issues. If you are feeling the same, take a deep breath with me.
In... 2... 3... 4... 5... Out... 2... 3... 4... 5...Woooo...Saaaa...
Okay, let's talk about it. Students' report card averages do not always reflect what they necessarily deserve. Some students work really hard for that C average, and others are slackers that somehow still pull off a low A. Then there's the student or two that you know have issues at home and probably some undiagnosed learning disabilities of some kind who struggle every day and it literally breaks your heart to sign off on that D minus. By no means am I saying to drastically change a grade, but after 12 years of teaching, I can honestly say grades are just grades, and if a student has a 79.4 (C) and you know they worked hard enough to get a B, then bump that joker up. Consider the student and how that number on the screen should best represent them. A point bump here or there is not the end of the world; however, I always found it difficult to bump up when people ASKED me to. It made me so angry and still does to this day. That's the WOOOO SAAAA moment for sure. During my years teaching middle school ELA, I learned that while students do earn the grade they get (and I will die on that hill), I also know that my class was challenging and the math didn't always measure up how I thought it should. And that's okay.
4. Reference parent contact.
New teachers: pay EXTRA CLOSE ATTENTION! This one is about grade averages but more so about behavior grades.
(1) If a student earned a D or F for your class on their report card, PLEASE contact that parent before the report card goes home, whether that be via email or phone call. You do NOT want a parent to be blindsided by a low grade-- I've been there, done that, enough to know those angry momma and papa bears will come after you. And sometimes, they'll come after you over a C. Just be as vigilant as you can with communicating about grades throughout the year-- it'll protect you later.
(2) This. This is the most important take away from this blog post. DO NOT GIVE STUDENTS LOW MARKS ON BEHAVIOR IF YOU HAVEN'T HAD COMMUNICATION WITH THEIR PARENTS BEFORE NOW.
This is tough and unfortunate sometimes, but, PLEASE learn from my mistakes. If you have not emailed home about poor behaviors and the student has no record of detentions or anything, you can't give less than a satisfactory grade for behavior. Even when you get to certain kids and are like, but they do have room to improve... RESIST THE URGE. The angriest parents are the ones who find out their kid needs to improve their behaviors from reading the report card. I know it's annoying to document every little behavior issue, but it's so important. Otherwise, just know you have to be satisfied with putting satisfactory.
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate!
This last one is really just a reiteration of the others. The more you communicate with your parents along the way, the better off everything will be. Your students' reports cards should never have a shock factor; parents should open that envelope/email/etc. and pretty much know what to expect. I also know there can be times where you communicated your ass off and they still act surprised, and those special cases are nearly impossible to avoid. But do the best you can to avoid the avoidable shockers.
