Making Comments on Student Writing Meaningful

One reason I love middle school kids

And another reason I love middle school kids

As any English teacher knows, we spend countless hours grading and commenting on student work. What I realized after a few years of teaching was that many students did not read my comments at all; they just looked at their grade. Some didn't even look at the rubric! However, many students valued my feedback and relished every comment. I felt as though I was wasting my time on more than half of the essays. As evident from the next essay the students wrote, the majority of the students did not heed the advice I gave in the previous essay. I came up with a solution! Using Google Forms, I created a detailed survey for my students to fill out about the comments they received on their writing. I will include pictures of various questions and answers. Better yet, I told them that all responses would be read and a graded for the thoughtfulness. I had a sub that day, so I created a link to the form in my daily blog post for my class! SO easy! Students were forced to go back to the two most recent writing assignments and read all of my comments and look at the rubric. They had no choice but to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. I told them that even if they earned an A, I still made suggestions!
The work I received on this assignment was incredibly thoughtful and insightful. I enjoyed reading their responses and look forward to reading the next writing assignment.
What I like about this assignment is that it encourages learning and improving! It reinforces the idea that there is always room for growth!

Make sure to ask their names or responses are anonymous!

I included this in my survey. :)

Love the checkbox feature!

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