I don’t think I’m alone when I say that writing report card comments is one of the most time-consuming parts of my job. It used to take me two full weeks to get the job done (counting weekends).

Now, I can crush them in one weekend (sometimes even one day). There are three things that help me do this. I’m excited to share these with you today so that you, too, can save time when writing report card comments.

Anecdotal Notes

In my opinion, anecdotal notes are life when it comes to writing report card comments. Since discovering this, I take anecdotal notes religiously throughout each term.

I’m always taking notes.

I take them during reading and writing conferences, as students work on math and even during group work.

I take note of everything. How well a student achieves in a certain subject. How is student treats their peers. Leadership jobs they have done really well in. I could go on…

When I keep up on my notes, my report card comments literacy write themselves.

All I need to do is tidy up these notes and write them in a professional manner. Not that they aren’t professional… you know what I mean.

Looking for anecdotal notes templates? Check out my simple anecdotal notes on Google Sheets.

Student Folders

This tip is definitely not a new one but it’s actually a new one to me. I’ve started collecting work samples from all subjects for each student.

All of those samples are kept in a folder and I return those work samples to them at the end of the term when I’m done writing their report cards.

As I sit down to write report card comments, I pull out the student’s work samples and they helped guide my writing.

I love doing this because I can pull from specific examples instead of just going by memory. It also really helps me to be able to see the growth that the student made throughout the term.

Photo and Video Evidence

I, like many teachers, love taking pictures and videos of my students as they work. I find this evidence to also come in handy when writing report card comments. I especially love taking videos of students presentations and during group work. This helps remind me of how students did during certain projects and tasks.

I personally upload videos to Edsby as that is the platform that our district uses but there are tons of electronic portfolio platforms out there. Uploading videos and photos to an online platform makes it super easy to bring up evidence from a certain student when it comes time to write that student’s comment.

Want More Help?

Grab the *free* complete report card writing guide.

It includes report card comment examples, sample report card writing schedules, quick tips, and 135 comment sentences frames you can use right away.