grading tests

Hi there,
I am to grade / comment on my students' homework by adding telling lines such as " excellent", " good job" , "try harder next time" , "this is a disaster" ....
now what would I say/write instead of a simple and rather dull "fair" / "mediocre at best"? ;-)
thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by beascarpetta

Hi there,
I am to grade / comment on my students' homework by adding telling lines such as " excellent", " good job" , "try harder next time" , "this is a disaster" ....
now what would I say/write instead of a simple and rather dull "fair" / "mediocre at best"? ;-)
thanks in advance.

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Personally, I would never write "try harder next time", "this is a disaster", "mediocre at best" or any other negative comment like that. It is hardly a word of encouragement to a student who is not doing well.

I would point out something I liked and suggest areas of improvement. Even excellent papers can use constructive criticism.

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Originally Posted by Naamplao

Personally, I would never write "try harder next time", "this is a disaster", "mediocre at best" or any other negative comment like that. It is hardly a word of encouragement to a student who is not doing well.

I would point out something I liked and suggest areas of improvement. Even excellent papers can use constructive criticism.

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Thank you very much for your constructive comments.

I'm afraid I forgot to mention that I have to keep my comments quite short since I've got about 100-150 longish assignments per week to correct/hand back.
Yet, I do realize that for avid students who want to improve their English my terse statements simply won't do.
On the other hand, I'll have to think about some way of being quite clear to students who haven't got down to working yet.
Thanks again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by beascarpetta

On the other hand, I'll have to think about some way of being quite clear to students who haven't got down to working yet.
Thanks again.

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You find that, being negative to such students, makes them want to do better????

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Originally Posted by Naamplao

You find that, being negative to such students, makes them want to do better????

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I think one has to be very careful there, but I do not mind "being negative",as you put it, to those students who do not bother to get down to working even after I've corrected/suggested rephrasing,etc. their assignments several times in a row. And yes, there are quite a few of them who do start working once they ' ve realized you are not prepared to put up with what they hand in indefinitely.
Maybe,your students are different in so far as they are eager to learn,willing,etc.
The students I teach do not have to pay a dime for their education up to eighteen and unfortunately,some of them do not really want to go to school.It's their parents who make them turn up every morning.

Our teacher only has a few phrases, which she uses all the time....
-) Very good
-) More careful, please (I think that's the one she uses most of the time)
-) Nice
-) Very nice
-) Quite Good

I even think she doesn't know any other than those...

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Originally Posted by steph_333

Our teacher only has a few phrases, which she uses all the time....
I even think she doesn't know any other than those...

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Thanks, Steph , that's just what I was looking for in the first place...some phrases other teachers would use :lol:

Kein Problem...
Wenn mir noch weitere einfallen, werd ich sie posten....
Darf ich fragen, wo Sie unterrichten??

kk, translation..
No problem....
If I can think of any else, I'll post them....
May I ask which school you're teaching at??