I don’t write too good

One of my weaknesses as an educator is the whole area of grammar and English. If I look back over my life , I think I am improving but I still have a way to go. At report writing time I shudder because I know that there will inevitably be issues with the comments I have written. Often I read my reports after the corrections have been made and wonder if the intent of what I wanted to say has been changed because I couldn’t express myself on paper. John Hattie in his book Visible Learning talks about the importance of feedback in a students learning. Feedback can be in many forms but traditionally for teachers it is in written form , we all remember the English essay that comes back from a teacher that was covered in red ink!
For someone who struggles with writing this has been a stress point for me and something that I have tried to overcome over the years of my teaching. This year I thought I would try something different and it seems so simple. I downloaded a program called JING. This program captures the image on your computer screen and records your voice as well. What I asked the students to do is to send me their work electronically and then I record my comments while I am marking it. I then send them back the assignment with the video attached. I have found that I have been able to give them more appropriate and informative feedback and the students have appreciated the effort. The only snag I have hit is that our school email doesn’t allow for large files to be attached so I have had to copy the file on an USB and give it to them manually. This may be old news for those who are tec savvy but that’s okay , hopefully it will give someone out there a spark to try something new.