Cumulative Statements

dun, dun, DUNNNN.

It's the end of the school year, and I am writing Cumulative statements for my students.

I'm so stuck on these comments. These comments go into their permanent folder and represent what the teacher thinks of them for the entire year. I can't believe I have the power to define each student in just a few sentences. I've been working on them this weekend, and I just feel icky about it.

here are a couple examples of Cum statements:

A strong student academically. Strengths lie in mathematics. A voracious reader but still needs help with comprehension strategies. Friendly and well liked by others, but needs help knowing how to be supportive, kind friend. Prefers to work alone.

and

A friendly student who needs help controlling his behavior and knowing where boundaries are. Does well with one-on-one teacher modeling and instruction. Enjoys working in groups, but needs frequent redirection.

My mentor teacher gave me a list of ways to state negative things in a positive way. I've been practicing that. Some of the things I want to say are: This student is going to drive you crazy!! and don't ever let him near a pair of scissors. Or this student is a bully, and this one has gender identity issues, and this one's parents will never call you back or show up for a parent-teacher conference.

It's impossible to sum a person up in a few sentences, but it's one of the impossible things that I must do as a teacher. I've written all 26 of them, and as strange as I feel about doing them, it's done.