Instead of spending time thinking about the strengths demonstrated by a piece of learner work, create a chart containing a wide range of strengths appropriate to the subject or subjects you teach.
You can then refer to this while you are marking.
Simply look at the chart and either identify a relevant strength you can include in your feedback verbatim or take one of the existing strengths included in your chart and rewrite it.
There are a couple of ways you can construct your strengths chart.
First, you can sit down at the start of the year and make a list of the categories you use when assessing learners’ work.
You can then identify five to ten strengths for each category, capturing these in a spreadsheet.
Second, you can collate the strengths you include in your written feedback as you go.
This method takes longer, but it does have the virtue of producing a chart containing strengths written exactly as you would want to write them in learners’ books.
Whichever option you select, the result is the same.
You end up with an extensive collection of ready-made strengths you can apply in your marking.
This doesn’t mean you are ignoring the work learners produce and picking strengths off the shelf to make your life easy.
Far from it.
Instead, you are doing some of the analytical work in advance by coming up with and storing relevant strengths.
Your marking then focusses on identifying which of the already collated strengths are appropriate to the piece of work you are looking at, meaning you don’t have to divide your mind between assessing what is in front of you and creating appropriate comments off the cuff.
Here are two examples to illustrate.
Example 1: PE
At the start of the year the PE teacher sits down and makes a list of ten categories they will use to assess the theory side of their learners’ GCSE work.
Having done this, they go through each category and identify five key strengths they will be looking for as the year progresses.
They also leave space to add additional strengths to each category, combining both methods outlined above.
As the term progresses and they start marking learner work, they use their strengths chart as a reference point.
On some occasions they find they can copy strengths they have identified directly into their written feedback.
On other occasions they make a few tweaks and adjustments.
All this saves them time and helps them to mark both efficiently and effectively.
Example 2: Art
As the year progresses, the art teacher makes a point of recording the different strengths they share with learners through their written feedback.
They sort these strengths into relevant categories and, gradually, develop a strengths chart which, by the end of the year, is full of different strengths covering a wide range of categories connected to their teaching.
The following year, they can realise a twin benefit.
First, they can use the strengths chart to significantly speed up their marking – in much the same way as the PE example.
Second, they can share some or all of the strengths chart with their learners, helping them to better understand what good looks like and what they need to be focussing on to improve their work.
