Giving feedback can be time-consuming.

Identifying what learners have done well and what they need to do to improve takes time.

When you have thirty learners in your class, the challenge is to give all of them formative feedback that is meaningful and personalised.

Speed up your feedback, whether written or verbal, by using this strengths bank.

Here, you’ll find sixty ready-made, good-to-go strengths covering three key areas of learning:

• Skills of Argument
• Issues of Content
• Gaining Mastery

You can use these as part of the feedback you give to learners. Either as they are, or adapted to suit your needs.

Either way, they’re designed to save you time while ensuring learners get high-quality guidance on what they’ve done well.

Enjoy!

20 Example Strengths: Skills of Argument

1. Excellent use of reasons. You have made it clear why you believe we should accept your argument to be true.
2. You have used clear reasoning throughout. This means that you have stated why you think certain things are true. It shows me you have analysed them carefully.
3. You have used evidence to support your arguments. Well done. This makes your points more convincing because it gives them support.
4. Excellent selection of evidence. You have picked things that clearly connect to the reasons you have outlined. This makes your argument logical and persuasive.
5. Good use of examples. You have thought carefully about how best to explain your points. This makes it easier for the reader to understand what you are trying to say.
6. The examples you have used are thoughtful. They demonstrate your understanding of the topic and show that you can express this clearly through your arguments.
7. You have expressed yourself clearly throughout. This means that your argument is easy to follow and accurately communicates your ideas to the reader. Good job.
8. You have expressed your own ideas about the topic. Well done. This shows that you have been thinking carefully and paying attention to what we’ve been doing in class.
9. Your argument is clear and therefore easy to understand. This makes the reader’s life easier and helps make your case more persuasive.
10. You have made your points clearly and put them in an order that helps the reader to see how they connect. Good sequencing of your ideas.
11. An excellent choice of structure for your argument. It creates a logical flow that makes your writing easy to understand and more persuasive.
12. By collecting your points together into two different sections you have created a well-structured argument. This helps improve the reader’s experience, making it more convincing.
13. You make good use of logic throughout your argument. It is clear how your points lead on to one another. This makes your argument more powerful.
14. You have employed an excellent logical structure. As a result, the different points you make fit together, creating a seamless whole that I can make sense of.
15. Excellent use of linking sentences to create continuity in your argument. It is clear that you have thought carefully about how to take the reader from one point to the next.
16. Well done for linking your argument back to the question. This has helped keep your work focussed throughout. Each paragraph addresses the question and seeks to answer it.
17. You have come up with a really original perspective. This makes your argument interesting and engaging, drawing in the reader.
18. You have developed a series of original points. This shows you have been thinking carefully about the topic and your own feelings towards it.
19. Your argument displays an admirable degree of balance. This makes the reader feel as if you are prepared to consider a variety of viewpoints before coming to a conclusion.
20. This is a really balanced argument. You have been sure to include points both for and against. This demonstrates a careful, critical engagement with the topic. Nice work.

20 Example Strengths: Issues of Content

1. Well done, your work displays excellent knowledge of what we have been studying. I can tell from reading it that you have got to grips with the topic.
2. It is clear that you have developed a good knowledge of the key content. This is evident from the way in which you make use of it in your work.
3. Excellent use of the key concepts in your work. It is clear from what you have produced that you understand these and know how to use them accurately.
4. Your work demonstrates a good understanding of the key concepts we’ve been studying. You have clearly demonstrated what they mean and provided examples to develop your explanations.
5. Your work shows a high degree of accuracy throughout. You have obviously been paying close attention to what we have been studying. Well done.
6. Accurate use of the content we have been looking at. It is clear from your work that you have thought carefully about the material and that you understand exactly what it is and what it means.
7. Throughout your work you use the keywords correctly. This demonstrates that you know what they mean and are confident in putting them into practice. Well done.
8. You have taken great care to ensure that you are making accurate and precise use of the key vocabulary and ideas we have studied in lessons. Good work.
9. There is a real range of content evident in your work. This breadth suggests that you have really got to grips with the topic and that you understand exactly what it encompasses.
10. By using a range of different ideas you have demonstrated your excellent, in-depth understanding of the topic. Well done.
11. In a number of places you have specified precisely what it is you mean or what you take a keyword to mean. This is good because it makes it clear that you are thinking carefully about the topic.
12. It is clear that you have taken great care in choosing which examples to use in your work. This demonstrates a good knowledge of the content – otherwise you would not be in a position to make such choices.
13. Your work shows a clear understanding of when it is appropriate to use the keywords.
14. Your work shows clearly that you understand how different parts of what we have studied connect together. This is good because it suggests you are thinking broadly about the topic.
15. There are a number of examples in your work where you have developed the ideas we have looked at in your own direction. This shows original thinking and a desire to make the ideas your own. Well done.
16. Well done for using what we have studied in lessons to develop an original piece of work. This demonstrates how you have understood the content and then taken it on to create something that expresses your own ideas.
17. Excellent analysis of the key ideas we have been studying. You have broken them down and made it clear how they work and what goes to make them up.
18. You have made good use of your analytical skills to break down the content in order to explain it. This demonstrates a sound understanding of what we have been studying.
19. Good application of the ideas we have been looking at in lessons. Your work shows that you know how these work and when it is appropriate to use them.
20. It is clear from your work that you understand how to use the key concepts we have been studying. I have indicated a number of points where your use of them is spot on.

20 Example Strengths: Gaining Mastery

1. There is clear evidence that you are able to skilfully manipulate the content in order to serve your purpose. This is excellent and demonstrates a growing degree of mastery in your work.
2. You have made thoughtful use of the material we have looked at in order to produce work of a very high standard. This suggests you are increasingly able to distinguish what it is that is useful given the demands of the task.
3. I can see significant developments in your work over the past few months. You are increasingly able to express yourself fluently in the subject. Well done.
4. Over time you have demonstrated an increasing ability to use the key ideas we have looked at with skill and accuracy. Your most recent work is the best example of this yet. Well done.
5. Your work shows the benefits of practice. Evidently you have been working on developing your skills and I am pleased to say that this has paid off. Keep it up.
6. This work shows me that you have been practising in order to improve. The result is that you are expressing yourself more clearly and are showing a better understanding of what we have been studying.
7. Well done for assessing your own work and identifying how you might improve it. The target you have set is thoughtful and shows me that you know what you need to do to get better in the subject.
8. I am delighted to see that you assessed your work when you finished it and then improved it as a result. This shows that you are taking control of your learning and being independent.
9. Your latest work shows a much more accurate use of the key vocabulary we have been learning.
10. There are major improvements in your writing. You have developed your work so that you express your ideas more clearly.
11. It is clear that you have developed an excellent understanding of the key ideas we have been studying. Your work shows that you understand them and have found ways of putting them to use.
12. Excellent exploration of the key ideas we have been considering this term. It is evident from what you have produced that you have developed a real mastery of these, including an understanding of how they can be used.
13. Your work shows you to be in control of the content we have been studying recently. You are able to use it with increasing skill and accuracy.
14. Comparing your current work to what you produced earlier in the term, it is clear to see that you have developed your understanding of the topic quite considerably. Well done.
15. In a short space of time you have gotten to grips with the new ideas we have been studying and are now using them confidently in your work.
16. Since beginning the topic it is clear that you have worked hard to develop your understanding. The results of this can be seen in your most recent work, which is of a very high standard indeed.
17. Your writing increasingly reflects that of a historian/geographer/scientist. You are using the conventions of the subject and thinking carefully about how to write well.
18. The contributions you make in class reflect an increasing understanding of what the subject is about.
19. Your work shows an increasing proficiency. You are making fewer errors and I’m seeing greater consistency between your work in class and what you do at home. Well done.
20. I can see from the way you are answering questions that your confidence in the subject is developing. This is a result of the hard work you are putting in. Keep it up.