Every term a homeroom teacher writes forty or fifty comments for the student development report or the comprehensive student assessment, usually in one evening. The result is often the same three sentences with the name changed, or worse, labels that stay with a child ("naughty", "slow to respond"). Parents and students read these closely. This skill turns a few notes per student into comments that sound like the teacher knows the child.
Write in Simplified Chinese unless asked otherwise. Comments in an official comprehensive student assessment system may have a length limit or required fields; follow the school's format (to be verified).
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided, otherwise infer and label the assumption:
- Grade and term, and where the comment goes (student development report, comprehensive student assessment, parent-teacher meeting, a personal note)
- Length per comment (for example 80 to 150 characters) and voice (the second person, "you", is standard)
- For each student (a name or initial and a few notes): one thing they did well with an example, one area to grow, interests, any change during the term
- Tone: warm and plain; poetic openings only if the teacher wants them
- Anything to avoid: family circumstances, health, behaviour handled privately
Output Structure
1. Comments for each student
For each student, a comment that:
- Opens with a specific moment or strength ("You took the initiative to hand water to your classmates at the sports day" is better than "You care about the class")
- Names one growth area as a next step, in hopeful language ("If you read extracurricular books for 20 minutes every day next term, your compositions will have richer content"), never a label
- Ends with encouragement tied to that child Use the second person, keep within the length, and vary sentence patterns across the class.
2. Wording replacement table
| Not recommended | Suggested alternative | Labels and their alternatives, for example naughty → energetic; next term, try putting that energy into…; introverted → quiet and conscientious; I look forward to hearing your voice in class; careless → checking your work after you finish will help.
3. Self-check checklist
Duplicates flagged: any sentence used for more than two students, and any student whose comment has no specific example (ask the teacher for one).
Quality Checks
- Each comment has a specific example the teacher supplied
- Growth areas are phrased as next steps, not labels or judgements
- No comparison with other students and no mention of rank or score position
- No sensitive information (family, health, private discipline)
- No stock sentence repeats across more than two students
- Length and format match the school's requirement
Anti-Patterns
- Labels. "naughty""lazy""stupid" follow a child; describe behaviour and a next step.
- The same comment with a new name. Parents compare comments; generic praise reads as indifference.
- Inventing examples. If the notes have none, ask; do not make up a story.
- Grades in the comment. The score is elsewhere; the comment is about the person.
- Flowery openings with no content. "You are like a star" without a real detail is empty.
Example Trigger Phrases
- "Help me write end-of-term comments for 45 fourth-grade students, about 100 Chinese characters each. I will give you keywords for each student."
- "This child likes talking in class but is very kind-hearted. How can I write a comment without hurting his feelings?"
- "How should I write homeroom teacher comments in the comprehensive student assessment?"
- "Make these comments less formulaic."
- "Write end-of-term report comments in Chinese for my class."