Encourage our students: by Professor Ursula Sohns

In my online developmental reading course, my students are all at the very earliest stages of their college learning. They often underestimate their own abilities and need a boost of confidence. As an instructor, I tend to give lots of comments to the students who are not turning in correct work, and sometimes the A student just gets the words good job or something like that.

An exchange happened one week that makes me realize that we never know how we may end up encouraging our students!

While grading an assignment I came across one that was excellent. I thought it would make a great example for other students so I wrote this comment on the instructor comment line as I graded the assignment.

My comments on the response part of a student assignment:

You may see this list of questions and answers pop up as an example for the class--I won't have your name listed. This is great note taking.

The student sent this E-mail several days later.

Ms. Sohns,


I was meaning to send you a message on Friday to thank you for you recent comments on my note taking. It truly means a lot. I think I am getting better at this reading stuff :0) I am truly honored that you are considering using my notes. Again, thank you very much and have a wonderful week.

The student's note struck a chord with me. It reminded me how much of an impact my words can have. I see the assignments but I don't know the story of the student behind the assignment. When work is weak, I make sure to give encouraging, specific feedback. This exchange made me realize how important the specific positive feedback is. Just because a student consistently turns in good assignments doesn't mean that student is aware that his or her work is particularly good.

We need to be constantly aware of what we say to our students. My comments on assignments are a major source of communication in an online class. I realize that I need to tell my students what they are doing well, just as much as I need to tell them what they are doing incorrectly. I can't assume that the A or B student really believes to be worthy of that grade. Like I stated at the beginning, My students often underestimate themselves and need that boost of confidence. And I often underestimate how important my comments are to them.