7 Essential Teacher Stamps
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Wait… read that title again… Essential Teacher Stamps? Is there such a thing?
Well let me ask you… How are you providing feedback and communicating with your students about their completed work? Are you effectively letting them and their parents know when something is graded for participation efforts rather than accuracy? Are you letting them know when an assignment should be saved and used for studying for an upcoming assessment? Maybe you want to give them a quick and friendly reminder to follow the directions more carefully next time?
This type of communication, while super important, can feel incredibly overwhelming and EXTREMELY time-consuming. Well, teacher friend, you are in luck because I created a quick solution for all of this by using my most favorite Teacher Stamps!
These Teacher Stamps are incredibly simple to use and I have found that my students have a better understanding of what is going on with different sets of papers. They are also great for communicating with parents/guardians about their learner’s progress in our classroom.
Here is a categorized list of the most Essential Teacher Stamps I use on a daily basis.
Let’s Chat
I love conferencing with my students whenever I get the chance. But a few years ago I made a bigger effort to build in some weekly time to chat with them.
When a student does something extraordinary and deserves some extra praise or has an area where some growth is needed, then I use my Let’s Chat stamp.
My students look forward to seeing this Teacher Stamp on the top of their papers because they know they get some undivided attention. This is one of my favorite Teacher Stamps of all times because it opens the door to so much more! You can check out those ideas in this blog article here!
Completed Work
We all know that teachers have multiple options for how we want our students to complete the work. These options are usually based on the purpose of the assignment. We may want to target a specific skill, to differentiate instruction, to provide study tools and reference pages, to reteach in a small group, to give opportunities for students to collaborate and learn from one another… the list could go on and on.
One of the most effective ways I have found to let my parents know how an assignment was completed is by marking their papers as Completed when they are finished. This way, parents, and the students, know that they just need to review that paper when they get home.
I also use stamps to let parents know when their student worked together in whole group instruction by stamping it Completed Together in Class. This way parents know that some answers may have been given together during direct instruction or guided practice.
In the same regards, I like to let parents know when assignments are completed collaboratively. My Completed Together with a Team is an easy way for this to be shared.
How is This Being Graded?
Is this being graded? Yes! Everything is graded in some way...but we all know that some things are more participation and some are graded for accuracy. We need our students to know this also!
This is where I pull out my Completed for Skill Practice or Graded for Participation stamps. These stamps keep my learners on the same page about the expectations.
Follow Directions
My Follow Directions stamp is great for letting students and their parents know that they need to be a little more careful next time. We all know that students can sometimes rush through things and make silly mistakes because they didn’t read all the directions.
It can be time-consuming when grading because, for purposeful grading, I find it important to take away points from the assignment and inform my learner of the reason behind the point deduction.
I want my learners to know WHY they missed points so that they can make the necessary corrections to improve their work habits. Plus, you know many of them are going to ask you why you removed the points anyway!
A quick stamp in the top corner lets them know to slow down next time! The amount of time that this stamp has saved me makes it one of my favorite Teacher Stamps.
Should I Keep This Assignment or Throw it Away?
“Do I need this anymore?” was a question I used to hear from my students every Friday when I returned their graded papers to them. As we all know, there are some worksheets that are needed to be kept for studying while other things aren’t needed past the skill practice.
My Study Tool stamp made organizing papers much more efficient. My students quickly learned that any assignment adorned with this stamp must be kept for later. The question time has essentially been cut out and there’s no more excuses from my learners about their parents “accidentally throwing away” an assignment!
I will admit that I was one of those people who always thought that stamps were a waste of time and money. However, after creating the right ones with purpose and utilizing them consistently, they have saved me so much time and frustration, and have made communicating with my parents and students so much more effective!
Is there a Teacher Stamp you wish you had for your classroom??? Reach out and let me know… I might just make it for you!
