ATL Social Skills Report Comments, Ages 11-14

Social skills, the collaboration cluster, cover how a student works in a group: sharing roles and workload fairly, building on others' ideas, giving fair peer feedback, resolving disagreements, including others, and both leading and following.

Below are 13 sample sentences for Ages 11-14: two strengths and one next step for each of the 4 comment levels (Expert / Practitioner / Learner / Novice), plus a tip for families. They are a small selection from the 173 social sentences in the full pack. Copy one, then add a detail only you know about the student.

Jump to: Expert · Practitioner · Learner · Novice · Writing tips

Student name Pronouns

Fills in the name and pronouns on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Expert E

Strengths

[Name] independently records in [his/her/their] process journal how the group shared the work and evaluates how fair the split was.
[Name] notices when a quieter classmate has had no chance to speak and invites them in without putting them on the spot.

Next step

A next step is for [Name] to help plan a group service activity in the community, coordinating tasks across a larger team.

Practitioner P

Strengths

[Name] usually works well with classmates who are new to [him/her/them], finding common ground quickly in group tasks.
[Name] regularly invites quieter members of the group to share their ideas and listens to them with respect.

Next step

[Name] could prepare for the community project by keeping a simple record of who agreed to do what in each group task.

Learner L

Strengths

In [his/her/their] process journal, [Name] is building the habit of noting who did which part of a group task.
At times, [Name] invites others to share their ideas, and is building the habit of checking that everyone has had a turn.

Next step

A useful step is for [Name] to agree with teammates, before work starts, how disagreements will be decided, such as by a vote.

Novice N

Strengths

Through short paired tasks, [Name] is beginning to learn how to share out work fairly with a partner.
[Name] is starting to notice when a classmate has been left out and, with encouragement, invites them to join in.

Next step

When groups change, [Name] could ask the teacher to confirm one role and one first step before the group begins work.

Support at home

You could ask [Name] to describe one idea from a classmate that improved a group task, which helps [him/her/them] value what others bring.

How to write social comments for Ages 11-14

Younger students often work with assigned group roles. Say whether the student carries out their role, such as timekeeper or recorder, and whether they can swap roles without the group losing momentum.
For disagreements, describe the step the student took, such as proposing a compromise or checking the group-roles agreement. A sentence starter for disagreeing politely is a useful next goal at this age.
Settling into a new school means working with unfamiliar classmates. Comment on whether the student includes others and works productively when the teacher chooses the groups, not only when working with friends.

Watch out: Avoid describing the group's result as the student's collaboration. A polished final product can hide uneven work, so comment on the student's own actions: what they contributed, how they listened and how they handled disagreement.

Show the stage through what the student does rather than writing the stage name. Expert language is independent, flexible and used in unfamiliar tasks, often modelled for others; Practitioner fits usually and with few reminders in familiar work; Learner fits with guidance, a model or a checklist; Novice describes what is emerging with close support, which is normal for many students new to secondary school.

What Social covers

ATL clusters covered for social:

collaboration skills: working well with others (sharing roles and responsibility, listening to and building on ideas, giving fair feedback, resolving disagreements, encouraging and including others, leading and following)

More ATL skills ages 11-16 comments

How these sentences were made, and what has been checked: About these comments.