BC Report Comments: Personal Awareness and Responsibility, Gr 4-9
Personal Awareness and Responsibility is managing oneself: recognizing and handling feelings and stress, making healthy choices, persevering when work is hard, setting and tracking goals, and taking responsibility for one's own learning and actions.
Below are 13 sample sentences for Grades 4-9: two strengths and one next step for each of the 4 comment levels (Extending / Proficient / Developing / Emerging), plus a tip for families. They are a small selection from the 173 personal awareness and responsibility sentences in the full pack. Copy one, then add a detail only you know about the student.
Jump to: Extending · Proficient · Developing · Emerging · Writing tips
Fills in the name and pronouns on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Extending X
Strengths
- [Name] manages devices, deadlines and assignments responsibly, and takes the initiative to catch up on missed work after an absence.
- After reaching a goal, [Name] readily sets a more challenging one and explains how it builds on [his/her/their] earlier learning.
Next step
- To prepare for the next stage of school, [Name] could build a personal plan for balancing schoolwork, activities and rest.
Proficient P
Strengths
- When using class devices, [Name] generally takes good care of them and keeps track of [his/her/their] own assignments and materials.
- [Name] generally uses a goal card or checklist to keep track of [his/her/their] progress and shares it proudly with others.
Next step
- [He/She/They] could take on a leadership role, such as buddy to a younger class, to practise responsibility in a new setting.
Developing D
Strengths
- [Name] does best with regular check-ins when managing devices and assignments, and is learning to take more of this on independently.
- [Name] sometimes talks about what [he/she/they] would like to improve, and with a model or example can turn that into a clear goal.
Next step
- [Name] could use a planner with weekly check-ins to keep track of assignments and inquiry project deadlines.
Emerging E
Strengths
- Keeping track of assignments and devices is a new responsibility for [Name], and one-on-one check-ins help [him/her/them] stay organized.
- One-on-one, [Name] is beginning to talk about one thing [he/she/they] would like to get better at.
Next step
- One-on-one check-ins at the start of each task will help [Name] plan the first step and stay on track.
Support at home
- You could share a time you kept going on something difficult, so that [Name] sees that effort and mistakes are part of learning.
How to write personal awareness and responsibility comments for Grades 4-9
- Use the student's goal-setting work: what goal they set, the steps they planned, and whether they checked progress along the way. Describe the process, not just whether the goal was met.
- Perseverance shows in long tasks: returning to a hard math problem with a new strategy, or keeping a research project moving after a setback. Name the task and what the student did when it got hard.
- For responsibility, mention ownership of deadlines and mistakes, such as telling you ahead of time when work would be late or making a catch-up plan after an absence, and suggest one tool, like a planner.
Watch out: Avoid presenting feelings as the problem. Write about the strategies a student uses or is learning to manage them, never imply a diagnosis, and keep sensitive details for a conversation with the family.
The proficiency scale is used for learning standards; here its four names only label levels of written feedback on a Core Competency facet. Extending-level wording describes depth, independence and new situations; Proficient, regular use in familiar ones; Developing, parts of the facet with support; Emerging, first steps with guidance. Add the evidence instead of restating a level, so the comment never reads as a grade.
What Personal Awareness and Responsibility covers
In these comments, personal awareness and responsibility covers these behaviours:
- manages feelings and stress and makes healthy choices
- perseveres and shows self-determination
- sets goals and monitors progress
- takes responsibility for own learning and actions
More British Columbia comments
- Communicating, Grades 4-9
- Collaborating, Grades 4-9
- Creative Thinking, Grades 4-9
- Critical and Reflective Thinking, Grades 4-9
- Personal Awareness and Responsibility, K-Grade 3
- Positive Personal and Cultural Identity, Grades 4-9
- Social Awareness and Responsibility, Grades 4-9
- Opening and closing sentences
- All British Columbia skills and grade bands
- For the same report: BC Report Card Comments by Subject, K-9
- Build a comment with the comment picker
How these sentences were made, and what has been checked: About these comments.