This week you wrote an informative piece about what feedback on your writing actually looks like, drawing on real experience. Now you'll read another student's piece and judge how well they use specific examples and explain their reasoning. Working through how assessors evaluate informative writing builds your ability to recognise useful feedback and offer it to others.
Part 1
The Assessor Scorecard for
Informative – Informative piece
Informative writing about personal experience works best when it combines honest reflection with specific detail. The writer identifies patterns, gives concrete examples, and explains the reasoning behind their conclusions.
Ideas & Content
Drawing entirely on real experience — not what teachers want to hear.
Clear patterns identified: what helps, what doesn't, and why.
Concrete examples that make each claim specific and useful.
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Honesty: drawing on real experience, not performing.
Structure & Cohesion
Introduction of the question that frames the piece.
Explanation of feedback that helps, then feedback that doesn't.
Analysis of what makes the difference between the two.
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Clear organisation: helpful patterns, unhelpful patterns, analysis of why.
Audience & Purpose
An audience of teachers who want to improve their feedback.
Honest writing that doesn't slide into blame or defensiveness.
Specific observations that help teachers understand student experience.
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Respectful honesty: truthful but not blaming.
Language Choices
Precise descriptions of what helps, not vague labels like “good feedback.”
Clear explanations of what unhelpful feedback leaves the student unable to do.
Language that names the exact problem, not just its effect.
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Specific detail: precise description of what helps.
Conventions
Clear paragraphing that signals each shift in the writer's thinking.
Error-free conventions that show respect for the reader.
Writing that supports clarity rather than fighting it.
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Clarity: clear paragraphing, error-free conventions.
Part 2
Today’s Marking Targets
Task in one sentence
Assess an informative piece where a student explains, from personal experience, what feedback helps them improve and what makes the difference between feedback they use and ignore.
Let’s Focus
Three strands matter most this week: Structure & Cohesion, Language Choices and Conventions. Structure decides whether the reader can follow the explanation. Language decides whether the writer distinguishes helpful feedback from vague feedback clearly. Conventions decide whether the piece feels polished and easy to trust.
Structure & Cohesion
Strong writing this week organises thinking clearly. Paragraphs build logically: the question, helpful feedback with examples, unhelpful feedback with examples, then analysis of the difference. Transitions are smooth. The reader comes away with a clear understanding of the writer's experience.
What markers scan for
- Clear organisation: helpful patterns, unhelpful patterns, analysis.
- Logical flow between paragraphs with smooth transitions.
- Specific examples that illustrate each point.
- Explanation of why certain feedback works or doesn't.
Score Bands
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Basic
Ideas are present but organisation is unclear; paragraphing is weak and the overall pattern is hard to follow.
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Strong
Ideas are organised clearly into helpful, unhelpful and analysis; examples support each point and transitions guide the reader.
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Excellent
Ideas progress logically with smooth transitions; examples are explained, paragraphing is purposeful and the analysis demonstrates genuine reflection.
Language Choices
Strong writing this week uses clear, specific language about feedback. The writer should explain what feedback looks like in practice, not just call it good or bad. Precise words help the reader understand the difference between useful advice, vague praise and comments that are hard to act on.
What markers scan for
- Specific terms for types of feedback, such as precise, actionable, vague or encouraging.
- Examples that show what useful feedback actually says.
- Clear explanation of why some comments help and others do not.
- Avoidance of empty phrases such as just be better or add more detail.
Score Bands
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Basic
Language is understandable but often general; helpful and unhelpful feedback are named without enough precision.
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Strong
Language is clear and specific, with examples that help the reader see why some feedback is useful.
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Excellent
Language is precise and practical throughout; the writer makes subtle differences between feedback types easy to understand.
Conventions
Strong conventions make the informative piece easy to read. Paragraphing, punctuation and spelling should support the writer's explanation rather than distract from it. Because the topic is writing feedback, errors in sentence control and punctuation are especially noticeable.
What markers scan for
- Accurate spelling of key words such as feedback, specific and improvement.
- Clear sentence boundaries and punctuation.
- Paragraphing that separates helpful patterns, unhelpful patterns and reflection.
- Consistent tense and point of view.
Score Bands
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Basic
Meaning is mostly clear, but errors in spelling, punctuation or paragraphing distract the reader.
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Strong
Conventions are mostly accurate and support readability, with paragraphs and punctuation used clearly.
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Excellent
Conventions are controlled and polished throughout; the writing is easy to read and the presentation strengthens credibility.
Now read · Student sample
What Good Feedback on My Writing Looks Like
Year 8 sample · \~350 words
Student sample for assessment
Written by a Year 8 student in Southbank, Victoria, Australia.
Feedback on my writing works best when it shows me exactly what to change and why. When a teacher comments 'unclear here,' I'm left wondering: unclear to whom? What was confusing? What should I do instead? I can't improve if I don't understand the problem. But when feedback says 'this sentence confuses your meaning because the subject keeps changing—notice you start with "students" and then shift to "you"—try combining them or being consistent,' I know exactly what went wrong and exactly how to fix it. That kind of feedback doesn't just point at a problem; it explains it. I can act on that. Feedback that doesn't help me improve falls into a few patterns. The first is praise that doesn't teach me anything. 'Good job\!' or 'This is strong writing' feels nice but doesn't move me forward. It doesn't tell me what I did well or how to do it again. I end up guessing at what worked. The second unhelpful pattern is feedback that blames me rather than explaining the issue. A comment like 'You weren't careful here' makes me defensive. It doesn't explain what carelessness looks like or what precision would look like instead. I shut down rather than learn. The third pattern is feedback that's so detailed and extensive that I feel overwhelmed. If a paragraph comes back covered in corrections and comments, I don't know where to start. I need to know: which issue matters most? What should I tackle first? The difference between feedback I act on and feedback I ignore comes down to a few things: clarity, specificity and respect. Clarity means I understand the problem and the solution. Specificity means the feedback tells me exactly what and why, not generalised statements. Respect means the feedback assumes I'm trying and offers help rather than blame. When I get feedback with those three things, I actually use it to improve. When it's missing one or more of them, I file it away and forget about it. Teachers want to help, I know. But help has to look like explanation, not judgment.
