Teacher Talk Blog | Why I love teacher stamps by Mdm Jane

Why I love teacher stamps by Mdm Jane

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I could give you endless reasons why I find stamps such a great classroom resource (I’m a big fan!) so I’ve detailed below a few of the ways I use them to show you just how useful they are:

As an EFL teacher, these little stamps have saved me so much time while sending colourful messages to my students with the adorable fun images. They just love it! I use self-inking stamps especially for tests, spelling correction and sometimes for illustrations from my student’s work. For students with outstanding grades I usually reward them with a ‘Champion’, ‘Well done’ or ‘Excellent’ reward stamp, and I top it off with a Sparkly Smile Sticker (these are my favourites!) as well.

I think self-inking stamps, while small, make a big difference and work very well in the classroom especially as a reward for a well deserving student and a motivation for the rest of the class. My students who have received a stamp on their work are always proud to show them off and some asked if they could colour in the fun images. I love to treat my students with the stamps when they work hard for it.

I also use teacher stamps on my classroom behaviour chart.

I created a behaviour chart as I see my students only twice a week and it is an easy way to see in a glance if any actions needed to be taken. I make a point of using my Sad Face Teacher Marking Stamp for immediate bad behaviour :0(

Being such a advocate of teacher stamps, I decided to treat myself to a customised stamp because I find myself writing the same remarks for our spelling test in class over and over again. I teach classes of CP, CE1, CE2, CM1 and CM2 (Primary 1 to Primary 6.), so you can imagine the number of remarks I have to write. To convey my message that they have worked hard for their spelling, I use my ‘Jane says Great Job!’ stamp. I am delighted to have invested in this marking stamp.

For my younger students (CP/CE1), I use my teacher stamps with English and French titles for example ‘Bon travail/Good work’ these are great as the students can relate to the message on the stamp and learn new language praise words at the same time. The students get their stamp in their activity book since we do not give English test at this level as yet.

There are many other ways I find stamps useful in the classroom. Unbelievably, my students have been known to beg for them as well!

So in short I really enjoy using the stamps as much as my students enjoy receiving it for their work. I think they’re a great investment and a little ‘treat’ for me as well as my students!

Mdm Jane is an English Primary school grade teacher living in France. As well as teaching English and Chinese, Mdm Jane is a mother of 3 young children and therefore has the challenge of juggling the needs of home life and her career. As a 'true believer' in the power of reward stickers and stamps in the classroom, she writes for the Classroom Capers Blog to share her experiences and ideas with other teachers.