Analyzing a Professor's End Comments

In the article "Genre of the End Comment", Summer Smith discusses the variations in a professor's written final comments at the end of a paper.  I had never really thought that deeply into it after reading it once or twice.  This article makes me wonder whether teachers write their comments with these tactics in mind or if the way they writes comments just comes naturally.  Out of the few papers that I have written this year,  the statement that resonates with me is "in the context of the end commentt the coaching genres are so consistently paired with negative evaluations that they take on a negative association"  (15).  In my Spanish Literature class, we read narratives and then analyze them in class so that we have a foundation to write an analytical essay.  However, this is my first Spanish class outside of the General Education requirement and it is much more difficult than I expected.  The majority of my class is freshman who took AP Spanish Literature and are familiar with work that this course requires.  When I handed in my first rough draft, I had it returned with the statement "You did not understand the theme of the story. Come see me."  I agree that when a teacher accuses the student, it is very discouraging and made me feel as though my entire paper was garbage.  It would have been nice to see a positive message beforehand so that I felt more comfortable about going to see my teacher.  Also, a less blunt statement rather than "come see me" would have been more encouraging and allow me to see the professor as a "coach" figure rather than an authoritative figure.  The end comments of a professor also influence a student's comfort level within the class for the remainder of the year-- or it does for me at least.  If a teacher gives positive feedback, it indirectly says, "This is okay, but if you try a different approach I'm sure you will improve".  Once I went to see my Spanish teacher about the paper, she spoke to me in English, which was a start to being comfortable.  Although she started off with saying that she is worried about my lack of understanding, I felt more comfortable as she suggested I ask more questions in class and visit her during her office hours if I don't feel comfortable speaking in class.  I was able to establish that although I was struggling with the course, I was still very concerned about my academics.  I felt more comfortable going back to her for my next assignment because she wrote Mucho Mejor! as her comment to show that she recognized my improvements in the short time I had to edit my essay.  The article really dives into these minor words that students may take one glance at.  It was interesting to see the psychological affects and statistics about these words.