126. Rethinking End of Year Celebrations: Spotlighting Real Progress

End-of-year awards season is here—but what about the students whose biggest wins don’t show up on a checklist?

In this episode, we’re flipping the script and talking about creative, meaningful ways to celebrate real student growth—even when it doesn’t come with a certificate or percentage score.

You’ll hear:

• What counts as “progress” (spoiler: it’s more than grades)
• Low-prep, high-impact ideas for celebrating student wins
• How to involve families in small, powerful moments
• A mindset shift to carry into the end of the year

🎯 Plus, grab even more ideas on the blog: End of Year Awards in Special Education

If you're a busy special education teacher looking for tips, tricks, and resources to save you precious time, I've got you covered! I'm here to help you regain your confidence in the classroom and feel calm and collected as a special educator.

Tune in every Friday for practical tips, tools, and the support you need to to THRIVE in the classroom.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, welcome back to Special Educators
Resource Room Podcast.
I'm Jennifer from PositivelyLearning.
Today we're talking aboutsomething that shows up every
single May, usually sparks alittle bit of side eye from
special educators everywhere.
We're talking about end of yearcelebrations.
You know the ones I mean Mostimproved in reading, math,

(00:21):
superstar, perfect attendance,best behavior, whatever that
even means.
And while I fully believe incelebrating students, I also
know that for many of thestudents we support, these
traditional awards just don'ttell the full story.
In fact, they canunintentionally overlook some of

(00:42):
the biggest, most meaningfulgrowth that's happened all year
long.
So today's episode is all aboutflipping the script.
We're going to go beyond thechecklist and look at creative,
intentional ways to celebratestudent progress, even when it
doesn't come with a certificateor a percentage.
Hey, special educators, I'mJennifer from Positively

(01:06):
Learning.
Welcome to the SpecialEducators Resource Room.
If you're like me, you'realways looking for ways to save
time and streamline your work.
That's why this podcast wascreated to give you the systems
and solutions you need to getyour time back.
Tune in for tips, tricks andtools that will help you manage
your workload and make the mostof your time.

(01:28):
Whether you're brand new orexperienced.
All are welcome in the SpecialEducators Resource Room.
Before we dive into this newinformation, I want to mention
that I'm going to put a link toa blog post in the show notes.
This blog post is all about endof year awards and it includes

(01:48):
50 creative ideas plus a link toepisode 77 that we did last May
end of year awards creativeideas for special educators.
So be sure to click on the linkif you're interested in mixing
it up this year.
Now, moving forward, let's starthere.
What counts as progress?

(02:10):
Really?
Progress isn't always a number.
It's not always tied toaccuracy, completion or
checkboxes on a data sheet.
Sometimes progress istolerating a loud assembly
without having a meltdown,walking into a classroom without
needing a prompt or engaging inpeer interactions without

(02:32):
adults facilitating.
These are huge moments, butthey're not always going to get
those most improved awards, andsometimes even students don't
realize how big of a deal it isuntil we take a moment to
recognize it with them.
And that's why I think we needto expand what we're celebrating
, because when we only recognizethe most academic or the most

(02:54):
typical progress, we're missingopportunities to show our
students and their families justhow far they've come.
I want to think about somesimple, creative ways to
celebrate growth, becauseprogress isn't always going to
fit into a category.
So here are some few very lowprep, meaningful ideas that I've
either seen or I've used myself.

(03:16):
Number one progress spotlights.
So these are going to be thequick in the moment recognitions
.
You could jot them down on asticky note, hand it to a
student, post it on a wall, putit in their folder.
It could be you used your quietvoice during story time today
or you followed your wholevisual schedule independently.
You can also think about visualtrackers.

(03:38):
This is where students arecoloring in squares or they're
adding stickers when they meetmini goals, and it's very
individualized.
This is especially great forshowing persistence or building
confidence or stamina over time.
You might want to also thinkabout end of week wins, like a
look what I did moment everyFriday.

(03:58):
Maybe it's going to be privatebetween you and a student, or
maybe they're going to be ableto choose a photo or a task and
they're going to share it in aslideshow.
It doesn't have to be a wholeceremony, just a consistent
habit, and this is going toreinforce growth.
Another idea is to snap a phototo capture the moment when

(04:19):
something big happens.
This could be the first timestudents sort items
independently or wait their turnin small group.
You can pair it with a sentencelike today you rocked your
sorting task with no prompts.
You could print it or you couldsend it home to make the win
feel real.
One more low prep idea isfamily notes.

(04:39):
So one of the best things Iever did was keep a small wins
log for each student.
Just a quick note I could pullfrom when it was time to send a
positive update home.
You don't need to do this forevery student every day, but
maybe one per week.
It's very doable, very powerful.
Now, these kinds of celebrationsaren't about being flashy or
public.

(04:59):
They're about being seen, andthat kind of recognition is
something every student deserves.
And let's add to that, how canwe bring families and caregivers
into the celebration?
Because you already know this,families don't just want to hear
about goals and benchmarks.
They want to know that theirchild is known, appreciated and

(05:19):
understood.
And that's what you do best.
When we include families andcaregivers in those little wins,
especially ones that they mightnot be seeing at home, it's
going to build trust and buildcollaboration.
So here's a few fast ways to dothat, so you can take that
photo of a completed task withthat quick caption Jordan

(05:40):
initiated the whole routinetoday.
Or you can use apps like Seesawor Remind and you can send a one
sentence note, or you couldprint it out in a simple weekly
summary with one or twoobservations or proud moments.
You don't need to overdo it, itdoesn't need to be flashy.
You just want to focus onsomething that can be consistent

(06:01):
and sustainable.
So let's let go of perfection.
Even one positive message everyfew weeks can shift how
families are feeling, how theyfeel about the IEP team and
their child's school experience.
And, honestly, it's going tohelp you too, because when
you're drowning in all thatpaperwork and behavior notes,
having these small celebrationmoments are going to help you

(06:23):
stay focused and remind you ofthe important work that you're
doing and keeping with this idea.
I know this time of year isexhausting and I know that if
you're only measuring success onwhat's documented in an IEP
data tracking sheet, it can feeldiscouraging, but the truth is
you have been helping studentsgrow in ways that no checklist

(06:46):
could ever capture.
They're building trust, they'restretching their communication,
they're gaining confidence andyou have been guiding that.
So please take a minute thisweek to reflect on what went
well.
Notice the progress that isn'tgoing to live in a spreadsheet,
because when you can take amoment to see it, you're more

(07:07):
likely to celebrate it withstudents and they start to
internalize this growth too,because progress is progress
even when it's quiet, even whenit doesn't come with an award,
even when you are the onlyperson who saw it happen.
Here's one thing to try thisweek let's make it very simple.
Choose one student, just one,and celebrate a win that's not

(07:32):
connected to a test score or aprogress monitoring percentage.
Maybe you're going to write itdown and show the student.
Maybe you're going to email thefamily.
Maybe you're just going to sayit out loud to them.
Hey, I noticed that you usedyour words when something was
frustrating.
Today.
That was awesome.
That moment matters.
And then, if you want to takeit one step further, start a

(07:52):
wins list in your planner.
This is, for you, something toflip through on the hard days.
Not every student is going toget a perfect attendance
certificate or make the honorroll, but every student deserves
to be celebrated for somethingthat they've worked hard to
achieve.
So let's be the ones to see it.
Let's be the ones to say Inoticed that.

(08:13):
Let's be the ones who showstudents and their families that
progress in all its forms isworth cheering for.
Thank you so much for joining metoday in the Special Educators
Resource Room.
If you try out one of theseideas this week, I would love to
hear about it.
So send me a message or tag meat Positively Learning.
I truly love seeing theincredible things you're doing.

(08:37):
So keep going, keep noticing,keep celebrating, and I will
talk to you soon in the SpecialEducators Resource Room.
Thanks so much for tuning in,and I'm dying to ask what'd you
think?
Be sure to hit the follow orsubscribe buttons that you never
miss an episode.
You can find the show notes andlinks for everything mentioned

(09:00):
in this episode atpositivelylearningblogcom.
See you next week for morespecial education solutions.