April 9, 2024 • 19 mins
Teachers, feeling the end-of-year crunch? This episode offers practical tips to not only survive but thrive during the final stretch. Learn how to prepare for what's expected (testing, celebrations), keep yourself calm and collected, and manage a restless classroom. You'll leave with actionable strategies to conquer the last 3 months and head into summer break feeling accomplished and ready to recharge.
Episode 137 The Best Way to Ensure a Smooth Substitute Day
Episode 119 End-of-the-year Prep for Teachers
I have a new YouTube channel! Join me over there and subscribe!
Got questions, feedback, or want to be on the show? You can email me at kim@teachersneedteachers.com
Connect with me
Episode 137 The Best Way to Ensure a Smooth Substitute Day
Episode 119 End-of-the-year Prep for Teachers
I have a new YouTube channel! Join me over there and subscribe!
Got questions, feedback, or want to be on the show? You can email me at kim@teachersneedteachers.com
Connect with me
- Subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, or Stitcher
- Join my Facebook Group
- Message me through Instagram
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers who don't want
to just survive teaching, but actuallythrive. I'm your host, Kim Laprie,
and I am so excited that youare here. So it's April,
and you know what that means.The end of the school year is almost
upon us. We get to putthis whole school year behind us and finally
(00:21):
get that well deserved and much neededbreak. The finish line is in sight,
but those last hundred meters can feellike an entire marathon right And for
many years at this time of theyear, I wondered how I was going
to make it to that last dayof school without losing my damn mind.
So in this episode, I'm divinginto ten battle tested tips on how to
(00:44):
not just survive, but actually thriveduring this final stretch of the school year.
I'm going to be covering three differentgearing up for the finish line,
keeping your cool, and taming thetempest. So first things first, let's
talk about how to prepare for what'sex expected of us, Because there are
things that you are going to berequired to do at the end of the
(01:04):
year that if you're a new teacheryou need to find out about and if
you're a seasoned teacher, you knowthat these are things that every year they
sneak up on us because we're notpreparing for them. So first you need
to focus on the essentials. Thelast couple of months really aren't a great
time to teach new material. Yourstudents aren't really in the mindset to absorb
(01:27):
anything new, and can you reallyblame them. It's kind of like when
you're in a training of some sortand it's towards the last hour or two
of that training and you've pretty muchchecked out if you didn't check out from
the beginning. So it's important tounderstand that students are also in this mindset.
They're also looking forward to the summer, well most of them are,
(01:49):
and so trying to teach them somethingnew, especially if it's difficult, is
going to be kind of an uphillbattle. This is actually the best time
to be reviewing core concepts, wrappingup any loose ends in terms of what
you taught them, and preparing themfor some upcoming and of course or final
exam. So basically it's a reallygood time to just have them apply what
(02:12):
they've already learned and to not tryto bombard them with new things that they
honestly won't remember after they leave you, since it's coming so late in the
year. I also tend to notlike to give projects. Don't get me
wrong, I've given projects before becauseit just seemed like a good time.
It's just really like low barrier toentry because all I have to do is
(02:32):
just give them the instructions for theproject and let them do it while I
get to just monitor them. However, I have found that this has actually
been a nightmare scenario. A lotof times, the class time that you've
allotted them for projects gets interrupted bythings like ceremonies or maybe testing. Plus,
because it's at the end of theschool year, I don't have as
(02:53):
much time to grade it, sothen I'm scrambling towards the end to try
to finish it. The students wantfeedback or they're a grade on that project
that they work so hard on,and so it just tends to be a
little bit frustrating for me at theend of the year if I have all
of these projects that I have toget graded and input it into my grade
book. Also, you might havefound that if a project goes on too
(03:15):
long, which a lot of timesend of the year projects tend to do.
Students lose focus and start to exhibitmore off task behaviors. So your
plan to do something that was moreengaging and easier on you actually ends up
backfiring. And we think about it. If you have students who blaster the
project quickly, what are they goingto do while everybody else is finishing up.
(03:38):
You can give them extra work,but then they're still going to goof
off because now it's unfair that theyget more work. They're basically being punished
for getting done quickly. So youcan just see that it can be difficult
to manage if you give something likethat towards the end of the year.
So what types of things do Ilike to do at the end of the
year. Like I mentioned before,I do like to do reviews. I
(03:59):
like to get something that involves lessof me grading. So maybe these are
multiple choice things, or maybe it'ssomething like a cahout or just something fun
for the students to do that doesn'tinvolve me having to create a bunch of
assignments. And then I do likegroup work because it keeps the kids engaged.
And again the students aren't necessarily learningsomething new, and they can be
(04:23):
reviewing and it's just easier for mepersonally to manage. So the second tip
is to plan for the future.And it doesn't necessarily have to mean planning
for like far out into the future. It could just be planning for the
summer. So we want to startthinking about things that need to be packed
up and put away for summer cleaning. Or maybe you're going to be switching
schools. Maybe you'll be switching grades, so you have to pack up all
(04:46):
of your fourth grade materials because you'rebeing moved to sixth grade, or maybe
you're being moved to another classroom.So it's a good time to start planning
for that now instead of getting reallystressed out, procrastinating, and even worse,
having to stay into your summer sothat you can get that done.
Actually, what's kind of cool isyou can employ your students to help you
out a little bit during those timeswhen they start to get restless. It
(05:09):
can be a good time to havethem help you take things down the wall
or have you put things into boxes, and it kind of gives them something
to do take a little bit ofa mental break during those review sessions.
I also encourage you to put anyrepair or work orders that you'd like to
have completed over the summer. Somaybe there's a leak somewhere that you want
them to take a look at,or there's a patch of carpet that they
(05:31):
need to replace something like that.Maybe your desk is broken or the drawer
is broken and you'd like the custodiansto fix it over the summer, then
now would be a good time tostart making a list of those so that
you can give it to whoever's incharge of that. I also like to
make sure that I gather all thework that I've collected and have forgotten to
hand back to the students, andI make a plan for that. That's
(05:53):
actually something that you can space outover time, so that during the last
say, five ten minutes of class, when students are really losing their mind,
it's a time when you can giveback their papers and their work a
little bit at a time, soyou can kill those last few minutes.
My next tip is to focus onwhat you can control. This is actually
kind of hard even for someone likeme, because we can tend to worry
(06:15):
about all of the things that arehappening. Maybe students are getting more and
really maybe there are still parents thatare hounding you. You could be worrying
about a notice of non renewal,things like that, and so we want
to try to reframe and focus onthe things that are within our control so
that again we don't lose our mind. So if you just had standardized testing
(06:35):
and you were worried about their scores, it's out of your control. Now
you're not going to find out,probably until the summer, how they did.
So there's just no use in worryingabout that. And if you did
get a notice of non renewal andyou've already gone to the process of fighting
it or discussing it with your unionif you have one, and you're still
going to get that, then it'stime to start looking forward to the next
(06:58):
adventure and the next opportunit community foryou, instead of dwelling on the fact
that you're not coming back. Now. I know that's a lot easier said
than done. Just remember that ifthey don't want you there, there's going
to be a school that does.And it just feels so much better to
be somewhere where you're appreciated and notbeing criticized and hounded by your administration and
other colleagues. So there are definitelybetter things that you can look forward to.
(07:20):
And the same goes if you havea particularly difficult class, you know
they're difficult, they've been that waythe whole year. That with me and
one eighth grade class. What Ican control is how I react to what
they're doing and the way that Istructure the class periods so that I can
minimize how crazy they can become.So instead of dreading seeing them every single
(07:42):
day, I just focus on howI can control and manipulate the situation to
try to just keep the chaos containedas much as possible. Tip number four
is to celebrate accomplishments. I personallylike to take some time to acknowledge how
far my students have come and howmuch they've grown. We think it's kind
of fun to actually look back attheir first piece of writing towards the beginning
(08:03):
of the school year and just seehow much better they are now. So
you can do some kind of reflectionpiece like that, although I want to
take too much time because kids canget really bored with that, but you
could also have some kind of celebrationin class or rays to recognize your students,
and it's just something that kind oflightens the mood at the end of
the year. I also wouldn't beafraid to show a movie. I know
(08:26):
this can be controversial, but it'sthe end of the year. Unless your
school has some kind of school wideactivity or maybe like a festival planned,
the last few days of school canactually just feel like you're there to get
the federal funding. You know whatI mean, You're just there. You're
wondering why are we still here?There's literally nothing to do. So if
that's the case where there's nothing plannedthe last one, two three days of
(08:50):
school, just show a movie.Just have them bring their own snacks or
provide them with popcorn or something likethat. Let them sit on the ground
and just show them a movie.So next, let's discuss how to keep
your sanity in check, because let'sbe honest, the last few months can
be pretty stressful. So tip numberfive is don't be a martyr. It's
okay to take breaks. I wouldschedule at least one or two personal days
(09:13):
during this time, just so thatyou can have some time to reset and
so that you won't sit there freakingout and losing your mind. You're probably
going to need some time away fromcertain students, if not a whole class.
I remember that I did that withthat one class. I had to
get away from that class just fora day because they were starting to become
out of control. And even thoughI knew that it was really fair to
(09:37):
do that to a substitute, Ididn't want to be a mean teacher at
the end of the school year andhave them leave with that kind of impression
of their experience with me. Sotaking a day off just made me a
better teacher, and it just reallyhelped with the vibe in my classroom towards
the end of the year. Somethingthat you can consider. There's a three
day weekend usually for the Memorial Dayweekend. Maybe make it a four day
(10:01):
weekend and take that Friday off too. Plan for it now so that it
doesn't creep up on you and youcan have a solid lesson planned for that.
If you want to know more abouthow to create good lesson plans,
I'll be sure to leave a linkin the show notes so that you can
listen to that episode. The nexttip is to continue to prioritize yourself.
Yes, you can get bogged downwith all of the things that you need
(10:24):
to do towards the end of theschool year, and just get bogged down
with the stress of having to dealwith these students who are just acting insane.
So it's really important more than everto prioritize your health, especially your
mental and physical health, and taketime to disconnect. Plan activity so that
you're not spending a lot of timethinking about school at home. Plan things
(10:46):
that you can do so that onceyou walk out of that school every single
day, you are leaving it allbehind and you don't have to worry about
what's coming next. Make sure you'regetting an adequate amount of sleep, you're
freeding yourself well, you're moving yourbody, all the things that you know
that you should be doing. Butthis is a time when the stress can
make you sick. This is thetime when the stress can make you want
(11:07):
to quit, even though normally youweren't even really thinking about quitting. It's
a time that can be really,really stressful. So prioritizing yourself is going
to go a long way. Mynext tip is to connect and commiserate with
your colleagues. Normally, I don'tnecessarily think it's good to just have a
wine fest with your colleagues, becausethat could just lead to a lot of
(11:30):
negativity. But this is kind ofthe time when it's okay because you just
sometimes need to vent, right.You can try to vent to your family
members and friends and they'll listen fora little bit, but I don't know
about you. After a while,I kind of feel bad doing that because
they don't really know what's going on. They don't really understand, and they
can't relate unless there are fellow educators. So lean into talking to your colleagues
(11:52):
if you have that kind of connectionwith some of them, or even if
you don't, you can still inthe copy room just say, oh,
my goodness, this is so fresh, and it's just nice to get it
out and talk about it with them, and then you can all share your
frustrations and celebrate successes with each other, maybe bounce ideas off of each other
in terms of how to keep thekids from becoming too restless. I remember
(12:13):
one year where another colleague had somedifficult students and I had some difficult students,
and so we would send something withthat student. It wasn't really anything
that was important. We'd make upsome kind of paperwork to give to the
other teacher, and that would givethe student time to walk over to that
classroom and walk back and a lotof times that would redirect them or have
(12:35):
them clear their head enough to wherethey weren't as difficult for the next block
of time. So we've covered theessentials in terms of how to prepare and
how to keep your cool, andnow we're going to talk about taming the
tempest, which is basically managing theclassroom energy, especially when your students are
a little restless or a lot restless. So it goes without saying that you
(12:56):
need to plan some engaging activities.Isn't a time for your normal lectures.
The kids just I don't care ifthey are in twelfth grade or in second
grade. It is really hard forthem to handle lectures at this point in
the year. I mean, ifyou have to do traditional lectures, that's
fine, but just know that theyare going to be more restless, less
(13:18):
likely to absorb the information, andwe'll probably get into more trouble and you
have to be prepared for that,and you have to accept that. You
can't actually get really mad at themabout that because it's just their nature.
I think it's better to plan somethingthat's more interactive and more fun, maybe
something like what I had discussed withthe modern classroom project model in my previous
(13:39):
episode, in terms of having videos. For whatever reason, students are more
engaged with watching a video than theyare listening to me. They follow the
directions that I tell them via videothan I tell them in person. It's
kind of interesting. So maybe youjust mix it up during this time so
that it's not just the same old, same old. A different stimulus will
(14:00):
get them to focus more. Sothis is a time for more hands on
learning. Maybe some educational games thatcould be like a Daally thing that you
do as a warm up. Justfind ways to keep them focused and motivated,
something that is more relevant and funfor them that maybe you had been
saving up all year. And thisgoes along with my next tip, which
is to take movement breaks. Ifyou're an elementary teacher, you already know
(14:22):
about this. You know that youhave to have the students move after a
certain amount of time, or elsethey will move without your permission. So
it's better to have them move ina structured way rather than when their bodies
just decided going to start gesticulating orwhatever. So I would schedule short bursts
of movement, whether it's a stretch. As I mentioned before that I did
(14:46):
with some difficult students, sending themout on a fake errand maybe taking a
fun brain break where they get tomix up their groups somehow, or mix
up their seating chart with that eighthgrade class. Sometimes you would take a
five minute walk down to the libraryand back, just so I could provide
them with time to talk, whichis all they wanted to do to get
that energy out. And I tellyou, when we came back from that,
(15:09):
they settled beautifully and got focused.So schedule things like that for your
students, especially this time of year. Now. My next tip is to
really embrace and understand why students areacting this way. I've alluded to it
many times. That class that Ihad, they weren't bad kids, they
really weren't. They just they werefriends. And so no matter how I
(15:33):
arranged the seats, there would besomeone there for them to talk to and
goof off with. Even if Iput them near someone introverted. Even those
introverts would sometimes get into trouble becausethey just couldn't help it. It was
just that kind of energy in theclassroom, and so they became obviously even
more restless at the end of theyear, and I had to remember why
that was happening. They were eighthgraders, they were about to promote and
(15:56):
go off to high school, andthere was definitely like a nerve business and
this just elevated energy, this buzzin the school because they just knew that
this was it. And some ofthem their mindset was, well, this
is my last hurrah, So I'mgonna go and be stupid and do things
that I know I shouldn't because whatare they going to do to me?
(16:17):
And let's be honest, what arethey going to do to them? They're
gonna not let them promote. Theyprobably weren't going to promote anyway, so
it didn't matter to them. Andthen there were other students who were really
anxious and they didn't know how toget that anxiety out, and so it
just came out in the form oflike talking too much and not listening or
not doing their work. And sometimesthey were bored because, let's be honest,
(16:37):
it's the end of the year.They worked really hard. Even if
they didn't work really hard, it'sbeen a long year for them and so
at this point, they just can'tabsorb anymore. Their brains are fully saturated
with everything that you and their otherteachers have taught them. So it's just
really hard to get them to beproductive. And you just have to understand
(16:59):
that and embrace that and accept it, and finally you have to plan for
it. I'm not making excuses forthem, per se, but when you
do understand and really plan for this, then you can minimize the amount of
frustration that you're going to have becauseyou know your students. You know when
that breaking point is for them,when they're going to start acting up,
(17:21):
and you plan something for that asa preentive strike. Maybe you just plan
things where every single day there's afun routine that they could look forward to
and they know that you're building insomething fun, like a silly cahoot.
I know, I keep saying cahotand their other games, but you get
the point. It doesn't necessarily alwayshave to be an educational game. It
(17:41):
could be a cahoot about cartoon care. It can be a cahoot about modern
slang words that they help contribute to, something like that. So that was
a lot to cover, but byfollowing these tips, and really embracing them.
You really can transform the end ofthe school year from this horrible slot
to a time when you can reallycelebrate and have some closure with your students.
(18:04):
I have to say that with thatparticular class, we really did end
on a high note, and strangelyenough, even though they stressed me out
for the entire school year, Imissed them. I was really sad to
see them go. We had wrappedup that school year so well, so
positively, with so much energy andon a high note that they also missed
(18:26):
me. So just remember plan engagingactivities, take care of yourself, focus
on the progress that you and yourstudents have made together, and be as
proactive as possible. I mean,summer break is right around the corner.
If you're listening to this and it'snot end of the year, doesn't mean
that it's not relevant to you.You can actually keep all of these tips
in mind because they apply anytime ofthe year, especially if you happen to
(18:49):
have that class. You know whatI mean, that class or those students.
So I hope that this episode wasreally helpful for you and that you
got some solid tips in terms ofhow to prepare if you are a new
teacher, it's hard to know howto prepare for the end of the school
year. It's really hard to knowwhat you're supposed to be doing because the
(19:11):
other teachers in your school, especiallyif you don't have a mentor, they're
stressed out with their end of theschool year, and sometimes we feel bad
asking them for help. We feelbad for bugging them, but we don't
know what we're supposed to be doing, and then all of a sudden,
these school wide activities pop up orthings that are expected of us, but
nobody told us about them, sothen we just feel inadequate. So I
(19:33):
just wanted to help you out withthat so that you can learn how to
be proactive. Now. It didcreate another episode that will be equally helpful
about preparing for the end of theschool year, and it's episode one nineteen,
and I'll go ahead and link thatin the show notes in case you
haven't listened to that yet. Thanksfor hanging out with me today, you
guys, and I will talk toyou next time.
Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers who don't want
to just survive teaching, but actuallythrive. I'm your host, Kim Laprie,
and I am so excited that youare here. So it's April,
and you know what that means.The end of the school year is almost
upon us. We get to putthis whole school year behind us and finally
(00:21):
get that well deserved and much neededbreak. The finish line is in sight,
but those last hundred meters can feellike an entire marathon right And for
many years at this time of theyear, I wondered how I was going
to make it to that last dayof school without losing my damn mind.
So in this episode, I'm divinginto ten battle tested tips on how to
(00:44):
not just survive, but actually thriveduring this final stretch of the school year.
I'm going to be covering three differentgearing up for the finish line,
keeping your cool, and taming thetempest. So first things first, let's
talk about how to prepare for what'sex expected of us, Because there are
things that you are going to berequired to do at the end of the
(01:04):
year that if you're a new teacheryou need to find out about and if
you're a seasoned teacher, you knowthat these are things that every year they
sneak up on us because we're notpreparing for them. So first you need
to focus on the essentials. Thelast couple of months really aren't a great
time to teach new material. Yourstudents aren't really in the mindset to absorb
(01:27):
anything new, and can you reallyblame them. It's kind of like when
you're in a training of some sortand it's towards the last hour or two
of that training and you've pretty muchchecked out if you didn't check out from
the beginning. So it's important tounderstand that students are also in this mindset.
They're also looking forward to the summer, well most of them are,
(01:49):
and so trying to teach them somethingnew, especially if it's difficult, is
going to be kind of an uphillbattle. This is actually the best time
to be reviewing core concepts, wrappingup any loose ends in terms of what
you taught them, and preparing themfor some upcoming and of course or final
exam. So basically it's a reallygood time to just have them apply what
(02:12):
they've already learned and to not tryto bombard them with new things that they
honestly won't remember after they leave you, since it's coming so late in the
year. I also tend to notlike to give projects. Don't get me
wrong, I've given projects before becauseit just seemed like a good time.
It's just really like low barrier toentry because all I have to do is
(02:32):
just give them the instructions for theproject and let them do it while I
get to just monitor them. However, I have found that this has actually
been a nightmare scenario. A lotof times, the class time that you've
allotted them for projects gets interrupted bythings like ceremonies or maybe testing. Plus,
because it's at the end of theschool year, I don't have as
(02:53):
much time to grade it, sothen I'm scrambling towards the end to try
to finish it. The students wantfeedback or they're a grade on that project
that they work so hard on,and so it just tends to be a
little bit frustrating for me at theend of the year if I have all
of these projects that I have toget graded and input it into my grade
book. Also, you might havefound that if a project goes on too
(03:15):
long, which a lot of timesend of the year projects tend to do.
Students lose focus and start to exhibitmore off task behaviors. So your
plan to do something that was moreengaging and easier on you actually ends up
backfiring. And we think about it. If you have students who blaster the
project quickly, what are they goingto do while everybody else is finishing up.
(03:38):
You can give them extra work,but then they're still going to goof
off because now it's unfair that theyget more work. They're basically being punished
for getting done quickly. So youcan just see that it can be difficult
to manage if you give something likethat towards the end of the year.
So what types of things do Ilike to do at the end of the
year. Like I mentioned before,I do like to do reviews. I
(03:59):
like to get something that involves lessof me grading. So maybe these are
multiple choice things, or maybe it'ssomething like a cahout or just something fun
for the students to do that doesn'tinvolve me having to create a bunch of
assignments. And then I do likegroup work because it keeps the kids engaged.
And again the students aren't necessarily learningsomething new, and they can be
(04:23):
reviewing and it's just easier for mepersonally to manage. So the second tip
is to plan for the future.And it doesn't necessarily have to mean planning
for like far out into the future. It could just be planning for the
summer. So we want to startthinking about things that need to be packed
up and put away for summer cleaning. Or maybe you're going to be switching
schools. Maybe you'll be switching grades, so you have to pack up all
(04:46):
of your fourth grade materials because you'rebeing moved to sixth grade, or maybe
you're being moved to another classroom.So it's a good time to start planning
for that now instead of getting reallystressed out, procrastinating, and even worse,
having to stay into your summer sothat you can get that done.
Actually, what's kind of cool isyou can employ your students to help you
out a little bit during those timeswhen they start to get restless. It
(05:09):
can be a good time to havethem help you take things down the wall
or have you put things into boxes, and it kind of gives them something
to do take a little bit ofa mental break during those review sessions.
I also encourage you to put anyrepair or work orders that you'd like to
have completed over the summer. Somaybe there's a leak somewhere that you want
them to take a look at,or there's a patch of carpet that they
(05:31):
need to replace something like that.Maybe your desk is broken or the drawer
is broken and you'd like the custodiansto fix it over the summer, then
now would be a good time tostart making a list of those so that
you can give it to whoever's incharge of that. I also like to
make sure that I gather all thework that I've collected and have forgotten to
hand back to the students, andI make a plan for that. That's
(05:53):
actually something that you can space outover time, so that during the last
say, five ten minutes of class, when students are really losing their mind,
it's a time when you can giveback their papers and their work a
little bit at a time, soyou can kill those last few minutes.
My next tip is to focus onwhat you can control. This is actually
kind of hard even for someone likeme, because we can tend to worry
(06:15):
about all of the things that arehappening. Maybe students are getting more and
really maybe there are still parents thatare hounding you. You could be worrying
about a notice of non renewal,things like that, and so we want
to try to reframe and focus onthe things that are within our control so
that again we don't lose our mind. So if you just had standardized testing
(06:35):
and you were worried about their scores, it's out of your control. Now
you're not going to find out,probably until the summer, how they did.
So there's just no use in worryingabout that. And if you did
get a notice of non renewal andyou've already gone to the process of fighting
it or discussing it with your unionif you have one, and you're still
going to get that, then it'stime to start looking forward to the next
(06:58):
adventure and the next opportunit community foryou, instead of dwelling on the fact
that you're not coming back. Now. I know that's a lot easier said
than done. Just remember that ifthey don't want you there, there's going
to be a school that does.And it just feels so much better to
be somewhere where you're appreciated and notbeing criticized and hounded by your administration and
other colleagues. So there are definitelybetter things that you can look forward to.
(07:20):
And the same goes if you havea particularly difficult class, you know
they're difficult, they've been that waythe whole year. That with me and
one eighth grade class. What Ican control is how I react to what
they're doing and the way that Istructure the class periods so that I can
minimize how crazy they can become.So instead of dreading seeing them every single
(07:42):
day, I just focus on howI can control and manipulate the situation to
try to just keep the chaos containedas much as possible. Tip number four
is to celebrate accomplishments. I personallylike to take some time to acknowledge how
far my students have come and howmuch they've grown. We think it's kind
of fun to actually look back attheir first piece of writing towards the beginning
(08:03):
of the school year and just seehow much better they are now. So
you can do some kind of reflectionpiece like that, although I want to
take too much time because kids canget really bored with that, but you
could also have some kind of celebrationin class or rays to recognize your students,
and it's just something that kind oflightens the mood at the end of
the year. I also wouldn't beafraid to show a movie. I know
(08:26):
this can be controversial, but it'sthe end of the year. Unless your
school has some kind of school wideactivity or maybe like a festival planned,
the last few days of school canactually just feel like you're there to get
the federal funding. You know whatI mean, You're just there. You're
wondering why are we still here?There's literally nothing to do. So if
that's the case where there's nothing plannedthe last one, two three days of
(08:50):
school, just show a movie.Just have them bring their own snacks or
provide them with popcorn or something likethat. Let them sit on the ground
and just show them a movie.So next, let's discuss how to keep
your sanity in check, because let'sbe honest, the last few months can
be pretty stressful. So tip numberfive is don't be a martyr. It's
okay to take breaks. I wouldschedule at least one or two personal days
(09:13):
during this time, just so thatyou can have some time to reset and
so that you won't sit there freakingout and losing your mind. You're probably
going to need some time away fromcertain students, if not a whole class.
I remember that I did that withthat one class. I had to
get away from that class just fora day because they were starting to become
out of control. And even thoughI knew that it was really fair to
(09:37):
do that to a substitute, Ididn't want to be a mean teacher at
the end of the school year andhave them leave with that kind of impression
of their experience with me. Sotaking a day off just made me a
better teacher, and it just reallyhelped with the vibe in my classroom towards
the end of the year. Somethingthat you can consider. There's a three
day weekend usually for the Memorial Dayweekend. Maybe make it a four day
(10:01):
weekend and take that Friday off too. Plan for it now so that it
doesn't creep up on you and youcan have a solid lesson planned for that.
If you want to know more abouthow to create good lesson plans,
I'll be sure to leave a linkin the show notes so that you can
listen to that episode. The nexttip is to continue to prioritize yourself.
Yes, you can get bogged downwith all of the things that you need
(10:24):
to do towards the end of theschool year, and just get bogged down
with the stress of having to dealwith these students who are just acting insane.
So it's really important more than everto prioritize your health, especially your
mental and physical health, and taketime to disconnect. Plan activity so that
you're not spending a lot of timethinking about school at home. Plan things
(10:46):
that you can do so that onceyou walk out of that school every single
day, you are leaving it allbehind and you don't have to worry about
what's coming next. Make sure you'regetting an adequate amount of sleep, you're
freeding yourself well, you're moving yourbody, all the things that you know
that you should be doing. Butthis is a time when the stress can
make you sick. This is thetime when the stress can make you want
(11:07):
to quit, even though normally youweren't even really thinking about quitting. It's
a time that can be really,really stressful. So prioritizing yourself is going
to go a long way. Mynext tip is to connect and commiserate with
your colleagues. Normally, I don'tnecessarily think it's good to just have a
wine fest with your colleagues, becausethat could just lead to a lot of
(11:30):
negativity. But this is kind ofthe time when it's okay because you just
sometimes need to vent, right.You can try to vent to your family
members and friends and they'll listen fora little bit, but I don't know
about you. After a while,I kind of feel bad doing that because
they don't really know what's going on. They don't really understand, and they
can't relate unless there are fellow educators. So lean into talking to your colleagues
(11:52):
if you have that kind of connectionwith some of them, or even if
you don't, you can still inthe copy room just say, oh,
my goodness, this is so fresh, and it's just nice to get it
out and talk about it with them, and then you can all share your
frustrations and celebrate successes with each other, maybe bounce ideas off of each other
in terms of how to keep thekids from becoming too restless. I remember
(12:13):
one year where another colleague had somedifficult students and I had some difficult students,
and so we would send something withthat student. It wasn't really anything
that was important. We'd make upsome kind of paperwork to give to the
other teacher, and that would givethe student time to walk over to that
classroom and walk back and a lotof times that would redirect them or have
(12:35):
them clear their head enough to wherethey weren't as difficult for the next block
of time. So we've covered theessentials in terms of how to prepare and
how to keep your cool, andnow we're going to talk about taming the
tempest, which is basically managing theclassroom energy, especially when your students are
a little restless or a lot restless. So it goes without saying that you
(12:56):
need to plan some engaging activities.Isn't a time for your normal lectures.
The kids just I don't care ifthey are in twelfth grade or in second
grade. It is really hard forthem to handle lectures at this point in
the year. I mean, ifyou have to do traditional lectures, that's
fine, but just know that theyare going to be more restless, less
(13:18):
likely to absorb the information, andwe'll probably get into more trouble and you
have to be prepared for that,and you have to accept that. You
can't actually get really mad at themabout that because it's just their nature.
I think it's better to plan somethingthat's more interactive and more fun, maybe
something like what I had discussed withthe modern classroom project model in my previous
(13:39):
episode, in terms of having videos. For whatever reason, students are more
engaged with watching a video than theyare listening to me. They follow the
directions that I tell them via videothan I tell them in person. It's
kind of interesting. So maybe youjust mix it up during this time so
that it's not just the same old, same old. A different stimulus will
(14:00):
get them to focus more. Sothis is a time for more hands on
learning. Maybe some educational games thatcould be like a Daally thing that you
do as a warm up. Justfind ways to keep them focused and motivated,
something that is more relevant and funfor them that maybe you had been
saving up all year. And thisgoes along with my next tip, which
is to take movement breaks. Ifyou're an elementary teacher, you already know
(14:22):
about this. You know that youhave to have the students move after a
certain amount of time, or elsethey will move without your permission. So
it's better to have them move ina structured way rather than when their bodies
just decided going to start gesticulating orwhatever. So I would schedule short bursts
of movement, whether it's a stretch. As I mentioned before that I did
(14:46):
with some difficult students, sending themout on a fake errand maybe taking a
fun brain break where they get tomix up their groups somehow, or mix
up their seating chart with that eighthgrade class. Sometimes you would take a
five minute walk down to the libraryand back, just so I could provide
them with time to talk, whichis all they wanted to do to get
that energy out. And I tellyou, when we came back from that,
(15:09):
they settled beautifully and got focused.So schedule things like that for your
students, especially this time of year. Now. My next tip is to
really embrace and understand why students areacting this way. I've alluded to it
many times. That class that Ihad, they weren't bad kids, they
really weren't. They just they werefriends. And so no matter how I
(15:33):
arranged the seats, there would besomeone there for them to talk to and
goof off with. Even if Iput them near someone introverted. Even those
introverts would sometimes get into trouble becausethey just couldn't help it. It was
just that kind of energy in theclassroom, and so they became obviously even
more restless at the end of theyear, and I had to remember why
that was happening. They were eighthgraders, they were about to promote and
(15:56):
go off to high school, andthere was definitely like a nerve business and
this just elevated energy, this buzzin the school because they just knew that
this was it. And some ofthem their mindset was, well, this
is my last hurrah, So I'mgonna go and be stupid and do things
that I know I shouldn't because whatare they going to do to me?
(16:17):
And let's be honest, what arethey going to do to them? They're
gonna not let them promote. Theyprobably weren't going to promote anyway, so
it didn't matter to them. Andthen there were other students who were really
anxious and they didn't know how toget that anxiety out, and so it
just came out in the form oflike talking too much and not listening or
not doing their work. And sometimesthey were bored because, let's be honest,
(16:37):
it's the end of the year.They worked really hard. Even if
they didn't work really hard, it'sbeen a long year for them and so
at this point, they just can'tabsorb anymore. Their brains are fully saturated
with everything that you and their otherteachers have taught them. So it's just
really hard to get them to beproductive. And you just have to understand
(16:59):
that and embrace that and accept it, and finally you have to plan for
it. I'm not making excuses forthem, per se, but when you
do understand and really plan for this, then you can minimize the amount of
frustration that you're going to have becauseyou know your students. You know when
that breaking point is for them,when they're going to start acting up,
(17:21):
and you plan something for that asa preentive strike. Maybe you just plan
things where every single day there's afun routine that they could look forward to
and they know that you're building insomething fun, like a silly cahoot.
I know, I keep saying cahotand their other games, but you get
the point. It doesn't necessarily alwayshave to be an educational game. It
(17:41):
could be a cahoot about cartoon care. It can be a cahoot about modern
slang words that they help contribute to, something like that. So that was
a lot to cover, but byfollowing these tips, and really embracing them.
You really can transform the end ofthe school year from this horrible slot
to a time when you can reallycelebrate and have some closure with your students.
(18:04):
I have to say that with thatparticular class, we really did end
on a high note, and strangelyenough, even though they stressed me out
for the entire school year, Imissed them. I was really sad to
see them go. We had wrappedup that school year so well, so
positively, with so much energy andon a high note that they also missed
(18:26):
me. So just remember plan engagingactivities, take care of yourself, focus
on the progress that you and yourstudents have made together, and be as
proactive as possible. I mean,summer break is right around the corner.
If you're listening to this and it'snot end of the year, doesn't mean
that it's not relevant to you.You can actually keep all of these tips
in mind because they apply anytime ofthe year, especially if you happen to
(18:49):
have that class. You know whatI mean, that class or those students.
So I hope that this episode wasreally helpful for you and that you
got some solid tips in terms ofhow to prepare if you are a new
teacher, it's hard to know howto prepare for the end of the school
year. It's really hard to knowwhat you're supposed to be doing because the
(19:11):
other teachers in your school, especiallyif you don't have a mentor, they're
stressed out with their end of theschool year, and sometimes we feel bad
asking them for help. We feelbad for bugging them, but we don't
know what we're supposed to be doing, and then all of a sudden,
these school wide activities pop up orthings that are expected of us, but
nobody told us about them, sothen we just feel inadequate. So I
(19:33):
just wanted to help you out withthat so that you can learn how to
be proactive. Now. It didcreate another episode that will be equally helpful
about preparing for the end of theschool year, and it's episode one nineteen,
and I'll go ahead and link thatin the show notes in case you
haven't listened to that yet. Thanksfor hanging out with me today, you
guys, and I will talk toyou next time.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com