Keeping Staff and Students Motivated Through the End of the Year

Spring Break seemed to be the perfect boost of energy for both students and staff.  Making it to the end of the year, without getting worn out, seemed promising. Students were here and attentive, seemingly ready and willing to begin new units. Likewise, the teachers were able to recharge and mentally prepare for the remainder of the school year. For most of April, all was good. As the month began to wind down, however, I noticed a change in the dynamic of the building. I soon discovered that this change was occurring all throughout the district. Put simply, everyone seems tired. Our students' attendance is growing progressively worse. Teachers are on edge and, collectively, students and staff are ready to get through these last few weeks.

                Still, the fact remains that there are two and a half weeks of school left. So much can be done in this time frame, so it is imperative that students and staff don’t check out just yet! I’ve done some research concerning ways to combat this ‘end of the year slump’. The most common suggestion for ways to wrap up the year and stay motivated at the same time is to do some reflection. I saw this repeatedly in the articles I looked at. There are several ways to frame a unit based on reflection. Length of time is also flexible, spanning from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the school and the activity.

One of the ideas I thought could be fun and relevant is having students create a scrapbook. Students could reflect on their favorite unit or part of the semester and tell why they made the choice they did. Students can be prompted to write their explanations and also include photos and other individual additions. Another great way to reflect could be having the students put together a class newsletter. In doing this, teachers can incorporate meaningful writing into the last few weeks of school. Students could pick events they really liked from the school year and write about them. This is a great way to mix independent and collaborative work. Students can also reflect via multimedia projects. All of these would be a great way to increase both student and staff motivation. The students will enjoy the freedom and, as educators, it will be delightful to see what they come up with.                          

Reflection is a great way to end a school year, but certainly not the only way. I was able to find some other great ideas. One of my favorites was read aloud marathons. For this, each day of the last week of school (or weeks if you have the material) the teacher would read excerpts from several books that students may be interested in reading over the summer. Students can keep a log of the titles that interest them. This is also a great way to promote discussion. Another excellent idea, which we did in our English II class, is to put the textbooks aside and get into a final project. We centered ours around Julius Caesar. Upon completing the reading (which we did from a graphic novel) students will create a conspirator resume and also a newspaper clipping for an event in Caesar. There were many great ideas. The last one that I will discuss is taking learning outside. This is perfect for literature classes and, when the weather permits, students really enjoy them.      

What other suggestions do you all have for keeping students and staff motivated until the year ends? How can we keep learning first, yet incorporate a fun and enjoyable environment that students and teachers, alike, can enjoy. The year will come to a close. That much we can be sure of, but until then we have a job to do!

http://www.teachhub.com/12-ways-keep-kids-motivated-end-school-year

http://www.edutopia.org/motivation-final-weeks-school