There’s always a love/hate relationship for this time of year. A love of the celebrations, end of year concerts, sports banquets and graduations, but it can also be the most challenging time of year to keep students engaged in learning!
The ELA Matters team would like to help you keep your students engaged in learning until the last day of class. We’ve put together these easy to implement ideas to help you plan and wrap up your school year.
End of the Year Playlist
Lesa from @SmithTeaches9to12 used to have quite a record collection in her dedicated classroom but now that she travels from room to room the records stay home! The music still travels, this time with a phone and external speaker!
Keeping up with the latest music can be tough but with a double-whammy of usefulness an end of year reflection activity works wonders to keep the musical selections up to date. Students choose 5-10 songs that define their year and provide a brief rationale for each choice. The teacher – you – can create playlists to play for the last days of school (and into the summer & fall!). Win-win!
If you’re looking for a ready-made activity with templates that mimic popular online music players check it out here.
End of the Year Quote Book
Samantha from Samantha in Secondary loves to implement a creative twist on course review by having students create an End of the Year Quote Book.
Have students review all of the texts covered in class. This can be novels, poems, non-fiction text, etc. After they brainstorm a list of texts (individually or together as a class), ask them to peruse their choices to find important quotes that connect to the theme of the text. Once they have located their quotes, they can create a “quote book” by combining their quotes with relevant illustrations and explaining the meaning behind each. Students can complete this digitally or by hand. Once their illustrations are complete, ask students to explain the connections between the illustrations and the theme of the text. This allows for an extra layer of thinking and increased rigor.
Find this project complete with instructions, examples, and editable rubric in a ready-to-implement format here.
End of the Year Visual Reflections
Carolyn from Middle School Café believes it is important for students to learn how to reflect on their learning. Because her school has mostly been online this year, she created a way for students to be a little more creative and do something off the computer while still thinking about their learning!
Students can sometimes find it difficult to put their learning into words these picture options are a good option for students to demonstrate their thinking through pictures. Prompt students with questions that allow them to reflect on their learning over the past year (or choose a topic you want them to focus on), then, instead of writing out answers, students draw out their thinking. This helps students to think about their learning in a different way and deters them from simply writing answers they think you want to hear.
Want to give visual reflections a try? You can find questions and ready-made templates here for a print and go end of year activity!
We’d love to know what activities you are planning for the end of the year. Head over to our Instagram page and comment on the blog post!
Whether you have a few weeks or an entire month remaining in the school year, we encourage you to try one of the activities above. It has been a crazy, unpredictable year, but you’ve got this! Finish strong and then put up your feet and enjoy some rest and relaxation!
