The End of the School Year ~~~(sigh)

Wow! The year has passed so quickly. Are you sad, happy, excited, and just ready for a break!? Here are some things to help you wind down the school year:

Reflection
If you haven't already, start a reflection journal, blog, or podcast to record your memories of the school year - what lessons were effective, which might have needed more content or tweaking, and what lessons that were total disasters! Making notes in the margins of your teacher editions is a shortened version of this type of reflection.

Have your students reflect on their year by making scrapbooks of pictures you've taken, drawings, stories, stickers, and so on. Some students treasure these memories. Have students write in each other's memory books - just make sure it is something positive!

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse
Go through your desk, closet, shelves, and student desks and get rid of stuff you didn't use or won't use in the future. Most schools have a central location that teachers can leave their "used-up treasures" and others might find new uses for them! A lot of my personal furniture came from other teachers' rejects.

Be sure to recycle or reuse old worksheets that students didn't need. I always kept a couple of extra copies of worksheets for kids who might have lost theirs and for kids who were absent. This pile grew quite large by the end of the year. I sometimes donated the paper to my church for drawing paper for Sunday school students, but I usually just kept them for scrap paper for the following year. Some students even liked going through the stack and taking worksheets home for the summer in order to play school!

If you teach elementary school, have your students toss their extra supplies (scissors, crayons, glue sticks, etc.) in bins so you will have extras at the beginning of the next school year. Make sure parents are aware their kids are donating supplies, just in case they would rather their kids bring extra supplies home. Middle and high school students are quite willing to part with extra pencils, pens, notebooks and paper, so have them donate those things as well.

Celebrate!
In my years of classroom teaching, I always gave out awards to each student - and they weren't always for scholastic ability. I did give the top student in each subject a special award, but EVERY student went home for some kind of certificate or ribbon. Categories always included, best use of school supplies (crayons, markers, kleenex, etc.), artistic and musical abilities, friendliest, most caring, most generous, storyteller, and so on. You can certainly make up your own categories that fit your students' personalities and abilities. I invited parents to the award event on the morning of the last day of school so they could share in the fun. I tried to give awards to parents when they were there, too. (You will cry on the last day of school!)

Give Thanks
Remember Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics? One of her quotes says that "Everyone has an invisible sign around their neck saying, "Make me feel important". Never forget this message when working with people." This is especially true of your co-workers, including the school custodians, cooks, teachers' aides, and volunteers at your school. Look those people in the eye and say a genuine "thank you" for what they do for you. All of the people in a school make it a better place and they deserve to feel valued for their service.

Be Kind
Leave your room looking better than when you found it. Attend retirement parties - those teachers have worked hard for a long time and deserve dignity and the respect of beginning teachers. Make sure you leave positive notes on students' report cards, even though it takes a long time. Be careful to never burn bridges behind you. You never know...

Using Technology in the Classroom - Edutopia

Edutopia bloggers and writers made short videos to talk about how to use new media in the classroom. They discuss using different tools such as a GPS device, YouTube, wikis, Twitter, and the Wii gaming system. How do you think you could apply any of them to your own classroom?

Scrapbook Journaling with Kids

I saw this great video on one of the blogs I follow and thought of how it could be used in a classroom. I would have kids paste in their favorite cartoons or returned papers. They could also copy down or write a poem, draw pictures, and share their books with classmates. Can you think of other ideas?

By the way, I journal this way! Here's a picture of my journal from last fall:

Elizabeth Smith, Oklahoma's 2011 Teacher of the Year

I was privileged to attend Oklahoma State University's Celebration of Teachers on Monday. One of the speakers was Oklahoma's Teacher of the Year, Elizabeth Smith.

Elizabeth Smith

Elizabeth Smith is a nationally-board certified reading teacher at Byng Junior High School. She stated that she wasn't a good public speaker, but I had to disagree with her. She was quite polished and gave an excellent program. She listed several educational challenges that affect teachers:

• no money back guarantee
• discipline
• apathy
• financial issues
• pressure of testing mandates
• multiple roles
• creating a safe environment

She went on to discuss all of those topics as to how they related to her experience. She shared how a student advisory board consisting of 9th through 12th graders came up with their top 5 issues in education. The issues were bullying, funding, apathy, dropouts, and quality of education. You see, even students notice educational issues in the classroom. They know what problems exist in our schools. Ms. Smith went on to say that students are motivated by teachers who relate to them through connections, love, and inspiration. Kids don't want a perfect teacher, they just want one that can forgive, be genuine, love the unlovable, and celebrate good things. They need their teachers to motivate them, show passion in their teaching practice, be relevant, meaningful, memorable, and to unleash the potential in them.

"How can teachers accomplish all this?" you may ask. Ms. Smith asked the audience members to go back and think of the most influential teacher they had in school. Remember that teacher? How did they treat you? Why do you remember that teacher above all others? Ms. Smith asked us why that certain teacher was so influential, and stated that the teacher probably was not so important in what they taught, or how they taught, but how they treated us. She read this poem and asked if we were wreckers or builders:

Wreckers or Builders

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.

I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled,
As the men you'd hire if you had to build?"
He gave me a laugh and said, "No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.

I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do."
And I tho't to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?

-- Unknown

I hope you are as motivated by this poem as I am, as well as by Ms. Smith's presentation. She didn't talk much about her teaching methods, but she shared her students and their stories with us. I could tell, Elizabeth Smith is a builder.

Think about your special teacher...sharing welcome!

KNOW your students

I came across this fantastic blog entry and I just can't think of a way to say it better than the author. Please read this entry and remember how VERY important it is to know your students and from whence they come:
http://bit.ly/fB4HLx

I've attended birthday and holiday celebrations from other cultures, attended ballgames, recitals, etc. All of these helped me to get to know my students better. I hope you will follow the advice in the linked blog entry - it will help you so much!

By the way, use common sense. Making home visits may not be the best advice, but the one about breaking bread together is a great one!