5 Ways to Ward Off End-of-the-School Year Craziness

Summer break is really just around the corner.  Here in Oregon, the dismal rains have disappeared, and warm temperatures and intense sunshine has happily filled the void.  Here's a math problem for you:  take these full days of sunshine, add distinct knowledge that we are almost in the last month of school, and multiply by 12 hyper students whose energy and general motivation are compounded by the throes of puberty, and what do you get? 

Well, I'll tell you.  Children whose minds are anywhere but learning and whose feet are quick in running to mischief! (bonus points if you know what Scripture verse that reference comes from!)  Yes, students that once actually listened in class and completed their assignments in a timely manner are suddenly off in la-la land without a clue as to what their assignments even are.  Cries of "Do we have to?" and "Couldn't we just go outside for this class?" fill the air.  And even though you've been drilling your classroom rules since September, the students abruptly seem to forget and consistently (and ridiculously) break the simplest of rules. Yes, the students do stupid things.  And in my past experience of teaching various grade levels, I have found that 12 and 13-year-olds are especially afflicted with this end-of-school-year disease.

Fear not, however.  While you cannot keep it entirely from infecting your students, there are proven methods for combat!  Here are five ways you can take back your classroom, actually learn something in the process, and end the year on a high note.

1)  First, do not EVER mention that the end of the school year is coming.  Yes, students know, but with a teacher reminding them constantly, their anticipation reaches a fever pitch and you have lost them.  I'm talking about comments like this: "Johnny, if you don't get your math assignments completed soon, that's going to affect your grade, and you know we only have a few weeks left."  Also, "Now, students, settle down!  I know you're excited about summer break, but we still have some work to do."  And, " I just hope I can make it to summer vacation!!" (this one muttered under your breath, of course!)  Just. Don't. Do. It.

2)  Secondly, get your students focused on the day at hand by having them set goals.  At the beginning of the school day, I ask each student what their goal is for that day.  A goal can be something as simple as "I want to try to get all my assignments done in school today" or even "I want to do well on my history quiz today" or "I want to sit with someone different at lunch."  Now, instead of thinking about the end of the school year, the students are concentrating on their individual goals.  This helps them to be more productive, too.

3)  Next, spice up your lessons!  It is easy to fall in a rut of presenting your math and reading lessons the same way every day. (raising my hand because I am guilty of that too!)  Look at your lesson plans and find one or two a week that you can put extra effort and dramatic presentation into.  For example, my fifth grade class had a math lesson on 3D shapes this week.  I found a fun 3D shapes net printable on TPT, and instead of doing the worksheet that we normally would have done with the lesson, the students counted the faces, edges, and vertices of each shape net, cut them out, and glued them together to make the 3D shapes.  I put them in teams of two, and the students really enjoyed this change of pace.  They still learned the lesson, and perhaps with all the extra hands-on work, the concept was even more solidified in their minds.  I also try to invigorate my lessons occasionally by using a funny voice when I teach, letting a student "teach" the lesson, or surprising the students with a tasty manipulative like skittles or marshmallows.

4)  Give your students something to look forward to.  I purposely saved Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library to be our last read-aloud of the year.  It is an intriguing and exciting book; the students are always on the edge of their seats to see if Kyle Keely and his friends will make it out of the library.  My students come in to my classroom in the morning and eagerly inquire when we will read the book.  I sneak in chapters here and there wherever I can (there are 54 chapters!).  Sometimes when the students are especially riled up, I'll pull out the book and read for a little while to get them calm and focused again.

5)  Finally, don't be like your students!  Even if you are eager for the end of the school year (I never am, as I have so much yet to teach them!), hide it from your students and keep on keeping on.  Stay consistent with your class rules and schedules.  Hold your students to high expectations, even if you are tired and just ready to be done.  Watch out for those warm afternoons when you're tempted to just toss lesson plans out the window and play games or have "free time" instead.  Galatians 6:9 says "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

My favorite Bible verse to remember when I am thinking about giving up is the one that my dad always signs his emails with: I Corinthians 15:58.  The apostle Paul encourages us: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."  Your work in the classroom is not in vain, my friend!