Heidi: This is episode 189 of Teacher Approved.
You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
the show.
Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
episode, we're sharing some tried and true ideas for keeping
your students engaged after testing season, and we're
sharing a teacher approved tip for some end of the school year
self care.
Heidi: We are starting today's episode with a morning message,
just like we used to do at morning meeting in our
classrooms. This week's morning message is, you are getting a
new student tomorrow, and they're named after your
favorite font. Who are you welcoming to your class? Emily,
what's your new student's name?
Emily: Well, Poppins is a really interesting name for a child,
but here we are.
Heidi: I think that could work. I could kind of see some like
young, hipstery parents having a little Poppins.
Emily: Young Poppins. Yes, I could see it. It could be cute.
Could be far worse. What's your new student's name, Heidi?
Heidi: Well, we make all of our products in Neutraface, so I
have to say Neutraface.
Emily: We love Neutraface.
Heidi: Which is a terrible name for a child. That would be the
worst.
Emily: Well, we got some fun responses from our teacher
approved Facebook community. April is welcoming the
unfortunately named Happy Paragraphs.
Heidi: Oh, okay.
Emily: Brianne has the ideal new student in Perfect Penmanship.
Heidi: That's also a mouthful, but I bet that's teacher's pet.
Emily: Yeah. Tanya and Evelyn are both getting a Times New
Roman. Abby's new little darling has a lot to live up to as
Inimitable Original
Heidi: And get like fitting that in a name tag too.
Emily: Yeah, that's a long one. Cheryl has Coming Soon, coming
to her class soon.
Heidi: That's like a Who's on First problem right there.
Emily: And of course, we had to have a Comic Sans and Amy claims
that one, and Ardena's student gets off lucky being named
Ariel.
Heidi: Oh, that is a lucky break. We would love to hear
about your favorite fonts, or, I guess, students named after
fonts in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.
One of the biggest challenges for teachers this time of year
is keeping students engaged, you know, especially once testing
season wraps up.
Emily: Yeah, and let's be honest, the energy in your
classroom after testing season is not the same as it was back
in August. You've all been working hard, and now that the
high stakes pressure is off, it can feel a little like you're
just coasting to the finish line.
Heidi: Or maybe it's more like you're dragging yourself to the
finish line. Let's be real. Depends on the day.
Emily: True story. But just because testing is behind you
doesn't mean the learning has to stop. There are plenty of ways
to keep your students motivated, focused and even excited to come
to school each day, yes, even in May.
Heidi: So we've got five teacher approved ideas that you can try
out to make these post testing days meaningful, manageable and
maybe even a little magical.
Emily: All right, let's get to it. Five ways to keep students
engaged in class after testing is over. Number one is to try
out passion projects.
Heidi: The end of the year is the perfect time for letting
students explore something that they care about. Passion
Projects are great because they give students choice, autonomy
and a purpose for learning, and they are surprisingly easy to
implement, even in your lower elementary classes.
Emily: I love the idea of using passion projects at the end of
the year. So what's the best way to approach passion projects
with your students, Heidi?
Heidi: Well, the idea is simple. Just have your students choose a
topic that they are interested in, animal sports, a favorite
country, how roller coasters work, and guide them through the
process of researching, organizing and presenting their
learning.
Emily: My team used to do animal reports at the end of the year,
and the kids loved it so much, and we always had a zoo field
trip at the end of the year. So that's sort of how we tied it
all together. So you could choose the category for them, or
you could just let them pick from several categories,
whatever they're excited to do a project about.
Heidi: I think the key is having enough child friendly resources
so that they can do the research, so that might limit
the options that you can give to your students.
Emily: For sure.
Heidi: And listener, Margaret suggests doing book studies. She
says students get to choose between Wonder, The Sea of
Monsters, My Louisiana Sky, or I Survived Hurricane Katrina.
Whatever they choose, they do a book study with the others in
the class who also chose the same book. Once they're finished
with the book study, they have to come up with a presentation
to convince the others to read the book of their choice over
the summer.
Emily: I love this idea so much because it has automatic buy in
and it's got the built in choice. It gets them excited
about reading, and they're getting their classmates excited
about reading books too. I think it's such a clever idea.
Heidi: You have that student choice, and then also having
them work in groups, are great strategies for maintaining
engagement at, you know, the time of the year when students
focus is probably at its lowest. Now, of course, your students
will need you to guide them through the process, but you can
scaffold the steps with simple graphic organizers or
checklists. There are tons of resources out there.
Emily: And then you let the students present their final
project. You could assign a method of presentation or let
them choose to present it however they'd like—a poster, a
slideshow, a podcast. Wouldn't that be fun? Or even a diorama?
Heidi: Oh, yes.
Emily: This could be as simple or as elaborate as your students
are ready for and as you want to deal with as the teacher.
Heidi: Yeah, yeah. You decide what you want to deal with and
then work backwards from that point. Yes, really this is such
a win win idea. We're adding structure to the classroom by
doing a scaffolded project, and because students are choosing
what they want to learn about, the novelty factor is really
high, balancing structure and novelty. Of course, that means
that the engagement piece often takes care of itself.
Emily: On to idea number two, which is to create classroom
challenges.
Heidi: Now, after testing, your students might be mentally
checked out, but kids can rarely say no to a competition. Use
that to your advantage by setting up some classroom
challenges.
Emily: You could do academic based ones like a math fact
fluency challenge, or reading minutes challenge, or even a
math escape room.
Heidi: Or you can keep it light hearted with team building
challenges like building a spaghetti tower, a classic, or
creating a Rube Goldberg machine.
Emily: We got a fun suggestion from Betsy to set up 100 piece
puzzles on the floor in different corners of the room.
That could be a fun fast finisher or a challenge project
one afternoon, just be sure to talk to the custodian about not
vacuuming your room for a few days.
Heidi: That's a hassle that is better to head off from the
beginning. Don't want to make the custodian mad, especially at
the end of the year.
Now, I always love an opportunity to work in poetry,
and after testing, you could challenge kids to work on
memorizing a poem or two.
Emily: And it's always a good idea to try a behavior
challenge. You can have your students working cooperatively
as a class or in tables to earn rewards with their good
behavior. That means coming up with a prize. But it doesn't
have to be complicated.
Heidi: Really, rewards can be simple—extra recess, a popsicle
party or lunch with a teacher. But you know, honestly, we're
not going to blame you if you don't want to spend your lunch
time break with your students.
Emily: No, that would probably not be my first choice for
rewards. So all you got to do is start a challenge, choose a
simple reward, and watch that motivation come flying back to
your classroom.
Now for idea number three, theme days or weeks.
Heidi: Theme days are our secret weapon for thriving after
testing. There's really something magical about them.
They kind of like flip a switch in kids brains. Suddenly,
everything you do feel special, even if it is just, you know,
your regular math lesson with a twist.
Emily: You could try a camp read a lot week, stem Olympics,
animal week, or even travel around the world days where each
day focuses on a different country, and we always love
doing quiet as a mouse day.
Heidi: Yeah, that was the best day of the year. And the best
part is that most of these ideas can be woven into your usual
content. That means you don't have to adjust your schedule.
Just add a theme to what you normally do during the day to
spice things up. Fractions suddenly becomes way more fun
when you are "baking" in your classroom bakery.
Emily: Add in a few decorations and a theme to read aloud or
two, and you've got a classroom full of engaged learners who
aren't even thinking about the countdown to summer.
Heidi: If you want more ideas for using theme days, head way
back to episode seven, where we share all of our best tips and
tricks for making theme days work for you.
Emily: And make sure you check out the links in the show notes
where we will link our two already done for you theme day
sets, one for a Camping Day and one for a Space Day. Each set
includes themed work packets, craftivities, book
recommendations, review activities, so much more. We
often hear from people that there's so much more in there
than they can even use.
Heidi: Yeah, theme days can be a lot of work to set up, but the
nice thing is that when you figure it out once, it is so
easy to reuse each year. I want to shout this for teachers,
because this saved me so many years.
Okay, let's take a look at idea four, and I'm excited about this
one, let students become the teachers.
Emily: I know, this is such a cute idea. You can let students
teach a mini lesson to the class on something they're good at, or
something they love. This gives them ownership, and it builds
their confidence, and it lets them share something with their
classmates that they are truly skilled at.
Heidi: That's such a gift for your kids that maybe have felt
overshadowed academically all year to let them have a minute
in the spotlight. You can guide them to plan a short
presentation, a demo or activity. It could be anything
from teaching how to draw a cartoon character, how to fold
origami, how to do a cartwheel, or explaining the rules of their
favorite game.
Emily: Yeah, and you'll be surprised how serious they take
this and how much the rest of the class loves learning from
each other, plus it is a sneaky way to reinforce speaking and
listening skills.
Heidi: Those are really important life skills that can
be hard to find a time to work on much during the school year.
But just a tip that if you want to keep parents on your side, do
the work on this during class. Zero parents, I can guarantee,
want to be facilitating a big project at the end of the school
year.
Emily: Yeah, that is true for all of these, their passion
projects that they're doing, the book recommendations, work on
that in class. Do the research for things in class. Do not make
this a parent problem in May, they will not be happy.
And that brings us to idea number five, do creative
projects with a purpose. The end of the year is a great time for
project based learning. Work doesn't have to be standards
driven to still be meaningful. You could plan a future me
project where students create vision boards or write letters
to their future selves.
Heidi: Or you could make a classroom memory book, an end of
year time capsule, or a class museum where they display
artifacts and memories from your year together.
Emily: And we also have an awesome resource for this, which
is to make a looking back bulletin board where your
students look back at the school year and highlight something
that was a wonderful memory for them in this school year.
Heidi: So once the kids have illustrated their memory, and
you could put up your sign, you know, looking back at third
grade or second grade or whatever, whatever grade you
happen to be in. Now the magic of this comes that you're gonna
get double duty out of it, and you can either leave it up over
the summer or put it up again at back to school and change out
the title to be looking forward to whatever grade you're in as a
way to get kids excited about all the fun things they'll get
to do in their new grade.
Emily: I know, it's so fun. And then your students from this
year, when they come by your class next year, they will see
their memories still up. So it's a fun way to connect with them,
too. I mean, this is like, win, win, win, win. This idea. I love
it so much. These kinds of projects are not only fun and
engaging, they help students process the end of the year and
reflect on their growth.
Heidi: And honestly, they give you some really special
keepsakes to remember the magic of this class. So make sure you
check out the show notes for a link to our looking back
bulletin board project.
Emily: So let's quickly recap our five ideas to keep students
engaged after testing is over. One, try passion projects. Two,
create classroom challenges. Three, use theme days or weeks.
Four, let students be the teacher. And five, plan creative
projects with a purpose
Heidi: No matter what you choose, just remember this time
of year does not have to be about coasting. It can still be
rich and meaningful, even without test prep hanging over
your head.
Emily: You and your students deserve to finish strong and
have some fun. You've worked so hard all year. Make the most of
these last few weeks together.
Heidi: And make sure you head to the show notes. We've got all
the links there today, where you can find a link for our free end
of year roadmap digital planner. This will help you figure out
your schedule for the next few months, reflect on what you want
to maintain and change in the coming weeks and help you break
down tasks so that you can get things done without stress.
Emily: We talked all about the roadmap in last week's episode,
so make sure to check out Episode 188 if you want the
details.
Heidi: We would love to hear what you are looking forward to
in term four. Come join the conversation in our Teacher
Approved Facebook group.
Emily: Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip.
Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip that you
can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher
approved tip is to stock a personal recovery kit. Tell us
about this one, Heidi.
Heidi: I love this idea so much. Now if you join us over on the
Holiday Headstart podcast, you have heard us talk about this
already, but this is such a handy tip for teachers that we
didn't want to limit it to holiday headaches. The idea is
that in advance of a stressful event, such as, you know, the
end of the school year, you can create a recovery kit for
yourself. The idea is to get, you know, a box or basket that
you can fill with little things to help you pamper yourself as
you recuperate from what you've just been through.
Emily: Think how great it would be to have this on hand after
the last day of school, or even just after a particularly
stressful day of school at any time of the year.
Heidi: I think for women, and especially women with children,
talking about pampering and taking time to rest and recover
can truly feel impossible. But even though it might not be easy
to make it happen, finding a way to rest is really essential for
your health.
Emily: And if you're someone who struggles with guilt over taking
time for yourself, remember that if you want to be able to give
your best to the people you love, you have to be a little
selfish sometimes.
Heidi: Gretchen Rubin from the Happier Podcast, which is a
podcast that we really love, she has a great saying that applies
here. When we give more to ourselves, we can ask more from
ourselves. If you want to be able to show up as the best
version of yourself, you have to make your well being a priority
sometimes.
Emily: And this is especially important after a draining event
like the last few weeks of school. You hear people talk all
the time about how you can't pour from an empty cup, and
making a recovery kit is a tangible way to help refill that
empty cup.
Heidi: Think how great it will feel to come home after a long
day and pull out your recovery kit with some fuzzy socks or a
head massager or a magazine that you love but don't normally buy.
Emily: If socks and head massages and magazines don't
interest you, stock your recovery kit with things that
do. Maybe a new notebook, a craft kit or art supplies would
be more restorative for you. Or maybe you want to stock up on
some DoorDash gift cards so you don't have to think about meals
for a few days.
Heidi: If you aren't sure where to start with a project like
this, try thinking about your five senses. What are some
soothing sounds or scents? What textures do you find comforting?
What is something relaxing that you can read or watch? And of
course, you know you can't go wrong with a few treats.
Emily: You can get started by finding a box or bin to use and
then start adding to it over the next few weeks. You can even ask
friends or family to donate supplies. I'd love it if someone
I care about reached out with something like this. Being told
about a tangible way to help a loved one survive a stressful
time is a gift. I'd be so happy to help.
Heidi: We all know that we need some downtime to recover before
we can bounce back. A recovery kit is a way to make sure that
that needed downtime is actually restorative, and, you know, not
just passing out on the couch.
Emily: And keep adding to your recovery kit over the summer.
Those DoorDash gift cards can be a real lifesaver the first few
weeks of school. By spending just a little bit every week or
so, you're supporting your future self without placing a
huge burden on your budget.
Heidi: To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving
extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
credit?
Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the TV show Running Point on
Netflix. And despite this being a Mindy Kaling project, I have
to say I was a little skeptical of the premise and even the
previews, I just didn't think it was going to be that funny. But
it really has been very funny to watch. So the premise is that
Kate Hudson plays a reformed party girl who has to prove
herself as a business woman when she's unexpectedly put in charge
of her family's pro basketball team. It does have some
language, so heads up on that if you're sensitive.
Heidi: I have not heard of the show at all.
Emily: Really? They talked about it on The Popcast, because
they'd been making fun of it leading up to it, and then Knox
watched it and he loved it.
Heidi: Oh, well, I'm a little bit behind there, so I'll have
to catch up there too.
Emily: My other extra credit is that I love The Popcast, that's
my favorite podcast.
Heidi: That is a fun one.
Emily: What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
Heidi: This is not nearly as fun. My extra credit goes to
cost plus drug company, which is the mail order pharmacy started
by Mark Cuban. Now I have only used it one whole time so far,
but they offered the prescription that I usually have
to pay more than $80 for, they offered it to me for $21. So
even with the added $5 for shipping, I am still saving 70%
so I would say it's definitely worth checking out if you have
any expensive prescriptions.
Emily: So this is the thing where you pay out of pocket
instead of using your insurance, but then it's actually cheaper,
right? Isn't that the way it works?
Heidi: Yes, so they do take some insurance. They don't take ours,
but what I was paying out of pocket, like the $80 was what I
was paying out of pocket. So even if they don't take
insurance, I'm still saving 60 bucks.
Emily: Yeah, I think that happens more and more in medical
care, where cash pay is actually cheaper than what you pay with
your co pay for insurance that you're paying a lot of money
for. I mean, it's crazy. So that is definitely worth looking
into. I'll have to go see if anything I need is cheaper over
there.
Heidi: And they break down the cost, so you see exactly what
the pills cost them, how much they're taking, and then, like,
how much of it goes to the pharmacist. So, like, it's all
transparent. It's such a change when you know you've dealt with,
you know, medical bills, where you're just told, like, yep,
here's $300 you owe us. And you're like, I will have to
trust that that's accurate.
Emily: Yeah, that's awesome. I'm gonna check that out.
Heidi: That's it for today's episode. Remember our five ideas
for how to keep students engaged after testing is over, and don't
forget to start stocking that self care recovery kit.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
episode.
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
Bye, for now.
Emily: Bye.