Teachers Helping Teachers: 5 Ideas for the End of the Semester
The last few weeks of the semester are this strange combination of a slow-motion slog and a race to the finish line. On the one hand, you’re tired, your students are tired, and every class period feels like it requires you to muster up the very last of your energy to wrap up your last unit. On the other hand, you have so much to do (read: to grade) that it feels like time is racing by too fast for you to complete everything on your list. Either way, it’s time to give yourself (and your students) a break.
We’ve never been fans of free periods where students have nothing to do: those often either feel like a chaotic waste of time where students make way too much noise for you to get the break and grading time you were hoping for, or you come up with an assignment that is supposed to be an easy substitute for free time, but it just ends up creating more work for you. But there are meaningful activities you can do with your students in those last weeks that will help make things feel a little bit more manageable for everyone and, perhaps, buy you a few more minutes to work through your to-do list.
Some Ideas for the End of the Semester
Have a grade check or makeup work day.
At the end of the semester, students and teachers alike are worried about final grades. While it’s certainly students’ responsibility to check the gradebook and make up any missing assignments, we all know there are some students who will just never do it.
Call each student up for a quick grade check and remind them of any missing assignments or upcoming assignments they need to do particularly well on (or, if they are doing well, give them some well-earned kudos!).
If you have a pile of tests and quizzes you’re waiting for students to make up, declare it “time’s up” day and have them complete the assessments on the spot (a few points is always better than zero points).
Students who are doing well can take advantage of the time to study or work on other assignments, or you can consider having an extra credit activity for them to work on. Play some quiet music, and make it a day for everyone to get something done.
Pass back or re-open an assignment you haven’t had time to grade yet and let students revise for a higher score.
This is an especially helpful strategy if you’re procrastinating grading it because you suspect students didn’t do well or if you started grading it and realized everyone was making the same mistakes.
Give a few minutes of overall class feedback (or better yet, record a screencast they can listen to at their own pace), and then allow students to revise and resubmit. Not only will this buy you a quiet day, but it will also hopefully result in higher-quality work when you do get to it.
Give students a list of assignments on Monday that need to be completed by Friday and let them work on them in an order they choose and at their own pace.
This could just be your normal assignments (this works especially well if you’ve finished delivering instruction and students just have several culminating assignments to finish up), or you could select a skill students need extra practice in and declare it “review week.”
When we taught AP Literature, we didn’t have a lot of time for grammar instruction, but toward the end of fall semester, we would often do a “Grammar Boot Camp” week and ask students to complete a series of worksheets based on issues we had seen throughout the semester, which we would score and review as a class on Friday. They liked the “easy” week, and it gave us a chance to catch up on grades without generating more work for us.
Consider creating a crossword, exam review Kahoot, or study guide to prepare students for finals.
Running the Kahoot as a live competition can be a fun way to engage when you’re all tired, but you can also assign students to complete the Kahoot on their own if you just need a break.
We recommend having the assignment due at the end of class for participation points, just to ensure students complete it rather than considering it a day off.
Consider wrapping up your semester with a short and sweet movie-based unit.
Whether it’s one you already have, one you’ll create, or one you find, you can easily fill the last week or two of the semester with a movie and an assignment students complete independently (or with a partner).
We used to end fall semester by having our sophomores watch It’s a Wonderful Life and review key literary devices in an activity we would correct together the day before finals.
While we often used it as a beginning-of-the-year activity, our Teaching Theme through Character Analysis: The Lego Batman Movie would be a great end-of-semester review (and students only write a paragraph instead of a full essay, making it much easier to grade).
Whatever you use, students will enjoy the chance to watch a movie, you’ll get some extra time at your desk, and it reviews key skills that allow you to show the movie without feeling guilty.
Hopefully, we’ve offered you a lifeline if you’re struggling to make it through the last weeks (or at least sparked some of your creativity for what will work best with your students): you’re almost there, and we’re confident you’ll make it to the finish line.
What are your go-to activities when you just can’t take it anymore? Reach out to us at [email protected] or on Instagram at @threeheads.works to share. Consider sharing this with an extra frazzled colleague. You’ll be the hand on their back, pushing them to the finish line.