You’re done.
They’re done.
Everyone is counting the days.
And what happens when kids are done and waiting and bored?
Mischief, shenanigans, tomfoolery…disrespect, fights, skipping class…
Classroom management is one of the #1 topics that teachers request help with, and also one of the primary areas where they get criticized on administrative evaluations. It is such a crucial skill for teaching–because how are you supposed to deliver content if no one is paying attention in the first place?
It’s also one of the primary areas lacking in teacher prep programs that most folks go through in college. In my own experience, I might have had one chapter of one book in one class of my undergrad on the topic…the rest has been learned by trial-and-error, copy what works, and sink or swim: practice, tweaking, experimenting, and experience.
I think one of the most challenging things about classroom management is that there is truly no one size fits all model. WHY? Because we are people, interacting with groups of people. Individuals constantly change, and so do our rosters. What works beautifully with one class will fail horribly with another. What worked for your students 15 years ago may hit differently with a new generation submerged in a different culture. What works great for one teacher might totally flop with another, because personality and teaching styles are different. I see both new teachers and veteran teachers alike reaching out for help: what do I do with this one class?? The problem is universal, ongoing, and has answers that constantly change.
So, what’s a teacher to do? Try, try, again.
While I fully acknowledge ALL of these variables and therefore I do not claim to have a magic wand for you, I do have 19 years’ worth of experience, and can therefore recommend some things that are tried-and-true, strategies that are my go-tos and which typically work well for me with most groups of students. I can say that I’ve always gotten positive feedback on my evaluations for “develops a good rapport and classroom culture,” so that tells me at least I’m not entirely delusional in thinking I’ve got a decent handle on the topic.
And now that we are in the final weeks of school, it’s somewhat of a “magical” time…but not in a good way. Kids who are just waiting for summer break start to go off the wall and act out–so that even classes who have been well-behaved for most of the year sometimes go sideways in these last few weeks.
So, the following recommendations for classroom management are specifically with this time in mind: what to do with your classes when content is pretty much done, review is in process or even winding down, final grades are rolling in on the horizon, and you’re just trying to make sure everyone goes home in one piece every day, while still trying to give them something of educational value (a.k.a do your job).
1. Go outside
I recommend this as soon as the weather is nice enough to do so, but especially in the last few weeks.
I’ve established “theme days” with my classes, one of which is “Walking Wednesday”–every Wednesday we take a walking break around the school–sometimes inside, sometimes outside, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter…but the kids love it. Most times we just get some fresh air and take a break; there’s no instructional goal in it (except for the research backing the movement-brain-learning connection, if you need to provide justification to someone: this is a valid and fascinating rabbit hole that I don’t have time for here, but it’s a thing!)
Last week, as we were in the middle of our final 5-day week and just pounding out review every day, I brought my classes outside to a courtyard with picnic tables and let them do their work out there. They LOVED it and requested to do it again. In my rowdiest class (the last one of the day, predictably), there were FAR fewer behavior issues than usual. So whether you take the actual classwork outside, or just get some sunshine and fresh air, this one really helps to calm everyone (the students and you!)
2. Create a Scavenger Hunt
This one rolls in the movement piece above, but also brings in creativity and possibly even competition! You can use it as a way to gamify review that doesn’t involve screens.
About a week ago I set up a scavenger hunt based on Shakespeare (our final unit was Romeo and Juliet). Students had a Jeopardy-style answer sheet, and had to hunt throughout the school for the answers hidden in various places (stairwells, hallways, etc). I gave prizes to those who came back with the right answers (they left their phones in the classroom so they couldn’t just look up answers). I also emailed the entire staff ahead of time to let them know it would be happening, and where students should and should not be…and I told the students this email had gone out, so they knew everyone was on to them. They loved the scavenger hunt, and persuaded me to set up another one for our last two days of class (this time, Literary Terms review)!
3. Don’t try to cram in more content: know when to coast
To a certain extent, you’ve got to be real and go with the flow: read your students and know when they are doing all they can just to not get in trouble that day. Don’t poke the bear. I’m not suggesting that you be afraid of your students or let them control the room instead of you, but I am saying that knowing when you’re setting yourself up for a battle, frustration, and failure is a valuable skill. Be honest and real with students, and choose fun, engaging, meaningful end-of-year activities that are also low-stress. Some more examples of things I’m doing with my students along these lines:
- Write a letter to next year’s freshmen. What do you wish you had known coming into this class? Now that you’ve gone through it, what top 3 pieces of advice would you give a student entering this class for the first time? (This practices letter-writing skills, is entertaining, provides connection to other students, helps them feel accomplished/like an authority, and is really fun to hand out to your new students).
- Give an exit survey. I’ve already recommended this in a past blog post, but it bears repeating. I recommend using google forms, because it makes great pie charts automatically that really help you visualize the feedback you get. If you’d like a generic template you can use, email me and I’ll be happy to send it to you and save you the time of making it yourself!
- Kahoot! I love Kahoot because it’s really easy to create your own games, easy for the students to use (small learning curve), there is an extensive library of Kahoots others have already made that you can make a copy of and tweak for yourself, and it gamifies learning. Our last week and a half of class, I’ve been starting every class with a 10-15 minute Kahoot, and although I thought the students may tire of it, they actually are really liking it and it settles down the energy right at the start of class (it’s also great to plan to end a class with Kahoot, when you can’t hold their attention any longer)! I will say that Kahoot has recently gotten pretty assertive with their marketing to get folks to upgrade to the paid versions…but I’ve operated for years on the free version and that’s still the one I use! (Click here for more ideas for running your classroom on the cheap!)
Well, there you have my favorite go-to strategies for holding the wheels on in your final days of class. Let me know how these work for you, and if you have any favorites to share as well!