Keeping Students Engaged at the End of the Year

The end of the year is here and student behavior is getting harder and harder to control. Students are excited for summer and the weather makes each and every second spent inside excruciating. My school recently put in an outdoor classroom so that has really helped curb the excitement for being out in the sunshine. It also helped break up the monotonous routine of the school day.

Another way I fight the boredom battle of summer quickly approaching is by engaging students through movement. Sometimes they just need a brain break! Deskercise is a great way to get them up and moving for a few minutes. It drains some of that excessive energy and gets the blood pumping to the brain.

Recently I have been a big fan of “Meet and Greets” or as the kids call it “Ring the Bell!” Students are to find another student in the room and hold a discussion. At the sound of the bell, they find a new person to continue the discussion. This repeats until all topics have been discussed. I have utilized this approach in many ways and in various subject areas. Most recently we have been focusing on End-of-Grade (EOG) testing. So to review reading skills, I created a graphic organizer for students to record each skill for a specific book. This activity was repeated often with various texts (poems, fiction, nonfiction, recipes, etc) to get students familiar with the application of the skill. After the graphic organizers were filled in completely, we held a “Meet and Greet.” I rang the bell and students found one another to discuss the first section of the graphic organizer (5 w’s) that related to the story. Students were able to add to their graphic organizer as they talked with their partner. I recommend not setting a predetermined time for each rotation as some skills take longer to discuss than others. I then rang the bell again, students moved, found a new partner, and discussed the next section on the graphic organizer (point of view). This process continued until each section was discussed.  The “Meet and Greet” style encourages students to talk with multiple peers, gain insight to a struggling area, share their thought process or strategy, and add some fun movement to the lesson.

Students have thoroughly enjoyed this activity, especially because we have played it in Social Studies, Reading and also during test preparation. They have become more open to talking to peers they normally don’t talk with and enjoy the feeling of success as their peer affirms their answer or thought. At the beginning, I had to interject often to keep students on task, but as we have repeated this exercise, students hold each other accountable and glean a lot of information out of the social exchange. They have realized if they spend time sharing they increase their understanding and rate of success.

**I do caution that the repetitive bell ringing might disrupt a neighboring classroom, but the activity does not take longer than 10 min with a short bell ring around each minute mark.

How do you keep students engaged as summer approaches?

About the author, Gretchen

I am a teacher trainer and coach. Working elbow to elbow with teachers and teacher leaders to ensure instructional proficiency and student achievement soar lights me up. We have a real need in our nation for strong educators to remain in the field. My blog, book, podcast, courses and instructional materials are geared towards empowering teachers (and those that lead them) to receive the support needed to grow and thrive today, tomorrow and always.

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