Five Ways to Create a Strong Finish for the School Year

As the school year draws to a close, we’re all looking for fun ways to keep our middle school students engaged and learning– right up to the last day!

The Middle School Mob has come up with a list of five activities that are sure to help you make the most of these last weeks…and keep you sane at the same time! 

1.  Sharon from Classroom in the Middle uses Summer Practice Cards.  Summer Practice Task Cards are designed to provide a review of language arts skills for middle schoolers or students in upper elementary grades. The 30 half-page cards include five each on six summer topics: At the Beach, Life on the Pond, Low-Tech Fun, The Ball Game, Picnic Time, and Vacation and are perfect to use with a fun classroom game or activity. A coloring page cover and a checklist of assignments completed are also included so that the cards can be sent home for a summer practice booklet.

2.  Shana from Hello, Teacher Lady says that no school year is complete without a little reflection! This End-of-Year Student Reflection & Feedback Google Form encourages students to reflect on their year while providing teachers with valuable student feedback and insight. The responses are automatically stored in a Google Sheet for easy viewing from any device, so no need to worry about collecting paper or wonder where you're going to store all those paper stacks.

Shana says, "I love using this digital form with my students not only because of its ease and convenience, but also because the thoughtful responses have helped me reflect on my year and improve my own teaching for the following year. (Psst - you can download the form for free in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!)"

2.  Lisa shares Mrs. Spangler in the Middle's top 3 ways to finish the year strong! There's an inspirational video, a positive reinforcement system that culminates on the last day of school and even a daily motivator for those tough classes.

4.  Lit with Lyns recommends this Digital End of Year Student Reflection as a great way to give students the opportunity to reflect on their year. It also allows them to provide feedback on what they thought worked well, as well as what they would like to change in specific classes.

"Not only did this help my students to reflect," Lyns says, "it also allowed me to do the same. After reading their suggestions, in addition to what they liked, I was able to implement some of their ideas into different activities and strategies I used the following year. This resource is truly a WIN-WIN for both students AND teachers!!!"  It comes in both digital AND printable format!

5.  Marypat from Just Add Students recommends having your students create a Reading Legacy Project.  This is a fun way for students to reflect on all the great reading they’ve done through the school year.  Students create a resource for next year’s class that includes book reviews, scrapbook pages, “best of…” awards, and signature pages for notes of encouragement to the upcoming class.  Great resource for next year when your students ask, “What should I read?”

Give one of these ideas a try and let us know what you think... or offer an idea of your own that makes the end of the school year a breeze!

Having students track their own data

It’s Mandy from Caffeine and Lesson Plans here, sharing some thoughts on tracking student data!

I don’t know about you, but I have a seriously hard time keeping track of data for my kiddos. Even though I teach a middle school grade, I am a generalist and teach all subjects. That means less kiddos to keep track of (yay) but way more subjects to keep track of (boo). I used to try to do everything on paper, and put it binders. It was a serious problem- I even had a binder to keep track of my binders. I just couldn’t keep up with tracking everything I had the kiddos doing. It was exhausting. In the middle of another long afternoon of tracking scores, it dawned on me that was I was doing was just silly. If I want the kiddos to be accountable for their scores, they should be responsible for tracking their own scores. If they are capable of writing it down, they are capable of tracking it! With that, I bid adieu to the data binders and said hello to individual data folders.

Once I had the idea in my head, I just ran with it. I started having my kiddos track anything that I would normally track. We took a pre-test on a unit, and they tracked their score. Once we finished the unit and took the post-test, they tracked that too- and calculated how much they grew! I found a simple bar graph chart that went up to 100%, and had the students color in the amount they received on the topic pretest.  Once the unit was over, the students used the exact same test as their posttest. They then tracked that data in their binder, and were able to see their own growth.  If you are looking to get started with minimal time investment, a quick google search will bring up a ton of graphs you can fill in, but here is the one I started with, free from Education.com. Tons and tons of other data tracking forms are available online. Check out a pretty great list of free resources here! 

Since I began having my students track their own data I have seen such a huge shift in their attitude about learning. It's noticeable in all my kiddos, but it is incredibly obvious with some of my students who lack motivation. Suddenly, they care about making progress. Going from a 10% to 30% within a topic is no longer just "still failing"- it's measurable, viewable progress. Their bar graph visibly grew, making their growth concrete. They can see the change, proving to them that the effort is worth it. It's been an incredible shift, and I would definitely never go back! 

Using Data In the Classroom

Hi all! Stephanie from The Marvelous Middle here to talk with you about using data in the classroom, which is a topic that I feel passionate about (yes, this ELA teacher loves numbers!). I use data in my classroom from formal assessments and informal assessments. Using data takes time and it takes practice.

The easiest place to start is with FORMAL ASSESSMENTS (receive a grade). These may include district-wide assessments (we use NWEA Map Testing) and end of unit assessments. With each end of unit assessment that I give, I list all of the content standards that are being assessed. I also label each question with a corresponding standard, so as I grade I can see quickly what standards my students are mastering and which they are struggling with.

Here is an example from my 8th grade science fiction unit formal assessment:

• There are six questions that assess 8.RL.2. If the student answers at least five of the six questions correctly, the student shows mastery. If the student answers at least four of the six questions correctly, the student shows partial mastery. 
• There are three questions that assess 8.RL.5. If the student answers all three answers correctly, mastery is shown. If two questions are correct, then partial mastery is documented.

Using this data, I can easily determine which students I need to re-teach the content. Students would then have differentiated instruction based on their mastery level. This data should be shared with students so they are aware of their own mastery level and what they need to do in order to increase their mastery level. Formal assessments do not have to be only tests. They can include projects and portfolios if these are linked to specific standards.

INFORMAL ASSESSMENTS (not receiving a grade) are less time consuming and easier to implement in the classroom. They are the perfect way to progress monitor your students in a flash. One way I do this is by using exit tickets. Below are the types of exit slips I use most often:

1. Triangle, Square, Circle

2. Open Ended

3. 14 Words

I will leave you with a favorite quote of mine regarding assessment (I know...I'm a data nerd!)

"An education usb;t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't." ~~Anatole France