Finishing Strong

As you approach the end of the year, it is easy to let your behavioral expectations and support for students slide. However, student behavior can get predictably crazy as summer break approaches, and the last few weeks of schools will be the time that students remember!

While the end of the year often includes many wrap-up activities and fun closing ceremonies and traditions, make sure to stay focused on high expectations and learning with your students. It may be worth doing mini reteaching activities to help students remember how to meet behavioral expectations in the classroom and in common areas. This can help ensure that behavior doesn’t slide too much in the final weeks of school.

You might consider using some time to film short videos of your students demonstrating appropriate behavior and meeting expectations for things like transitions, teacher-directed instruction, cooperative activities, and independent work. Interview students about their advice for next year’s students on how to thrive in the classroom or school. These videos and messages can be used at the beginning of the next school year as part of your efforts to teach expectations to your new class. They also help reinforce with your current group what is expected for the remainder of this year.

For students who have struggled with behavior across the year, continue your efforts to provide strong behavior support until the last day of school. Make sure the students know that you value and believe in them and their potential. In resiliency studies, adults who have thrived despite high-risk childhoods consistently report that there was someone—a family member or teacher—who never gave up on them.

It is critical for you to continue your conscious efforts to provide attention to appropriate behavior for all students while continuing to provide corrective feedback. The end-of-the-year message for all school staff is to never give up on any student and to continue efforts to maintain a positive, safe, and productive learning community through the last day of school.

Jessica Sprick

Safe & Civil Schools