10 Ideas to End the School Year

Introduction

We are approaching the end of the school year. It’s time to think about creative and fun activities for students at the end of the year. The inconsistency of in-person and online instruction has made teachers and students more exhausted than ever. Due to Covid, many planned activities have been cancelled, which has frustrated many of us. However, as more and more people have been vaccinated, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! A school is a place for memories to be made. Though we may be feeling a lot of stress at the end of the school year, it’s also crucial to make the last days a positive experience. Rather than just watching movies students can’t finish, what ideas can we use to ensure they enjoy themselves before the break? Here are some of them.

Explore diversity

The school’s written curriculum can be very crowded, leaving very little time for students to explore cultural diversity. Within the IB curriculum framework, teachers deliberately create opportunities for students to develop intercultural awareness by exploring issues of global significance and expanding perspectives through discussions, reading, and research. Nevertheless, time is always a concern as we are pressured to assess performance and project on summative assessment data. When students have completed all of the summative assessments in all subjects and reached the end of the semester, an idea for constructive use of time is to make a routine, assign times and establish a schedule so that young adults can acquire cultural competency skills. June is the LGBTQ+ month which is perfect timing to challenge students to explore their assumptions and stereotypes and develop an awareness of the experiences of the LGBTQ community. It might worry some of us that we don’t have sufficient knowledge to lead students in exploring this topic, including me. We can’t expect to understand new things, including what other people might be like, if we never start somewhere. I want to highlight two valuable resources created by Tricia Friedman (@tricia_fried) for educators looking to get started.

• Educators can enjoy bite-sized professional learning during the month of June with 30 different activities.
• 5 books for Pride
• Students explore LGBTQ+ pride through the lens of the IB learner profile.
• Great infographics and subject-specific resources that guide students in exploring identity and representation.

The idea of celebrating the LGBTQ+ pride month was suggested by our student council for the KIS IDEAS Project of 2022.

Here is an example of a group of students who tried to understand June Pride Month and made an infographic to educate others.

Design thinking challenges

Design thinking challenges are a way of focusing on creative problem solving and design skills. They help students think in unconventional ways, using technology, tools and objects from around them in an imaginative way to find solutions to complex problems. In addition to creating creative solutions, design thinking challenges also make it possible for students to put themselves in the user’s shoes. It’s not enough to have creative solutions. Successful innovation involves humans. Doug Dietz shared his journey of using empathy to create children’s MRI designs for kids in his Ted Talk, Transforming healthcare for children and their families.

To help students successfully undertake service-learning and community project learning, we can offer opportunities for them to practice and develop design thinking. Two design thinking activities that might be of interest include the Gift Giving Project and the Wallet Project. You can find resources and instructions on the Standard d.school website. The resources are also translated into many languages. If you are still teaching online, here is an online version of the wallet project. Look for more design thinking exercises? Check out ideas on Cooper Hewitt website. If you would like to know more about design thinking, check out this post by Innovation Training.

Inquiry-based projects

By the end of the school year, we can also allocate time and create a structure for students to pursue a topic of their interest or subjects outside of the usual curriculum. This will not only allow them to learn more about a subject they are passionate about but it will also help them explore new interests and gain skills that will be useful in future endeavors. In my opinion, this is a great way for students to explore a topic or issue they care about and make connections with the global contexts and explorations. For example, a student might care about mental and physical health and may decide to investigate how quarantine has impacted people’s mental and physical health. We also had students wonder why people use swear words and how they were developed through the lens of orientation in space and time. Inquiry projects like these can be an excellent way for students to develop creative and critical thinking skills and present their findings in a professional manner. I have implemented Wonder Day and Wonder Week designed by John Spencer, and students loved them! It gave students enough flexibility to own their own learning while keeping it organized. My old blog post, Inquiry Learning through Wonder Day Project, offers more details on how I set this up and the lists of inquiry projects conducted by our students. If you are wondering how to organize student self-directed and inquiry-based projects online, check out the following two posts:

• What happens when projects are not graded?
• Building the community through ideas

Organize an entrepreneur fair

Many students engage in fundraising events to generate revenue for their support charity. But some struggle to find the right price point for their products or services and lose money during these efforts. Creating an opportunity and providing a structure for students to exercise entrepreneurship skills at the end of the school is fun and engaging. I initiated an entrepreneur fair called The IDEAS Project a couple of years ago before Covid found us. The intention was to guide students in developing skills to start a business and learn how to fundraise. Keep the task enjoyable and communicate instructions clearly and concisely. What matters most is creating a structure and schedule that the students can follow. By setting up a project-based learning environment, you’ll see greater engagement from your students. You’ll also see them develop better critical thinking skills and communication abilities as they work on marketing campaigns, design advertisements, create new business models, etc.

If you are interested, you can read more about how I initiated the entrepreneur fair, how it worked and my reflection in my IDEAS Project and Fair post. In addition, the article “The Entrepreneur Fair Fifth Grade Student Businesses” provides practical ideas and strategies.

Seek course feedback from students

Teachers evaluate student performance frequently throughout the year to gauge progress and aid them when necessary. At the end of the class, it’s an opportunity to seek student feedback and help us better our course design. The best way to have objective and honest feedback from students is to let them anonymously evaluate the course. You can also design survey questions with Google Forms. I enjoy reading student responses. Simple protocols to solicit feedback are:

Community action

Service-learning activity is another great way to end the school year by helping others and contributing something positive to the school’s community. This can be as simple as setting up a book drive at the school or reading to younger students. Additionally, teachers may utilize the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) lesson plans and inspire students to investigate important issues of global significance. Through guidance, students can take authentic action to support their local community. These activities show students that they are part of a larger community and help them learn how their actions affect those around them.

“If I knew…” exercise

I learned about the “If I knew…” exercise from Aileen Huang-Saad, Associate Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. She provided the following prompts in the 9 Class Activities to Stimulate Inventor Entrepreneurs post:

• When I signed up to take this class, I was expecting…
• This is what I got out of the class…
• If I had only known…
• This is what I would change…

The student’s responses inform the teacher about how to revise the course for the following year. Furthermore, she also has it assigned as the first reading for the next cohort of students as their first assignment. I found this to be both an easy and effective exercise. The responses provided the teacher with valuable insight into how the course could be improved in future iterations. In addition, it was interesting to see what things students wished they had known before taking the course. It helps the teacher better understand where they can make improvements and positively impact student outcomes in next year’s class.

Play boardgames

Playing board games is a fun way to spend time with students, even as they get older. A board game involves problem-solving skills and strategic thinking; relies heavily on a player’s ability to think creatively. These are all necessary qualities for students when faced with an academic challenge. Board games help develop these traits, but they also help build social and analytical skills among group members. School life can be hectic and a lot of pressure for students. The end of the school year can be made more relaxing with the occasional play of board games. This will give students a chance to bond and enjoy each other’s company. I have played fun games with students: Taboo, Exploding Kittens, Scattergories, Werewolf, etc. Here is a list of favorite games in the library. Check with your school’s library, and you might be surprised what you can find.

Photo scavenger hunt

A photo scavenger hunt requires very little planning and is a great way to keep students active, socializing and having fun while learning about key topics. There are many ways to set up your own version of a photo scavenger hunt, and here are some ideas. The goal is to get students out of their seats, move around, take pictures, and have fun doing it! A few thoughts that might be relevant are: What can I do to organize the activity so that students stay focused? What can I do to make sure they’re safe without disrupting other students? How should students work together? Should they do it in groups of two or in groups of three? This is how I’m planning on creating a photo scavenger hunt.

1. Choose a theme or to make a checklist. As an alternate idea, students could be instructed to take photos that depict the key concepts or global contexts. It might also be fun to begin with each letter of the student’s last names or create an alphabetically organized photo collection.
2. Set up multiple stations throughout the school and give clues to lead students from one station to another.
3. Set up rules (For example, a photo can only be used once.)
4. Make it a competition and have students form teams.
5. Create a Padlet for students to upload their work.
6. Set up a time limit
7. Pick the winning team and award the prize

If you are interested in doing this with your students, check out The Ultimate Photo Scavenger Hunt Guide to find detailed implementation information.

Create memes

Memes are a fun and visual way to relieve stress and express thoughts. They’re also one of today’s most popular forms of social media. If you’re looking for a creative way to end your semester, consider making memes with your students. To sum up this year at school, I have my students make memes. Monica Berns created this activity. You can find detailed instructions and the template in her post, A Deep Dive into Memes.

Conclusion

With school winding down and summer break quickly approaching, there are several creative ways that teachers can inspire students and foster a sense of community before they go on summer vacation. The activities shared are introduced based on the complexity of implementation. I hope you might be able to use some of them. If you have other helpful suggestions, please let me know. I want to do what I can to make student learning more memorable.

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