Keeping Your Sanity: 5 Tips for Ending the School Year

I asked my dear friend, Dr. Frank Buck to provide tips for the close of the school year.  You'll find his top 5 list below.  If you are organized, want to get more organized, or are lost in the middle of all your work, read Frank's blog, join his e-newsletter, and check out his free resources on his website.  They are all worth your time (more information at the bottom).

Your year is drawing to an end. I have heard closing the year being described as like being on a sled headed downhill. No matter what you do, the thing gets faster and faster, and you simply try to avoid the trees. When the final bell sounds, we breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now.

For those who are in education for the long haul, we know that the whole scenario will play out again exactly 12 months from now. Every year, we say we will have a better handle on things next year. Yet, when next year comes, it’s the same song, just a different verse. How can we put an end to the madness once and for all? Here are 5 strategies to put you back in control:

Plan the Day the Night Before

Sure, you have heard this advice before, and it is a great practice for any time of year. But as those last two weeks approach, how you handle each day spells the difference between order and absolute chaos. Only a few days remain between a building full of people and a building empty for three months. You have loose ends to tie up with students, fellow teachers, the bookkeeper, the school secretary, and many others in the building.

When you have a list of exactly what must be handled today, you can hit the ground running the moment you arrive at school. You check things off the list, knowing the next evening you will make a new list. Your days are focused and driven with purpose. Most importantly, things are being checked off the list faster than other things are being put on it.

Anticipate Grading Problems

How wonderful it is to have software which handles all of the grade calculations for us. The caveat exists in that old computer adage, “Garbage in, garbage out.”

When the settings are correct, the averages are correct. Allow one box to be checked incorrectly, enter one formula incorrectly, and the result is a mess. If a problem exists, you want to know early. You will have plenty of time and resources available to help you determine the exact source of the problem and the quick fix. Wait until the 11^th hour to find your final grades are wrong, and you will spend the rest of the day, and probably the day of several other people, feverishly looking for a solution.

Keep grades up-to-date throughout the grading period. I never cease to be amazed at how many teachers still maintain a paper grade book and then enter everything into the software at the last minute. I never cease to be amazed by principals who allow it.

Spot check a few final averages by hand well before the time to submit grades. Offer to be the “Guinea pig” and post grades to the main office early. Run a sample report card or two.

Nothing causes more gnashing of teeth at the end of school than grades which are not correct. The good news is that it is totally avoidable.

Clear the Decks

Even though you may be working well ahead of schedule, remember others do not. Their failure to plan often results in mountains of work being dumped on you at the last minute. (If reading that sentence causes the name of any building or central office administrator to come to mind, feel free to print this post, highlight this section, and place it in the center of the offender’s desk before his or her arrival at work.)

If you already have a full week planned for the end of school, you will be buried when the additional work hits. Do everything in your power to have papers graded and entered into the computer, inventory done, programs held, and communication handled before that last week.

If your calendar and to-do list for the last week of school look bare a week out, don’t worry. Others will fill them up for you. Having the decks cleared ahead of time will allow you to tackle the new incoming requests instead of being swamped by them.

Keep ‘Em Busy

The statement, “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop” was probably penned by a middle school teacher the last week of school. Give students a “free period” while tackling the mountain of papers to grade, and you are inviting classroom management problems. Now, more than ever, teaching from bell is bell is essential.

The best-kept secret in the school ought to be what day grades “cut off.” Not every assignment must be graded. Keep students working, engaged, and submitting their work right up to the end. They do not have to know that your grades were posted to the main office last Friday.

Plan “Next Time” Now

Who are the ones guilty of dropping the paperwork bomb on you at the last minute? What paperwork do we continue to churn out and file (even though nobody ever reads it) simply because “we have always done it that way”? What end-of-school procedures just did not work well? Now is the best time to identify the landmines and make plans so they do not appear again next year.

In the school business, we start over every year. It is both a blessing and a curse. If we fail to learn from our mistakes, they become our future. On the other hand, we can craft a plan that will allow a smooth ending to a perfect year this year and every year.  

Frank Buck served as a teacher, principal, and central office administrator during a career in education spanning almost 30 years. He credits strong skills in organization and time management with success at all levels along the way.  Dr. Buck’s books, Get Organized! Time Management for School Leaders and Organization Made Easy! Tools for Today’s Teachers, capture those ideas in an easy-to-read format. Readers find they are able to implement the "nuts-and-bolts" approach immediately. Whether one's preference is to organize with paper or with a digital system, Dr. Buck's approach makes getting organized easy. Follow his blog at http://frankbuck.blogspot.com/, on Twitter @DrFrankBuck #getorganized, or at his website http://frankbuck.org/.

Luck or Effort?

Ronita, one of my former students, generally struggled in class. One day, after much hard work and studying, she made an A on a project. I was so proud of her but was stunned at her response. First, she said she was “lucky.” After I assured her that wasn’t true, she thanked me for “giving” her an A. She just didn't get it; the A it wasn’t because of any outside force (luck or me), it was her; her efforts had earned the grade.

Unfortunately, many students are like Ronita. They don’t have a strong internal locus of control—an inner confidence that they have choices and are in control of their behavior. When comparing people who are successful in an area of life (business, sports, etc.), they have one thing in common: Each had a clear vision for their life and a strong belief that they could achieve their dreams, that they were in control of their own destiny.

Compare that to people who find themselves simply existing from day to day. At some point, they look back at their life and ask, “How did I end up here? When I was young, I dreamed of [insert example].” As you talk to them, they will say things such as, “I wanted to be a musician, but someone else won the competition.” “I tried to get the promotion, but my boss doesn’t like me.” “I could have been a pro athlete, but no one gave me a chance.”

You can tell from the language; it’s always about someone or something else. Theyview control as external, or outside themselves. It’s always about other peo- ple or circumstances. There are many societal elements that encourage this attitude. Did you get in a fight? The other person started it, so you didn’t have a choice. Did you miss out on a promotion? The system is unfair. Did you commit a crime? It was because you watch television. The excuses mentality un- dermines having an internal sense of control.

A key focus for a successful classroom is self-empowerment. It is about encouraging students to believe in themselves and to do that by telling students two things:

1. You need to have a dream or vision that is the basis for your every- day choices and decisions.
2. Whether you succeed or fail is up to you. Period.

Tapping into an internal sense of choice and control is one of the hardest things for us to do, even as adults. Is it any wonder that students struggle with it? As a teacher, you cannot make someone believe in herself or himself; but you can provide structures, activities, and modeling to facilitate those positive beliefs.

Building Student Success

Students need to set and achieve goals to build a sense of confidence, which leads to a willingness to try something else, which in turn begins a cycle that leads to higher levels of success. Success leads to success, and the achievements of small goals are building blocks to larger goals.
One of my former graduate students gave each student a file folder.  Each of the four panels represented a nine-week period.  At the beginning of the nine weeks, she talked about her goals for the class during that grading period, which included items such as, helping each student do his/her best, giving students opportunities to redo their work to be successful, and helping students to increase their learning (measured either by grades or scores on diagnostic learning tests).  Then, students listed their goals, with assistance from her. They could decorate their panel, illustrating success.  It was a visual reminder through the period reminding students of their goals.  Then, at the end of the nine weeks, they celebrated progress--even small steps.  Her students began to see their individual accomplishments, which built their confidence. 

You can use folders, vision posters, victory lists, Evernote, or any method you choose.  It’s also important to choose the time period that will work best for your students; sometimes you may need to start with one day or week at a time! 

Try it, and let me know how it works!!

Goals...and Next Steps

On a visit to Reid Ross Classical School, I stepped into a seventh-grade classroom. A series of t-shirts caught my eye, and the students wanted to share their completed projects with me. A short conversation quickly turned into a modeling session with students wearing the shirts and showing off their dreams. Mrs. White explained that, as part of a celebration of Martin Luther King’s life, she discusses his dream for all people. Students are given project guidelines, and they have approximately a month to complete their shirts. On the front of the shirt they illustrate their dream using fabric paints, computer design graphics or any type of embroidery. On the back, students write the steps to achieving their goal, which is based on their own research. It was an excellent way for students to learn the next steps required to achieve their goals.