Give Them a Surprise Ending (Reblog)

As the conclusion of another school year approaches, I thought it might be fitting to re-publish this post from last year with suggestions for ways to end the year “strong.”

I always laugh when people say that we should end school earlier in the year because the last few weeks are a waste.  What do they think would happen if school stopped in April?  Somehow I doubt the teachers or students would be any less eager for the last day.  The way I see it, the only way to fix this problem is to never have a last day – or to never tell anyone when it is.

“Ok, boys and girls.  Bus riders are dismissed and so are car-riders and walkers. Oh, and by the way, there’s no school for the next 2 1/2 months.”

Yep.  That would go over well.

A surprise end-date probably won’t get the approval of any school board on this planet, so I recommend a surprise ending, instead.

What do I mean?  I mean, don’t resort to the predictable, let’s-show-movies-and-wear-pajamas-and-read-all-day plans that are the fallback for so many teachers this time of year.  This is your time to M. Night Shyamalan your way into teaching fame!  (But not in a spooky “Guess what, you’re dead, too,” way – more in a “School is way more than filling in bubbles on a piece of paper” way.)

How can you surprise them?  Here are some activities that could make the highlight reels of your students’ year.

• Play a Breakout Edu game.
• Do an Aurasma scavenger hunt.
• Let students do a QR Code Reflection.
• Use Hexagonal Learning to reflect on the school year. (Thanks to the GT teacher who gave me this idea!)
• Try some Word Cloud App Smashing.
• Make a Rube Goldberg Machine.
• Do a Mini Cardboard Box Challenge – what game can they make out of a shoe-box?
• Don’t you think it’s time to conduct the Ultimate Paper Airplane Competition?
• Do some Balloon-Popping math.
• Have a video game design contest.
• Give your students a Bottle of Dreams!

What suggestions do you have to make these last days memorable for your students?  Put them in the comments below!