What’s on your end of year teacher checklist? The school year is coming to an end, and although there is still much to do, there are some things I do to make this a more relaxed time. There’s no point in stressing, and I want to end the year on a good note. That’s why I made a list of the things I do that make work easier.
Grading
There’s a lot of grading to do. We do standardized testing at the end of the year, so all the grading comes in all at once. I cry if I find there’s too much on my plate. Like, really, I’m not kidding. So what I do to avoid this is:
- I pencil in time each day to grade, and I must stick to that amount. It’s usually only 1 hour a day, to keep it light. And I spread the work over several days, so that I won’t get overwhelmed.
- Making sure there are no distractions is super important. Phone is switched off, and nobody must bother me. I also set an alarm for the hour and I can only stop when the alarm goes off.
- I’m not allowed to leave the work until too late. This may sound easy, but you know what I’m talking about! When I get the work, I have to start grading at least a small part of it THAT SAME DAY. That way, it won’t become so overwhelming in my head, because I’ll see it’s not so bad. It’s a neat trick that really works to keep me sane.
Planning for next year
I try to start thinking about all the things I want to do differently next year right now. It helps me relax to come up with fun units and tasks that I can look forward to. I won’t spend all my time working on them, but it’s good to use this as a brain break and also to get a head start on that part of my job. It’s good to leave the old behind and welcome the new. This is a must on my end of year teacher checklist.
Self-care
We need to take plenty of time to take care of ourselves during the school year, but it’s especially important during this busy time. My kids are super rowdy this time of year, so lessons are sometimes challenging. This means that I will give myself a lot of grace, and I try to be flexible in my approach to things. And most importantly, I allow more down time than usual.
I will try to keep work that I have to finish at home to a minimum, and I have my partner help me in this. He’s really good at telling me to stop 🙂 And I also like to take a nice shower with some Rituals shower mouse after rough days, to literally wash away the day. It really helps me relax an recharge.
Clear my computer
Do you have an overflowing Desktop as well? Mine is insane. Files are piling over one another and I can’t make any sense of it anymore by the time June rolls around. Of course, I never took the time to file anything in their designated folders, and there are SO MANY files in Downloads that I don’t even recognize. End of year is a great time to sift through them and get everything organized. It takes some time and effort, but when it’s done I feel so much better!
Say goodbye to students
I consciously make time to end the year with students properly. Some of them I will see again next year, but others I won’t. I treat them all like we will never meet again 🙂 Our last lesson together, we will do something fun, and I will take the time to tell them how much I enjoyed teaching them and what my hopes are for their future. I find that students respond really well to this.
We do something fun with our homeroom groups – I usually take them to a trampoline hall – and spend a day together. It’s a great way to end the year on a good note and it’s a form of closure for both of us. After all, I won’t be their homeroom teacher next year, so it really is the end of something.
So there you have it: this is what my end of year teacher checklist looks like! What is yours like?
