The end of the year..

Since the end of the year is quickly approaching, kids are beginning to have spring fever. What would you do, or what do you do to keep the students motivated to learn? Do you find this a problem in your classroom? How do you manage to work around this?

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Permalink Reply by David Dean on April 6, 2011 at 6:49pm

I teach a 6th Grade Computer class. It is a semester course. At the end of the 1st semester, students get a little wild in anticpation of Holiday Break. The second semester, students get a little wild in anticipation of Spring Break and Summer Break.

What I do is end each semester with a large group project. This is an all encompassing, cummulative project that accesses everything they have learned in my class that semester. The project is 15 school days long or 3 weeks long. It is our "Rap It Up" project that I believe I have talked about on here before.

I have found allowing the students to work in groups (of 3-4 students per group) during these crazy times really allows them to use that energy and apply it within a small group setting. So instead of trying to keep my students quiet, I encourage them to talk and work together withing their group.

What I have found is that my students are more open to collaborating, being leaders, being teammates, etc, when their is that exciting energy in the air.

In the end, my classroom is a little noisy with students talking and working. However, they impress me with their effort and dedication to the project. They are excited and wanting to communicate, so I try to channel that into my group projects.

That may be totally against some best practices, however, it works in my classroom. I love allowing students to work together in small groups. I know it works much better than me trying to keep them quiet, in their seats, and focused on an individual assignment when they have Spring Break Beach Fairies dancing in their head.

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