The Four Ways to have a Less Stressful End of Year

There were so many years that, the days after school let out, I would reflect and think about how I rushed the end of the year. I was frequently the one still grading, collecting late work until the last day, and gathering my paperwork for administration while the majority of the faculty sat around hanging out. It took me a while to figure out how to set my end of year up so I didn’t have to always find myself in this situation. Here are my top four suggestions to create a stress-free end of year for you.

1. Have clear guidelines for students who are absent regarding work. It isn’t an exaggeration that the end of the school year can make your classroom feel like a revolving door of students between guidance scheduling, field trips, and end of year activities. Students need to know what your expectations are—what do they need to do to avoid penalties and how should they approach making up or turning assignments in.

2. Distribute a calendar of due dates and events. The end of the year is hectic for everyone and those last days of school can sneak up on all of us. To create as stress-free an environment as possible, make a calendar with all events and due dates for the remainder of the school year. This will help your students (and you) plan accordingly. Make sure you leave yourself ample opportunity to get your grading done. The calendar should help you because we all know, despite our best efforts, there is always unexpected late work that comes rolling in at the end of the year.

3. Be strategic about your end of year assignments. I always felt I needed a writing assessment at the end of the year to truly see all my students’ progress from the beginning of the year. While it’s nice to see the progress they made, that doesn’t mean you have to wait until the second to last week of school to give that assignment. All a writing assessment does those last few days of school is leaves you grading at your desk while the other teachers are out to lunch. Don’t do this to yourself. Make your last assessment something you can either grade on the spot (like a presentation) or something that you’ve given several check-in grades for so you already have an idea of what you’re looking at.

4. Create an extra assignment to have on hand for the students who may need it. Let’s face it, there are always situations at the end of the year where we need to give students another opportunity. Whether guidance asks you to help a student out or you find a student who has worked hard all year tantalizingly close to passing, it’s so much easier if you already have a generic assignment made up for these students.

The end of the year is hectic enough, implement these three strategies to make the four walls of your classroom as easy going as possible.