Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 189. 5 Fun Ideas to Keep Students Engaged After Testing Is Over

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189. 5 Fun Ideas to Keep Students Engaged After Testing Is Over · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:01
  Heidi: This is episode 189 of Teacher Approved.
• 0:06
  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
• 0:09
  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
• 0:13
  Heidi.
• 0:13
  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
• 0:17
  Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
• 0:20
  strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
• 0:22
  effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
• 0:26
  each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
• 0:28
  Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
• 0:31
  the show.
• 0:36
  Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
• 0:39
  episode, we're sharing some tried and true ideas for keeping
• 0:43
  your students engaged after testing season, and we're
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  sharing a teacher approved tip for some end of the school year
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  self care.
• 0:52
  Heidi: We are starting today's episode with a morning message,
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  just like we used to do at morning meeting in our
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  classrooms. This week's morning message is, you are getting a
• 1:01
  new student tomorrow, and they're named after your
• 1:03
  favorite font. Who are you welcoming to your class? Emily,
• 1:09
  what's your new student's name?
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  Emily: Well, Poppins is a really interesting name for a child,
• 1:14
  but here we are.
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  Heidi: I think that could work. I could kind of see some like
• 1:18
  young, hipstery parents having a little Poppins.
• 1:21
  Emily: Young Poppins. Yes, I could see it. It could be cute.
• 1:24
  Could be far worse. What's your new student's name, Heidi?
• 1:28
  Heidi: Well, we make all of our products in Neutraface, so I
• 1:31
  have to say Neutraface.
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  Emily: We love Neutraface.
• 1:34
  Heidi: Which is a terrible name for a child. That would be the
• 1:40
  worst.
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  Emily: Well, we got some fun responses from our teacher
• 1:43
  approved Facebook community. April is welcoming the
• 1:47
  unfortunately named Happy Paragraphs.
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  Heidi: Oh, okay.
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  Emily: Brianne has the ideal new student in Perfect Penmanship.
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  Heidi: That's also a mouthful, but I bet that's teacher's pet.
• 1:59
  Emily: Yeah. Tanya and Evelyn are both getting a Times New
• 2:03
  Roman. Abby's new little darling has a lot to live up to as
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  Inimitable Original
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  Heidi: And get like fitting that in a name tag too.
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  Emily: Yeah, that's a long one. Cheryl has Coming Soon, coming
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  to her class soon.
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  Heidi: That's like a Who's on First problem right there.
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  Emily: And of course, we had to have a Comic Sans and Amy claims
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  that one, and Ardena's student gets off lucky being named
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  Ariel.
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  Heidi: Oh, that is a lucky break. We would love to hear
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  about your favorite fonts, or, I guess, students named after
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  fonts in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.
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  One of the biggest challenges for teachers this time of year
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  is keeping students engaged, you know, especially once testing
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  season wraps up.
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  Emily: Yeah, and let's be honest, the energy in your
• 2:48
  classroom after testing season is not the same as it was back
• 2:52
  in August. You've all been working hard, and now that the
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  high stakes pressure is off, it can feel a little like you're
• 2:59
  just coasting to the finish line.
• 3:02
  Heidi: Or maybe it's more like you're dragging yourself to the
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  finish line. Let's be real. Depends on the day.
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  Emily: True story. But just because testing is behind you
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  doesn't mean the learning has to stop. There are plenty of ways
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  to keep your students motivated, focused and even excited to come
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  to school each day, yes, even in May.
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  Heidi: So we've got five teacher approved ideas that you can try
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  out to make these post testing days meaningful, manageable and
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  maybe even a little magical.
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  Emily: All right, let's get to it. Five ways to keep students
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  engaged in class after testing is over. Number one is to try
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  out passion projects.
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  Heidi: The end of the year is the perfect time for letting
• 3:44
  students explore something that they care about. Passion
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  Projects are great because they give students choice, autonomy
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  and a purpose for learning, and they are surprisingly easy to
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  implement, even in your lower elementary classes.
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  Emily: I love the idea of using passion projects at the end of
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  the year. So what's the best way to approach passion projects
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  with your students, Heidi?
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  Heidi: Well, the idea is simple. Just have your students choose a
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  topic that they are interested in, animal sports, a favorite
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  country, how roller coasters work, and guide them through the
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  process of researching, organizing and presenting their
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  learning.
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  Emily: My team used to do animal reports at the end of the year,
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  and the kids loved it so much, and we always had a zoo field
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  trip at the end of the year. So that's sort of how we tied it
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  all together. So you could choose the category for them, or
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  you could just let them pick from several categories,
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  whatever they're excited to do a project about.
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  Heidi: I think the key is having enough child friendly resources
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  so that they can do the research, so that might limit
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  the options that you can give to your students.
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  Emily: For sure.
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  Heidi: And listener, Margaret suggests doing book studies. She
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  says students get to choose between Wonder, The Sea of
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  Monsters, My Louisiana Sky, or I Survived Hurricane Katrina.
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  Whatever they choose, they do a book study with the others in
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  the class who also chose the same book. Once they're finished
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  with the book study, they have to come up with a presentation
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  to convince the others to read the book of their choice over
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  the summer.
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  Emily: I love this idea so much because it has automatic buy in
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  and it's got the built in choice. It gets them excited
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  about reading, and they're getting their classmates excited
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  about reading books too. I think it's such a clever idea.
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  Heidi: You have that student choice, and then also having
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  them work in groups, are great strategies for maintaining
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  engagement at, you know, the time of the year when students
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  focus is probably at its lowest. Now, of course, your students
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  will need you to guide them through the process, but you can
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  scaffold the steps with simple graphic organizers or
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  checklists. There are tons of resources out there.
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  Emily: And then you let the students present their final
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  project. You could assign a method of presentation or let
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  them choose to present it however they'd like—a poster, a
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  slideshow, a podcast. Wouldn't that be fun? Or even a diorama?
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  Heidi: Oh, yes.
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  Emily: This could be as simple or as elaborate as your students
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  are ready for and as you want to deal with as the teacher.
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  Heidi: Yeah, yeah. You decide what you want to deal with and
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  then work backwards from that point. Yes, really this is such
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  a win win idea. We're adding structure to the classroom by
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  doing a scaffolded project, and because students are choosing
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  what they want to learn about, the novelty factor is really
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  high, balancing structure and novelty. Of course, that means
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  that the engagement piece often takes care of itself.
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  Emily: On to idea number two, which is to create classroom
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  challenges.
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  Heidi: Now, after testing, your students might be mentally
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  checked out, but kids can rarely say no to a competition. Use
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  that to your advantage by setting up some classroom
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  challenges.
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  Emily: You could do academic based ones like a math fact
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  fluency challenge, or reading minutes challenge, or even a
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  math escape room.
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  Heidi: Or you can keep it light hearted with team building
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  challenges like building a spaghetti tower, a classic, or
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  creating a Rube Goldberg machine.
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  Emily: We got a fun suggestion from Betsy to set up 100 piece
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  puzzles on the floor in different corners of the room.
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  That could be a fun fast finisher or a challenge project
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  one afternoon, just be sure to talk to the custodian about not
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  vacuuming your room for a few days.
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  Heidi: That's a hassle that is better to head off from the
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  beginning. Don't want to make the custodian mad, especially at
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  the end of the year.
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  Now, I always love an opportunity to work in poetry,
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  and after testing, you could challenge kids to work on
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  memorizing a poem or two.
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  Emily: And it's always a good idea to try a behavior
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  challenge. You can have your students working cooperatively
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  as a class or in tables to earn rewards with their good
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  behavior. That means coming up with a prize. But it doesn't
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  have to be complicated.
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  Heidi: Really, rewards can be simple—extra recess, a popsicle
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  party or lunch with a teacher. But you know, honestly, we're
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  not going to blame you if you don't want to spend your lunch
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  time break with your students.
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  Emily: No, that would probably not be my first choice for
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  rewards. So all you got to do is start a challenge, choose a
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  simple reward, and watch that motivation come flying back to
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  your classroom.
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  Now for idea number three, theme days or weeks.
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  Heidi: Theme days are our secret weapon for thriving after
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  testing. There's really something magical about them.
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  They kind of like flip a switch in kids brains. Suddenly,
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  everything you do feel special, even if it is just, you know,
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  your regular math lesson with a twist.
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  Emily: You could try a camp read a lot week, stem Olympics,
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  animal week, or even travel around the world days where each
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  day focuses on a different country, and we always love
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  doing quiet as a mouse day.
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  Heidi: Yeah, that was the best day of the year. And the best
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  part is that most of these ideas can be woven into your usual
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  content. That means you don't have to adjust your schedule.
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  Just add a theme to what you normally do during the day to
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  spice things up. Fractions suddenly becomes way more fun
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  when you are "baking" in your classroom bakery.
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  Emily: Add in a few decorations and a theme to read aloud or
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  two, and you've got a classroom full of engaged learners who
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  aren't even thinking about the countdown to summer.
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  Heidi: If you want more ideas for using theme days, head way
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  back to episode seven, where we share all of our best tips and
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  tricks for making theme days work for you.
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  Emily: And make sure you check out the links in the show notes
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  where we will link our two already done for you theme day
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  sets, one for a Camping Day and one for a Space Day. Each set
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  includes themed work packets, craftivities, book
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  recommendations, review activities, so much more. We
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  often hear from people that there's so much more in there
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  than they can even use.
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  Heidi: Yeah, theme days can be a lot of work to set up, but the
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  nice thing is that when you figure it out once, it is so
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  easy to reuse each year. I want to shout this for teachers,
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  because this saved me so many years.
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  Okay, let's take a look at idea four, and I'm excited about this
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  one, let students become the teachers.
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  Emily: I know, this is such a cute idea. You can let students
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  teach a mini lesson to the class on something they're good at, or
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  something they love. This gives them ownership, and it builds
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  their confidence, and it lets them share something with their
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  classmates that they are truly skilled at.
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  Heidi: That's such a gift for your kids that maybe have felt
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  overshadowed academically all year to let them have a minute
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  in the spotlight. You can guide them to plan a short
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  presentation, a demo or activity. It could be anything
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  from teaching how to draw a cartoon character, how to fold
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  origami, how to do a cartwheel, or explaining the rules of their
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  favorite game.
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  Emily: Yeah, and you'll be surprised how serious they take
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  this and how much the rest of the class loves learning from
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  each other, plus it is a sneaky way to reinforce speaking and
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  listening skills.
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  Heidi: Those are really important life skills that can
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  be hard to find a time to work on much during the school year.
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  But just a tip that if you want to keep parents on your side, do
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  the work on this during class. Zero parents, I can guarantee,
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  want to be facilitating a big project at the end of the school
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  year.
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  Emily: Yeah, that is true for all of these, their passion
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  projects that they're doing, the book recommendations, work on
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  that in class. Do the research for things in class. Do not make
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  this a parent problem in May, they will not be happy.
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  And that brings us to idea number five, do creative
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  projects with a purpose. The end of the year is a great time for
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  project based learning. Work doesn't have to be standards
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  driven to still be meaningful. You could plan a future me
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  project where students create vision boards or write letters
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  to their future selves.
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  Heidi: Or you could make a classroom memory book, an end of
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  year time capsule, or a class museum where they display
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  artifacts and memories from your year together.
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  Emily: And we also have an awesome resource for this, which
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  is to make a looking back bulletin board where your
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  students look back at the school year and highlight something
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  that was a wonderful memory for them in this school year.
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  Heidi: So once the kids have illustrated their memory, and
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  you could put up your sign, you know, looking back at third
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  grade or second grade or whatever, whatever grade you
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  happen to be in. Now the magic of this comes that you're gonna
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  get double duty out of it, and you can either leave it up over
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  the summer or put it up again at back to school and change out
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  the title to be looking forward to whatever grade you're in as a
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  way to get kids excited about all the fun things they'll get
• 12:18
  to do in their new grade.
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  Emily: I know, it's so fun. And then your students from this
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  year, when they come by your class next year, they will see
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  their memories still up. So it's a fun way to connect with them,
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  too. I mean, this is like, win, win, win, win. This idea. I love
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  it so much. These kinds of projects are not only fun and
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  engaging, they help students process the end of the year and
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  reflect on their growth.
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  Heidi: And honestly, they give you some really special
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  keepsakes to remember the magic of this class. So make sure you
• 12:46
  check out the show notes for a link to our looking back
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  bulletin board project.
• 12:51
  Emily: So let's quickly recap our five ideas to keep students
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  engaged after testing is over. One, try passion projects. Two,
• 13:00
  create classroom challenges. Three, use theme days or weeks.
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  Four, let students be the teacher. And five, plan creative
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  projects with a purpose
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  Heidi: No matter what you choose, just remember this time
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  of year does not have to be about coasting. It can still be
• 13:16
  rich and meaningful, even without test prep hanging over
• 13:20
  your head.
• 13:21
  Emily: You and your students deserve to finish strong and
• 13:23
  have some fun. You've worked so hard all year. Make the most of
• 13:26
  these last few weeks together.
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  Heidi: And make sure you head to the show notes. We've got all
• 13:30
  the links there today, where you can find a link for our free end
• 13:34
  of year roadmap digital planner. This will help you figure out
• 13:38
  your schedule for the next few months, reflect on what you want
• 13:41
  to maintain and change in the coming weeks and help you break
• 13:44
  down tasks so that you can get things done without stress.
• 13:47
  Emily: We talked all about the roadmap in last week's episode,
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  so make sure to check out Episode 188 if you want the
• 13:53
  details.
• 13:54
  Heidi: We would love to hear what you are looking forward to
• 13:56
  in term four. Come join the conversation in our Teacher
• 13:59
  Approved Facebook group.
• 14:01
  Emily: Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip.
• 14:04
  Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip that you
• 14:07
  can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher
• 14:10
  approved tip is to stock a personal recovery kit. Tell us
• 14:13
  about this one, Heidi.
• 14:14
  Heidi: I love this idea so much. Now if you join us over on the
• 14:19
  Holiday Headstart podcast, you have heard us talk about this
• 14:21
  already, but this is such a handy tip for teachers that we
• 14:25
  didn't want to limit it to holiday headaches. The idea is
• 14:28
  that in advance of a stressful event, such as, you know, the
• 14:32
  end of the school year, you can create a recovery kit for
• 14:35
  yourself. The idea is to get, you know, a box or basket that
• 14:39
  you can fill with little things to help you pamper yourself as
• 14:42
  you recuperate from what you've just been through.
• 14:44
  Emily: Think how great it would be to have this on hand after
• 14:47
  the last day of school, or even just after a particularly
• 14:50
  stressful day of school at any time of the year.
• 14:53
  Heidi: I think for women, and especially women with children,
• 14:56
  talking about pampering and taking time to rest and recover
• 14:59
  can truly feel impossible. But even though it might not be easy
• 15:02
  to make it happen, finding a way to rest is really essential for
• 15:06
  your health.
• 15:07
  Emily: And if you're someone who struggles with guilt over taking
• 15:09
  time for yourself, remember that if you want to be able to give
• 15:12
  your best to the people you love, you have to be a little
• 15:15
  selfish sometimes.
• 15:17
  Heidi: Gretchen Rubin from the Happier Podcast, which is a
• 15:19
  podcast that we really love, she has a great saying that applies
• 15:23
  here. When we give more to ourselves, we can ask more from
• 15:27
  ourselves. If you want to be able to show up as the best
• 15:30
  version of yourself, you have to make your well being a priority
• 15:34
  sometimes.
• 15:35
  Emily: And this is especially important after a draining event
• 15:37
  like the last few weeks of school. You hear people talk all
• 15:41
  the time about how you can't pour from an empty cup, and
• 15:44
  making a recovery kit is a tangible way to help refill that
• 15:47
  empty cup.
• 15:48
  Heidi: Think how great it will feel to come home after a long
• 15:51
  day and pull out your recovery kit with some fuzzy socks or a
• 15:54
  head massager or a magazine that you love but don't normally buy.
• 15:57
  Emily: If socks and head massages and magazines don't
• 16:00
  interest you, stock your recovery kit with things that
• 16:03
  do. Maybe a new notebook, a craft kit or art supplies would
• 16:07
  be more restorative for you. Or maybe you want to stock up on
• 16:11
  some DoorDash gift cards so you don't have to think about meals
• 16:14
  for a few days.
• 16:15
  Heidi: If you aren't sure where to start with a project like
• 16:17
  this, try thinking about your five senses. What are some
• 16:21
  soothing sounds or scents? What textures do you find comforting?
• 16:25
  What is something relaxing that you can read or watch? And of
• 16:29
  course, you know you can't go wrong with a few treats.
• 16:31
  Emily: You can get started by finding a box or bin to use and
• 16:34
  then start adding to it over the next few weeks. You can even ask
• 16:38
  friends or family to donate supplies. I'd love it if someone
• 16:42
  I care about reached out with something like this. Being told
• 16:45
  about a tangible way to help a loved one survive a stressful
• 16:48
  time is a gift. I'd be so happy to help.
• 16:51
  Heidi: We all know that we need some downtime to recover before
• 16:53
  we can bounce back. A recovery kit is a way to make sure that
• 16:57
  that needed downtime is actually restorative, and, you know, not
• 17:00
  just passing out on the couch.
• 17:02
  Emily: And keep adding to your recovery kit over the summer.
• 17:05
  Those DoorDash gift cards can be a real lifesaver the first few
• 17:08
  weeks of school. By spending just a little bit every week or
• 17:11
  so, you're supporting your future self without placing a
• 17:14
  huge burden on your budget.
• 17:16
  Heidi: To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving
• 17:18
  extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
• 17:20
  credit?
• 17:21
  Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the TV show Running Point on
• 17:24
  Netflix. And despite this being a Mindy Kaling project, I have
• 17:28
  to say I was a little skeptical of the premise and even the
• 17:31
  previews, I just didn't think it was going to be that funny. But
• 17:34
  it really has been very funny to watch. So the premise is that
• 17:39
  Kate Hudson plays a reformed party girl who has to prove
• 17:42
  herself as a business woman when she's unexpectedly put in charge
• 17:46
  of her family's pro basketball team. It does have some
• 17:49
  language, so heads up on that if you're sensitive.
• 17:52
  Heidi: I have not heard of the show at all.
• 17:54
  Emily: Really? They talked about it on The Popcast, because
• 17:57
  they'd been making fun of it leading up to it, and then Knox
• 17:59
  watched it and he loved it.
• 18:01
  Heidi: Oh, well, I'm a little bit behind there, so I'll have
• 18:03
  to catch up there too.
• 18:07
  Emily: My other extra credit is that I love The Popcast, that's
• 18:10
  my favorite podcast.
• 18:11
  Heidi: That is a fun one.
• 18:12
  Emily: What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
• 18:14
  Heidi: This is not nearly as fun. My extra credit goes to
• 18:19
  cost plus drug company, which is the mail order pharmacy started
• 18:24
  by Mark Cuban. Now I have only used it one whole time so far,
• 18:28
  but they offered the prescription that I usually have
• 18:30
  to pay more than $80 for, they offered it to me for $21. So
• 18:35
  even with the added $5 for shipping, I am still saving 70%
• 18:40
  so I would say it's definitely worth checking out if you have
• 18:42
  any expensive prescriptions.
• 18:45
  Emily: So this is the thing where you pay out of pocket
• 18:48
  instead of using your insurance, but then it's actually cheaper,
• 18:50
  right? Isn't that the way it works?
• 18:51
  Heidi: Yes, so they do take some insurance. They don't take ours,
• 18:55
  but what I was paying out of pocket, like the $80 was what I
• 18:59
  was paying out of pocket. So even if they don't take
• 19:01
  insurance, I'm still saving 60 bucks.
• 19:04
  Emily: Yeah, I think that happens more and more in medical
• 19:07
  care, where cash pay is actually cheaper than what you pay with
• 19:12
  your co pay for insurance that you're paying a lot of money
• 19:15
  for. I mean, it's crazy. So that is definitely worth looking
• 19:18
  into. I'll have to go see if anything I need is cheaper over
• 19:21
  there.
• 19:22
  Heidi: And they break down the cost, so you see exactly what
• 19:25
  the pills cost them, how much they're taking, and then, like,
• 19:29
  how much of it goes to the pharmacist. So, like, it's all
• 19:31
  transparent. It's such a change when you know you've dealt with,
• 19:34
  you know, medical bills, where you're just told, like, yep,
• 19:37
  here's $300 you owe us. And you're like, I will have to
• 19:40
  trust that that's accurate.
• 19:41
  Emily: Yeah, that's awesome. I'm gonna check that out.
• 19:46
  Heidi: That's it for today's episode. Remember our five ideas
• 19:49
  for how to keep students engaged after testing is over, and don't
• 19:52
  forget to start stocking that self care recovery kit.
• 19:57
  We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
• 20:01
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 20:04
  or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
• 20:07
  episode.
• 20:08
  Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 20:10
  Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
• 20:13
  Bye, for now.
• 20:14
  Emily: Bye.