There’s a knowing look among teachers this time of year…sometimes just a glance, or even a nod, can speak what we all know: the sap is rising in the school building (and we aren’t talking about trees.)
The days between Spring Break and the coveted Last Day of School are some of the most challenging for teachers. First of all, the students are restless, what with all that warm weather and extended daylight and LOVE in the air. In a high school, the research paper due to the AP Physics teacher may take a back seat to the most important decision of all – which dress to wear to the prom. In the middle school, students have had the entire year to develop intricate relationship dramas, and some simmering conflicts come to a full blow sometime in April and May.
Meanwhile, students and teachers alike are just plain tired, having given the better part of a year to all the tasks related to learning. I remember one year I told the teacher in the classroom next to me, “I’m so exhausted, I feel like one of those celebrities that you read about…you know the ones that are hospitalized for exhaustion? That’s how tired I am! Only I’m no celebrity, and there’s no hospital room waiting for me…” During that particular school year, I was working on my master’s degree, and my son was a senior in high school. If you’ve ever participated in helping a child make the transition from senior year – to college – while keeping said child…well….ALIVE…you know what I’m talking about. I pictured myself collapsing in front of my first period class every day. But miraculously I stayed upright.
Here’s what I think helped me make it from flowers blooming to the end of the school year without incident. These are the strategies that have worked best for me AND for my students:
1. Stick to the routine. We all know children, as well as adults, do better when keeping to the schedule. We are creatures of habit, after all. While it is so tempting to change everything and just do something fun and crazy on a nice spring day, I found out the hard way that it’s difficult to get the students back on track after a day like that. Staying within the regular schedule maintains a consistency that helps keep the sap from boiling over. One year, back before we had testing at the end of the year, I let the students talk me into a spirited game of spring football. After that day was over, I had one student with a broken wrist and a classroom full of students who BEGGED me for a football game every day for the remainder of the year. Now I know it’s better to plan for days like that at the very end of the year – structured field days are the way to go.
2. Having said that, consider using those beautiful spring days for instruction. While keeping the routine in place, there are still opportunities to read and write outside, to conduct science investigations using what’s available in nature, and to integrate the outdoors into lessons. As long as we don’t stray away from the norm as far as expectations for learning and behavior, getting some fresh air will actually HELP our students learn. We have an outdoor classroom at my school. Just last week, I watched a teacher reading aloud to a group of students outside. They were all engaged and learning (while listening to the rooster crowing just down the road.)
The Outdoor Classroom at My School
3. And last, as easy at it is to be counting down the days, try to embrace the relationships you have with your students now. I’ve written about how much you’ll miss them before, and they’ll be gone before you know it.
Happy Spring! (And watch out for the sap…)