Quick end of the year musings

I'll probably write more in a week or so after the school year finally culminates, big news but have to wait until it can be officially stated and shared.  Last couple of weeks here are always bizarre.  We put so much emphasis it seems to our tests this time, that basically from mid-May through our final days, testing is what consumes us all.  And while I was able to spice up review a couple of times with different review games like grudgeball, the kids are so programmed to study the old-fashioned way that any deviation from it leads to chaos.  I've realized that it is obviously something that I need to establish from the beginning of the year as to how we will review.  Problem is, I don't have many tests or exams, so when we now change our focus, it makes it a bit more difficult to all of the sudden change from the status quo.  Definitely some things that I need to work on over the summer.

It has been a good year overall, I feel like I was able to bring in more engaging assignments and activities and I've learned a ton from my PLN on twitter.   Sometimes it is tough to look back on the whole year when you're crammed into the same room for 4+ hours with a group of kids that are testing or waiting while others or testing.  The boredom and the kids penchant to feel that they're already done with the year can be frustrating.  But there were a lot of really good things that I feel we accomplished this year, the March Madness project among others, and I'm grateful that my students usually went along with me whenever I felt like throwing something together last minute to try new things.  I wish them nothing but the best as most of them move onto 9th grade and my 7th graders move up to the 8th grade.  Hopefully they'll be able to look back on this year fondly and take some important lessons with them to the next grade and their next set of teachers.

As for me, I'm now just over six days away from the summer and the start of daddy daycare with the twins.  It'll be a whole new challenge and exciting times as I run around and chase them all summer as they're learning to walk, talk and all other things that 10 month-olds do.  I'll have more time over the summer, so I'll look to keep this better updated as I prepare for next year's upcoming changes and also have lots of out of the classroom stuff to discuss like playing with the kids, the World Cup and the anything and everything else.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the final days educators if you're not out for the summer already!