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We have two-and-a-half weeks of school left.

For what it’s worth, here are the last two assignments will be in each of my classes.

I’m adding this post to The Best Ways To Finish The School Year Strong.

 

I modified this  first one from an How Can You Close the School Year? is from Facing History.  It is similar to something I did earlier this year: I DID THIS SIMPLE THING TO TRY & HELP MY COLLEAGUES’ MORALE & YOU MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT WANT TO TRY IT, TOO.

NOTES OF APPRECIATTION TO CLASSMATES, TEACHERS & SCHOOL STAFF

At any time between now and the end of school, I would like to invite you to write a short note of appreciation to another student in our class (or in another class that I teach) and/or a teacher or another staffperson at our school (it does NOT have to be me and, if you choose me, I would also appreciate it if you wrote one to another teacher, too).

It doesn’t have to be long (two-to-five sentences would be enough, though you are welcome to write more), but it would be important to be specific about what you appreciated about them this year.

Please note if the student is a senior so I am sure to get your note to him/her before they check out.

If you want the person to know who wrote it, put your name on it. If you do not put your name on it, I’ll assume you want to remain anonymous.

You just have to write one to receive credit for this assignment. It doesn’t seem right to me to offer extra credit if you write more. However, as I’m sure you know, it would mean a lot for people to receive notes of appreciation, so the more you write, the better!

I will share your notes with the students and teachers once you submit them to me. If you want them to remain private – just between you and the person you appreciate – you don’t have to submit them here and just let me know that you did it.

You will have time in class to write these notes, and you are also welcome to write them on your own time.

 

I modified this second one from Catlin Tucker’s 5 End-of-the-Year Activities:

YEAR-END REFLECTION

Please think of your answers to these two questions:

1. What was the high point for you in our class this year, when you thought “This is really interesting!” or “I did a great job on this!”  Why was it your high point?

2. What was the lowest point for you in our class this year, when you thought “This is really boring” or “This assignment is really hard.” What did/could you learn about challenges from that experience?

On the Padlet that is linked to this assignment, create two sticky notes – one labeled “High” and the other “Low.”  Write your name on each one, write your response, and then draw an image representing your response.

 

Here’s how it modified it a bit for my ELL class by adding sentence starters:

Please think of your answers to these two questions:

1.What was the high point for you in our class this year, when you thought “This is really interesting!” or “I did a great job on this!” Why was it your high point?

My high point in this class was ______________ because ___________________.

2. What was the lowest point for you in our class this year, when you thought “This is really boring” or “This assignment is really hard.” What did/could you learn about challenges from that experience?

My low point in this was was ___________________. From that experience, I learned _______________.

On the Padlet that is linked to this assignment, create two sticky notes – one labeled “High” and the other “Low.” Write your name on each one, write your response, and then draw an image representing your response.

 

What are you final lessons going to look like?