Teachers know this time of year is challenging. It's crazy with its own busyness closing out the year, but also includes the increased difficulty of capturing student attention as blue skies emerge and the calendar draws closer to the start of summer break.
In my current position I have the added challenge of an end date that is a week earlier than all other grades in the building - for some reason eighth graders in Catholic schools in my area graduate a week before the last day of school - and a host of eighth grade specific activities that stir excitement and decrease instructional time:
- Annual trip to the East Coast - this year we added Boston to the usual D.C. itinerary
- Community project (capstone project for eighth graders in an IB school) presentations
- Eighth grade retreat where we reflect on the year and elect the "torch bearers" (students from the current 7th grade who embody the school's mission and Catholic values who can be role models to the school) for the upcoming school year
- Graduation practices
- Graduation brunch
So how do I keep kids engaged? Well, I have to admit that what works one year might not work the next. But this year May has gotten off to a great start. First, my partner teacher and I planned a mock conclave in the wake of Pope Francis' death. Students began by brainstorming a job listing for the pope. They worked as a class to come up with a description of the Catholic church as a company and in small groups to decide on the pope's responsibilities and minimum qualifications. After researching the "front runners" in the papal election as defined by the College of Cardinals website and reporting their findings to their classmates they will vote for their top choice for the new pope before the real conclave convenes in the middle of next week.
Also, our study of Westward Expansion (defined for our purposes as the migration of different groups of people into the western portion of the United States during the 1800 and 1900s) has gone over quite well. We are looking at one event per day, taking a quick look at topics like Manifest Destiny, trails headed west, Indian removal, Texas Revolution, Mexican-American War, California Gold Rush, and slavery. Each topic includes some activity that allows students to move around the room, and generally there's a small group component as well. Today there was a Reader's Theatre script that engaged every student. Their dramatization of the Battle of Gonzalez was hilarious! And even better, they could explain to me what happened and why. Perhaps next week won't be as smooth, but perhaps it will.
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| Reader's Theatre: It's too bad I didn't take a video. |
