Here in Australia we have just started our final term of school for the year. This means that we have about 10 weeks until our summer break commences. It is a fun term for us, filled with lots of exciting activities for our students to conclude their year of learning.
It is however, a term that can often be stressful and busy. I have teamed up with some online Australian blogging friends to bring you some tried and tested teacher tips that you can implement now, or begin to plan for to make this terms easy to manage.
These tips are simple and relatively easy to implement - keeping things simple and practical is one effective strategy for easing classroom craziness.
My tip will help you get ready to send all your student work home. Student work requires checking and marking to let parents know that you have monitored student progress. Depending on the requirements of your particular school, the level and style of marking may vary. I like to make sure there is a mark on each page to indicate that it has been sighted by a teacher. Best case scenario, I like to make a comment on the page and reward my students with stickers and stamps. If I am pressed for time, a small initial or tick (check) in the corner will suffice. Depending on the subject area, I also correct any mistakes and model appropriate spelling and grammar.
By term 4 there is often a back log of marking and checking to complete. There could be piles of paper and assessments that have accumulated without marking. Student books need to be looked through to ensure they are sent home completely marked.
To make this easier (and to avoid the Week 10 midnight marking sessions) I suggest you create a weekly marking focus. Start now.
Create a little list in your Day Planner, of all the books and folders you need to flip through (and/or mark) between now and Week 10. Now, assign each a week number.
Start with the ones that you are least looking forward to marking - the most detailed and time consuming. As the term progresses, you are only going to get busier. You will appreciate something easy to mark in Week 7 - trust me!
For the most part, your marking will be done. This is a checking process and a method for finding those random pages that have been missed.
As you check each off your list, you will feel more accomplished and ready to tackle the other challenges of a busy term. If practical, send your student work home as soon as it is not needed in the classroom.