End of the Year...

As we all know, the last few days of school can be difficult as students and teachers alike are getting impatient for summer days! I am working hard this year to be sure each of these last days is used to its fullest intstructional potential by working with my co-teachers to plan final projects and by reminding my students to "finish well". Even with these things in mind, students are already checking out for the year! It is an age-old question that will forever haunt educators as long as we have a summer, but I am wondering...

What are some strategies you use to make your year-end meaningful for your students? What are some activities or other strategies you use to keep students focused and to keep your sanity? :-)

(Not that I'm counting, but there are only 6 school days after today...)

Top Five Learnings from the PLC Book Learning By Doing by the DuFours...
(In no particular order)

5. PLC refers to a way of thinking, a way of life, for an entire school, not just teams of teachers.

4. Teams within a PLC school must be backed by administration who must be on the same page as the district.

3. In order to be effective, PLCs need to dive into data to find patterns and answer the questions of "now what" in their curriculum.

2. In order to dive into data, PLC teams need to create and administer common assessments.

1. Above all the initiatives a school can engage in, the quality educator in a classroom is consistently the most effective resource in student achievement.