Experimenting at the End of the School Year

As students count down to summer, I jokingly tell them we are getting closer to the start of a brand-new school year. They cringe when I say this, which makes me laugh, but it is true. Although many teachers believe that the last month of school is a countdown to summer, and thus a time to wrap up and review, I have found the opposite to be true. I think the end of the school year brings great possibilities.

The final weeks of the school year are the perfect time to experiment with different strategies, try new tools, and design more student-centered, student-led learning experiences. Throughout the school year, educators may hesitate to take risks like this because of requirements to cover content, meet benchmarks, and keep up with pacing guidelines. However, the end of the year is a great time to experiment a bit. It boosts student engagement and motivation, and gives educators an opportunity to expand instructional practice and reflect on how these experiences could be implemented in the upcoming year.

Creating a classroom that values risk

The willingness to experiment doesn’t just emerge overnight, but is built all year long. By the end of the year, we have a good classroom culture in place, and we can take some risks. We have established our classroom community and daily routines. Students have become more independent, and I have become more flexible with my instruction. Having this solid foundation in place means that the risk is lower and the benefits are greater.

Deciding where to begin can be a challenge, so I usually consider the potential impact. Will a lesson increase student understanding? Will it address any of the challenges, like decreased engagement and motivation, or loss of content retention? Am I also learning from the experience? When my answer to these questions is yes, I decide where to begin and focus on a few different types of activities, especially ones that boost student engagement. For instance, I have student create reviews for each other.

Ideas for experimentation

Scavenger hunts. When the review transforms into movement-based learning through a scavenger hunt, which can be digital and physical, it is a great way to help students review vocabulary and grammar concepts from my course and build essential skills while staying active and collaborative.

In my Spanish classes, I’ve used school spaces for designing my scavenger hunts. I consider the themes we have covered and create tasks that are specific to areas in the school. Students engage in the scavenger hunt by navigating through the hallways, outdoor areas, the main office, other classrooms, the cafeteria, and even the playground to complete tasks that help them connect the vocabulary to real-world contexts. Students have created skits, recorded short videos, and interacted with language in authentic contexts and were way more engaged in learning.

Cross-curricular or multilevel language collaboration. I have enjoyed testing cross-curricular and multilevel collaborations with my students. Here are two examples: Connecting a language class or another course to my STEAM class. Engaging students in project-based learning where they focus on a global challenge faced in a Spanish-speaking country and consider the technologies available to present a solution.

Other times, I have assigned a project of teams comprised of one student in Spanish levels I through IV. Students had to work together to plan for a potential career change and relocation, with each level tasked with using their relevant vocabulary to contribute to the presentation and advertisements made. Students created a collaborative communication space on the classroom board and used Google Slides and Padlet to communicate. For teachers, cross-curricular collaboration is a great way to gather new instructional ideas and have time to work with and learn from colleagues.

Exploring new digital tools. End-of-year experimentation is also a great time to explore new digital tools, especially in the age of AI and other emerging technologies. When I explore new platforms late in the school year, I look specifically for options that increase creativity, spark curiosity, promote collaboration, and, most important, help students demonstrate understanding in different ways. I’m excited about Delightex Edu’s Spring Challenge for all students. I am excited about this year because the goal is to “review key concepts from the curriculum while letting students demonstrate their understanding in a meaningful way.” This is exactly what I strive to do.

Additional ideas include having students build digital portfolios, create interactive lessons for classmates, make short instructional videos or a podcast, collaborate on shared projects, or even write books for review and to build essential technology skills. These types of learning opportunities strengthen content understanding and digital communication skills, which is what we want for our students.

Once we complete these activities, it helps me decide which tools and strategies are worth integrating more intentionally the following year. I also make sure to gather student feedback so I can understand the true impact on learning.

Student-led projects. If you have not yet explored project-based learning or genius hour, or student-directed inquiry, take the end of the school year to give one of them a try. When students have more choices, they become more motivated and see relevance. I have used genius hour as a way to boost engagement, foster curiosity, and give students a chance to explore something of interest to them. For instance, in my STEAM class, students have gathered random objects to use to present a solution to a problem they identified.

Benefits of Experimentation

As I reflect each year, I realize that when classrooms transition from traditional review to exploration, students respond in different ways. They become more engaged in learning, develop collaborative skills, learn how to reflect, embrace risk-taking, and become more confident in learning. They see that their ideas and their voice matter.

For teachers, it is an opportunity to test new ideas, explore emerging trends and technologies, and gather student feedback to refine instructional methods for the new year. I know the year is ending and we are “finished,” but I am excited about the upcoming school year because I feel better informed and prepared.

Additionally, engagement rises at a time when motivation typically drops. Students and educators feel the shift in the school calendar. The energy changes. Attention changes. So, trying something new can help to maintain curiosity and keep the momentum going.

This kind of engagement also leads to better content retention. An end-of-year review doesn’t have to mean worksheets or repetition. When students have different ways to interact with the content, whether through movement, collaboration, or technology, they get the repetition that leads to retention, but in a more authentic and engaging way.

The biggest advantage is that this kind of experimentation provides teachers with insights for next year. End-of-year experimentation has led me to consider whether a strategy I tried might have worked better earlier in the year, could have enhanced the learning experience, or would have led to greater understanding. When I reflect on these, it leads me to add more tools to my tool kit that I can use in the upcoming year.