“The one exclusive sign of a thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.”          
– Aristotle

It’s hard to fathom that the close of the school year is almost here. For beginning teachers, this first year may have been like being swept up in a powerful tidal wave of information, methodology, and testing, often turbulent waters. For veteran teachers it’s perhaps comparable to running a marathon. Just when one thinks the last ounce of energy and motivation are exhausted and spent, we manage to summon a burst of creativity that gives us a boost to power on to the end of our course.   

Although each school year is similar in routine and procedure, they are also as unique and individual as fingerprints. In one aspect or another teachers powerfully impact the lives of each one of our students. Each classroom is an extended family and community who live, play, work and coexist together for nine months. The end of the school years closes the door on many months of establishing relationships with our students. It has been a joy for me when my former students have given me an impromptu hug in the hall or come back and visit years later. Yes, teachers keep many relationships with their students years after they move on, but it’s very different from the daily classroom contact and interaction.         

With the closing of the school year our students face another transition. Ending or beginning a school year for a child, be it a student just beginning his primary years or a high school student, would be comparable to an adult starting a new job every year. Students will be placed in a new environment, given new expectations, and surrounded by a new peer group. Children by their very nature are amazingly adaptable and resilient, but ending one school year and preparing to transition to another one remains a huge transition. For many children it’s a very emotional time of saying goodbyes to teachers, friends and preparing for the next academic step.

So how can we as educators help our students with these transitions? What kinds of activities can we do with our students to bring a positive closure to the school year? The following are some hopefully beneficial suggestions for activities:

1. Use a theme such as “See How We’ve Grown”, “Finishing The Race!”, “Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going!!”, as starting places for activities which will reinforce goals and progress students have made throughout the year.
2. Give students an opportunity to stay in touch with each other. Provide postcards for students to pre-address and give out to classmates to send to each other over the summer.
3. Making a class memory book is a good way for students to record positive events and milestones of the school year.
4. Have an “autograph” party. Students can make simple autograph books out of construction paper and plain white or notebook paper. Covers can be decorated and then laminated. It’s often very difficult for students to verbally express their feelings towards one another. An autograph book is a wonderful vehicle for expressing these feelings.
5. Provide opportunities for discussion, role-play, field trips, and guest speakers for students transitioning to a new school, or higher level of schooling such as moving from elementary to middle school, or middle school to high school.

 

By: Carolina Q. Caampued | T-III | Antonio G. Llamas Elementary School | Mariveles, Bataan