3 Creative Ways to Keep Students Engaged and Learning as the Year Ends

Keeping students engaged and focused during the last weeks of school can feel like an impossible task. But what if you could turn this tricky time into a fun, engaging learning experience—without burning yourself out?

In episode 125 of Growing with Proficiency The Podcast, I’m sharing 3 powerful strategies that will keep your students active, learning, and excited to participate—all while giving you space to breathe and teach with intention. I’m highlighting these student engagement strategies here, but to hear all of the details, listen above or here for the full episode.  

Stations for Student Engagement

When we do stations, what we want to do is set up stations with different tasks. But, identifying what tasks we’re going to do is very important. So, this is how I do it. When I try to design tasks, there are going to be tasks that my students can complete at any level. Even my students who are struggling in the class or who are very proficient in the class can complete them. I want to have a task where my students show me what they can do and what they can understand.

You also want to mix up the type of tasks, so I have tasks that require one of my students writing something, one reading something, and then the next one is going to be drawing. It’s important to mix task types to keep students engaged and provide brain breaks. I have free templates for stations that you can get here to download. 

It’s also important to use a timer and assign a student leader to keep things moving smoothly. Each group will have 10 minutes per task. I also have a simple accountability task. I like to put an envelope on each station, where students can drop their evidence that they completed during the task in that station. 

In episode 125, I share an example of a station task where students read a familiar text and draw what they understand, emphasizing simplicity and accountability. Listen here. Don’t forget to get your free station templates here. In episode 32, I also give you about 15 station examples. Listen to that episode here. 

Rotation for Recap and Review

I have to do a semester exam for my district. So, I created a strategy for recap and review by rotating through different topics discussed in class. My students and I co-create this. I divide students into groups and assigned each group a topic to recall and celebrate what they have learned.

I divide them into 6 groups. Each group receives different colored markers and a large piece of paper. They each contribute to this page. The goal is to record and recap. They really liked this. It was really a celebration. Usually, it’s about 15-20 minutes long. Then, they rotate.

They rotate groups, read what the previous groups wrote and add to it. This continues the recall. They are really engaged. Finally, they select one topic and do a free write about the topic. This helps me create the semester exam. 

Adapting the Recap and Review Strategy for Novice Levels

For novice levels, I print out the readings that we’ve done for each topic, focusing on rereading and illustrating main readings from the year. Students create one-page illustrations of their topics, and groups read and add to each other’s work. I make the task easy and celebratory for novice students who may struggle with production. This activity helps students feel proud of their progress and understand how much they have learned.

Recording Listening and Reading Activities

The third activity relates to assessments. I recorded a podcast episode with AnneMarie Chase. You can listen here. So, for assessments, she said that for the listening part, she records herself on audio for her students to listen. I thought this was great.

Basically, the strategy is recording listening and reading activities to reduce teacher presence and student distraction. I record audios and videos with screen sharing to create engaging and self-paced activities. Students can listen at their own pace and answer questions, making the activity interactive and self-graded. There are benefits of this strategy for both students and teachers, allowing for more independent learning and reduced teacher fatigue.