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Welcome to New Teacher Talk. Are you a new teacher?

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We're here to support you. We talk about the most common challenges that educators

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experience, and we're here to offer a community of support through our

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socials. Follow us on Instagram @NewTeacherTalk and on X @NewTeacher

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Talk1. We're the minds behind New Teacher Talk.

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I'm Dr. Anna, a board-certified early childhood generalist who mentors

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educators on their journey toward National Board C

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ertification. And I'm Dr.

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Beth. My past and current roles as an educator include being a

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high school band director, teacher educator, mentor,

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and podcaster. If you're listening to this podcast,

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either you are a new teacher or aspire to be one.

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You might be a new teacher mentor, induction coordinator,

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or education recruiter looking for resources to support

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those new to the profession. Whatever your reason for listening,

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we're just glad you're here. Since most of us have about a month left before summer

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break begins, we wanted to use this episode to share a variety of ideas

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to help you finish the school year strong.

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We have 10 ideas for you. How many more can you come up with?

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The first idea I'd like to share is, at this time of year,

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we are all tired. However, we all need to stay engaged,

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as well as keep our students involved and motivated in the

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classroom. That's not always easy.

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One idea is to talk with other teachers in your building or

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at your grade level to learn how they are staying motivated

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and to keep their students focused.

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That will lead to some pretty good advice that any new

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early career teacher could use. That's a great idea, Beth.

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Talking to our colleagues often even just gets us to

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realize that the ideas we had were good ones and that they

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affirm our thinking. I really like the idea of collaboration with other

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teachers. And like you,

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we can see the value in that exchange of ideas.

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A second idea I'd like to share is really curriculum-based.

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Deciding how we want to finish or academically close the

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school year is super important. So my recommendation is to encourage everyone to take a

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look at the curriculum and be extremely purposeful in the

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planning that we have left to do with our students.

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In these final weeks, we want to start bringing closure to what we're covering.

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How can we help our students transition to the next grade

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level? Or like in my case, I was a high school teacher.

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So my students, the seniors were graduating,

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and some were going into the workforce,

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and some were going on to college. How can I help them make that transition and think of it

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from a curricular standpoint? Need to close down the year?

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What does that look like? How are we going to get there?

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My third idea I'd like to share is related to placed-based

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curriculum. One thing that students often find helpful,

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especially at the latter part of the year when they're

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trying to find ways to stay interested in what they're

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doing and what we're doing, is to look at what school or community projects we might

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work on in those final weeks.

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How might you coordinate with another teacher at your grade

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level or content area or in another building?

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Maybe we're doing a community garden where people in the

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community can come and get fresh produce. Maybe that's something that you want to coordinate with the

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science teachers, could be a way to get the students involved.

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And then over the summer, it might be a project that they could continue doing.

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So think about school and community projects.

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It can be quite empowering. Place-based education is so important because it draws us

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to our roots in the community,

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and it lets us have that sense of belonging that all people

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need, especially today.

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I agree, Anna. Oftentimes our students have shared with us that they

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got the greatest enjoyment or they get great opportunities

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by doing projects and things that allow them to help,

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whether it's through a school initiative or a community

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project, because that is something that can increase engagement and

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show purpose for why we're doing what we're doing.

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It does. It really grounds us in our space and our place and gives

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us a deeper appreciation for our communities.

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I completely agree. The fourth idea that I have for us is to build an

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electronic memory book. This idea can serve all age groups and can be as simple or

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as complex as you choose. You can use PowerPoint or Google Slides.

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You might have each of your students contribute a slide

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with their favorite memories of the year.

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And since you've already got this idea of the slideshow

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going, you've taken many,

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many pictures over the course of the year.

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So, you can chronicle that sense of year by adding your photographs

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throughout the presentation. Then, you can share the link with students,

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and they can keep it for as long as they choose to.

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It also is a great way to share with your families all of

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the good things that you've done over the course of the

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year. You can also use this idea with older students as a review

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of the year's or the course's content through slides on

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particular concepts. They could use slides or they could create a e-zine or an e

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-book through free templates.

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I'm going to offer you the link to one at Visme,

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and this link will be in the show notes. And the books could come in handy for high schoolers as

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they study for SATs or ACTs in the future.

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I know this would have helped me in my math studies.

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Oh, that's great. The electronic memory book is a good one that can be used

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at, as you mentioned, any level. It could be high school, middle level, or elementary,

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upper, or lower elementary. It's a great way to do that.

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Plus, everybody has devices now. They can capture this information on their phones.

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They don't have to actually be at a computer, or they can seek that information through, like, say,

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a tablet or an iPad. And, you can even hear people's voices.

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So it makes it such a rich way to capture all the memories

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of a school year or a course time.

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Our fifth idea is to let your students become the teachers.

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As an assignment, students use their own interests to plan a lesson that can

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be taught to the rest of the class. Have them develop a lesson with an achievable objective

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that uses some of the same engaging instructional methods

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you've modeled during the school year. You could set aside a bit of time every day,

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or you could devote a day to the student-led lessons.

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And the lessons could be taught in whole group or small

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group setting, again, based on the interests of the other students in the

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classrooms. These type of lessons, letting them become the teacher,

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is a great way to build in that social element while also

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empowering them to take ownership of their learning.

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The next idea I have for you is to revisit icebreakers.

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I know that at the end of the year, sometimes you're planning for a 40-minute block of time,

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and then 20 minutes before that's supposed to take place,

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somebody says, "Oh, by the way,

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we have an assembly that's going to start loading people

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into the gym at halfway through your class."

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So it's really, how do I use those bits of time that I have to fill?

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And so, when we think about how our students have grown and changed

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over the course of the year, sometimes they're almost new people than what we saw at the

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beginning of the year. So let them get to know one another with fresh eyes.

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And in the show notes, again, we'll provide some links for icebreakers for a variety of

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ages. It's just that way to bring the year to a close in a really

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humane sort of way. You know, Anne, until you mentioned it,

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I had never thought about revisiting icebreakers.

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I know the end of the year is just fraught with things

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coming into our school day that really moves away from a

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traditional class schedule. So that's a great idea.

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I really also like the fact that you've already now

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mentioned two ideas that will have links in the show notes.

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Very helpful. A seventh idea I want to build on this is something that

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was really kind of time sensitive for me as a high school

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band director. There's always things to be put away or filed.

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And I know this is true in every classroom, whether you're a first grade teacher or an eighth grade

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math teacher or a high school teacher in a traditional

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content area. We have to start thinking about triaging the materials in

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our classroom. For instance,

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I always think about what items do I need to pack away?

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In other words, they need to be put away in a place.

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So during the summer, when they're working in our classrooms,

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things aren't disturbed. I also, in triaging materials, like all teachers,

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have to think about giving to another teacher stuff that

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you're not going to use anymore or getting from another

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teacher. I'm immediately thinking of people that are retiring and

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think about those in your building or in your district that

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you know this is their final year. They're going to probably be emptying out their classroom,

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giving away a lot of things. And as early career teachers,

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we don't have a lot of materials. So check with people who are retiring to see if they would

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be willing to pass along some of those materials to you,

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that will be less they have to pack and move out of their

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own classrooms. And you end up being the winner.

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Another big issue, too, that impacted me is that I always had to double check with

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my building principal or assistant principal as to the last

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day I could be in my classroom and when I needed to turn in

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my keys for the summer because those were always collected.

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Again, there's sort of a checklist of things to do as these final

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weeks are coming to a close, and we can start our summer breaks or maybe even summer

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school. And, you know, you talk about putting things away.

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One of the other things that I think is important as a

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teacher is to really think, am I going to need this again?

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Am I going to use it again? And if you are really certain that you're not going to use

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it again, let go of things because often we just keep getting more

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and more and more and more, which makes it really hard for you to, well, hard for me,

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to really go back and decide,

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what is it that I really want to keep?

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If there are things that are broken, get rid of them.

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If there are things that you just don't want anymore,

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share them with somebody else. Yes,

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and it's easy to accumulate a lot of stuff in a short amount

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of time. So your thinking is so spot on Anna.

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And one of the other things that we want to be able to do

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in these last weeks is to experiment.

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Evaluations are in the books, standardized tests are over.

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So it's time to try out some of those new ideas that you've

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heard about, but we're afraid of trying because they weren't necessarily

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something in your setting that everybody else does and you

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were a little bit worried. Is this going to be something that I should be doing?

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So now is the time. Nobody is going to be judging you.

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Try these new things out. It might be a new technology integration that you're not

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yet confident with. So bring the students in on the idea.

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I want to try this out. Can you help me?

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Let me know what's working, what's not working.

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Work with your students, get their feedback.

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Because often if they know that you're trying something new

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that you're really wanting to benefit them with,

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they're really willing to share how they perceive that

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trial. Yes, experimentation at this time of year is just so timely.

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It is, and it keeps us fresh and it keeps us thinking to the

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future. Well, this didn't go so well now,

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so maybe it's something that I'm going to add to my

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professional learning list that I really want to try and

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learn more about it. Which brings me to our next point.

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If you're planning to teach summer school,

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begin to think about what's ahead this summer and make that

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to-do list. Again, as you're putting things away,

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what might be resources that maybe you need to keep out,

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put in a box that, you know,

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these might be things that I want to use during that time.

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And also, if you're a regular listener,

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mark your calendar for Monday, June 3rd.

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When our episode that's dedicated to teaching summer school

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drops, we'll have lots of ideas about summer school for you then.

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That's great. And it will be here before you know it.

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So, yes, definitely make a note on that Monday, June 3,

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we are going to be doing an episode on teaching summer

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school. It will drop on that morning. And our tenth and final idea for you to consider is to take

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15 minutes to write a reflection note about what you want

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to accomplish during the next school year.

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When I first started teaching, I was very fortunate to work for a state recognized

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principal. And he had won many awards,

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and he was very talented and gifted at mentoring early

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career teachers. And this was a strategy that he asked every teacher,

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not just the early career teachers, but even the veteran teachers to do.

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So, he would give us an index card.

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And he asked us to write down what we wanted to accomplish

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during the next school year. He even said if you want to do like a 123 list,

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or if you just want one big idea, he said he would let us make that decision.

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We wrote our notes, and he passed out an envelope.

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He asked us to seal the information,

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and then he asked us to place it in location where it would

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go undisturbed throughout the summer.

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And then we were to open on August the first or the first

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week of August, depending on our personal schedules.

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And I have to tell you, that exercise stuck with me for years and years and years,

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because at the end of the year, your mind, although tired,

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and you've been through a lot in the school year,

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we tend to write down really deep, thoughtful,

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reflective ideas for the new academic school year.

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Over the summer, we kind of lose that edge. You know, we're doing other things,

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we might be teaching summer school, we might be taking some graduate level classes,

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we might be working another job, just for extra income.

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Here we strike while the iron is hot.

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We write down the ideas. And I love the fact that it was sealed,

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and we did not open it up until months later.

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And it was so eye opening every year when I opened up my

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envelope. And I know my other peers,

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my colleagues I worked with felt the same way.

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So I share that idea for us to consider.

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And maybe if there's something you want to do, great. If not, that's okay too.

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Before we close our episode today, remember that every Tuesday,

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we share a helpful resource that you can download through

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our Instagram page. Look for the Tuesday Teacher Resource @NewTeacherTalk.

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Also, check out our Thursday Thought to keep you motivated via

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our Instagram and X @NewTeacherTalk1. Follow us on these socials. Please know that we appreciate your listening to today's

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podcast, and we hope you'll become a regular follower of this

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channel. Be sure to hit the follow button in the upper right-hand

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corner, and when you do that,

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you'll receive a notification when each new episode drops.

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Don't forget to check out the show notes with those helpful

17:33

links to resources that we've talked about in today's

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episode. And always remember, as a new teacher,