Congratulations on making it to the finish line of another school year! The last few days of school can be stressful. From standardized tests to graduation ceremonies, it can feel like there’s not enough time in your school’s schedule for everything you need to get done. But if you haven’t made time for self-reflection yet, you’re missing a great opportunity. The end of the year is the ideal time to do so—for both you and your students.
Reflection is one of the most useful tools in a teacher’s wheelhouse, especially at the end of the year. It can encourage both educators and students to recognize their successes over the past year, particularly those wins that sometimes go unnoticed. Plus, if you’re looking for ways to improve as an educator, using reflection now can give you self-improvement ideas to try over summer break.
We know that it can be tough to fit another activity into a teacher’s busy schedule, but self-reflection can help with goal-setting, strengthen school atmospheres, and prevent teacher burnout. Read on to discover how to use reflection as a self-improvement strategy for teachers and students.
If you’re a teacher looking for professional development ideas, self-reflection is one of the most beneficial end-of-school-year activities you can do. The end of the year is the best time for teachers to make an improvement plan for the upcoming year. If you set goals before summer break begins, you’ll be more familiar with classroom dynamics and have a better sense of how you’d like to improve.[1]
End-of-year reflection can also help combat teacher burnout, which is a serious issue in education.[2] Evaluating what you’ve achieved this year and how you can still improve can help you keep from becoming complacent or even bored with your career.[3] New teachers in particular are most susceptible to burnout because they’re less experienced than their colleagues. Self-reflection can teach younger educators how to identify their strengths and weaknesses and prevent them from burning out.[4]
When teachers use self-reflection to learn and grow, it can transform their school’s entire climate for the better. When schools foster self-inquiry in their educators, teachers are more equipped to improve their classrooms and better meet their students’ needs.[5] Teachers sometimes think they don’t have the time for “self-centered” activities at the end of the year. But by making space for personal reflection, you can have the power to make your school the best it can be.
Self-reflection is one of the most effective methods of professional development in education because it promotes self-efficacy, or the belief that you can change or grow, as a teacher.[6] One of the most popular methods of reflection is through writing. If you have a journal or even a spare sheet of paper, you can free write about how you feel the school year went and what your plans are for self-improvement.
Here are a few examples of prompts to help you reflect on and evaluate your yearly goals:
Writing letters can be another way to process and celebrate your classroom achievements over the year. Depending on the depth of your reflection, you can write an end-of-year letter to parents or students—or, if you have the time, do both! If the end of the year is too busy or you have many students, you could also write them brief notes on index cards instead.[10]
If you want to mix self-reflection with evaluation from others, you can have a discussion with other teachers in your school.[11] Together, you could talk about what you feel like you’ve done right this year and how you’d like to improve next year. You could also ask for advice on how to tackle certain issues or what they perceive as your strengths and weaknesses. This can be especially useful for new teachers, who can gain insight from their more experienced colleagues on how to improve.
Once you’ve conducted a self-evaluation activity, take some time to plan a few goals for the next year. That way, you can put your thoughts into action and use the summer to prepare for the next year. If possible, try to write your goals out as thoroughly and specifically as possible. Research suggests that written goals are more likely to be fulfilled than goals kept in your head.[12]
Teachers aren’t the only people who can benefit from end-of-year reflection: students can, too. One way to encourage reflection and goal setting for students is journaling. Instructing a student to write out their thoughts and emotions can help them solidify what they’ve learned over the year. Plus, it can be a great way for early elementary students to practice reading and writing!
These are just a few of the prompts you can use for your students at the end of the year:
Another way to get kids thinking about what they’ve learned is by having them write an end-of-year letter to the students entering your class next year.[16] Encourage them to give advice to the incoming students and share a few of the favorite things they learned this year. Not only will this promote your students to think deeply about the past year, but you’ll be able to give your new class helpful advice next year.
Sometimes it can be hard to determine how to most effectively reach students. If you’d like older elementary students to help you with your own self-reflection, you can also hand out a teacher evaluation worksheet.[17] Through conducting a teacher evaluation by students, you can get a glimpse of what you’re doing right and where you might need to improve for next year. Keep in mind, though, to always take student evaluations with a grain of salt.
Reflection activities are a great way for teachers and students to end the school year right and plan for self-improvement over summer break. But it doesn’t have to stop there: you can use a variety of activities on the last day of school to celebrate a job well done and say goodbye to your students.
Use these five end-of-school-year activities for elementary school students to thank them for all you were able to accomplish together in class:
Sources:
Cicchinelli, L.F. The Value of Teacher Evaluation. Speaking Out, September/October 2013, pp. 52-53.[1,2]
