As the end of the school year approaches, high school chemistry teachers may find it challenging to keep their students motivated and engaged in the classroom. With the final exam looming and summer vacation on the horizon, students may be feeling restless and distracted. However, maintaining motivation and focus is crucial for ensuring that students succeed on their final exam and finish the school year strong. Here are some effective strategies to help chemistry teachers keep their students motivated and on task during the final stretch of the school year.
Set Clear Goals
Remind students of the importance of their final exam and the goals they have been working towards all year. Help them understand how their performance on the exam will impact their overall grade and future academic opportunities. For some students, this will be the “hail Mary” that can save them from a failing grade, or keep them from dropping a letter grade. Setting clear goals can give students a sense of purpose and motivation to stay focused and engaged. Knowing that you support their goals will make a world of difference!
Break Tasks into Manageable Chunks
The end of the school year can feel overwhelming for students as they juggle final exams, projects, and other responsibilities. Help alleviate their stress by breaking down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. Provide students with a clear timeline and checklist to help them stay organized and on track. I like to give my students some guidelines on making to-do lists and putting their study time on a calendar. For some of the lesser organized students, this helps a lot. Many students are never explicitly taught time management. This can be the good time to help them with that!
Review and Reinforce Concepts
Use review sessions to reinforce key concepts and skills that will be covered on the final exam. After filling in the test score tracker, you and your students can really hone in on what units or topics need to be covered. Incorporate a variety of review activities such as practice problems, group work, and interactive quizzes like Blooket to keep students engaged and actively learning. Reinforcing concepts in different ways can help solidify students’ understanding and retention of material.
Plus, you can redo some of the older activities from your school year. Sometimes doing the EXACT same thing a second time is enough to get students to understand it this time around. I like to pull out my card sorts and task cards, redo escape rooms (if its been long enough for them to forget answers) or pull out pixel art activities again.
Make Learning Relevant
Connect classroom learning to real-world applications to show students the practical relevance of chemistry. Share examples of how chemistry is used in various industries, such as healthcare, environmental science, and technology. Making learning relevant can increase students’ interest and motivation to learn.
I really like this in the organic and nuclear units especially since those are the last few I teach in the school year. As must as many of us would like to rush through these units to get to review a bit quicker, if you slow down, it’ll be to your benefit. These units won’t need to be reviewed if they’re done well!
Offer Incentives
Provide incentives to motivate students to stay focused and put forth their best effort during the final stretch of the school year. Consider offering rewards such as extra credit points, class parties/events, or recognition for outstanding performance on the final exam. I’m not above bribery for attempting to keep my students motivated at the end of the school year.
My last day of school is usually a movie day. Typically the class with the best average score on the final exam gets to pick the movie! Even though they pick something good, it’s a great incentive! Plus I will bring in cookies or something easy from the bakery section. The best performing class will get to pick the option, and will get something a little extra!
Encourage Collaboration
Foster a collaborative learning environment where students can support and learn from one another. Encourage peer tutoring, group study sessions, and collaborative projects to promote teamwork and engagement. Collaboration can help students feel connected and motivated to succeed together as a group.
At the end of the year, I’m feeling gassed out too! (As I’m sure you are!) Try a group quiz. Students can work together to get a quiz done. Usually I have them work silently, which gives me a nice break from the noise, but the students think they’re getting a huge reward by being able to complete a test with a second brain! I’ll be honest, it does not hugely affect scores. Give it a try! If you’re nervous, test it on a small assessment that won’t REALLY affect overall scores in your gradebook. It’s a simple, no prep way to keep your students motivated at the crazy end of the year.
Incorporate Hands-On Activities
Keep students engaged and excited about learning by incorporating hands-on activities and experiments into your lessons. Hands-on learning experiences allow students to actively participate in their learning and apply theoretical concepts in a practical setting. Consider using my chemistry lab book to access a wide range of engaging and educational experiments that align with your curriculum.
The lab book offers a comprehensive collection of laboratory experiments designed specifically for high school chemistry classrooms (even if you don’t have a lab room). Labs are such an easy way to keep your students motivated and actively engaged in their learning, ultimately leading to greater success on their final exam and beyond. There’s tons of fun labs in there that can add some thrill to the end of the year.
Some of my end of the year favorites are the Red Cabbage Juice Indicator, Slime, Ice Cream and Half Life of a Skittle. The lab books contains these four and 37 other labs that will last you the whole year!
Provide Support
Offer support and encouragement to students who may be feeling overwhelmed or discouraged as the end of the school year approaches. Let them know that you are there to help them succeed and provide additional assistance as needed.
If you haven’t been using my Youtube channel as a study resource, now is a great time to start. I’ve taught every lesson in my chemistry curriculum. No need for you to reinvent the wheel! Just refer students to these videos and others to help them prepare for the final exam!
You can do it!
By implementing these strategies and utilizing resources like a full year chemistry lab book, high school chemistry teachers can effectively keep students motivated and on task towards success at the tail end of the school year. With dedication, support, and engaging learning experiences, students can finish the year strong and achieve their academic goals.
