I’m writing this blog post on a Friday night and I know is says Monday in the title but I really wanted to get a big idea out in your mailboxes before your possible last week with students before the winter break.

Today, I had the awesome privilege to be formally observed in my classroom. I’m not being sarcastic because for the first time in my career it happened during a class that was not a core class or related to my social studies and ELA background. It was during my Senior Seminar class. One of my passion project classes that I helped develop with others in my building last year.

Now, for the most part, this class has been focused on developing student skills and getting seniors ready for post graduation. We spend a lot of time looking at carer cluster information, talking about application timelines, and just being around each other for a early period study hall.

Today, I wanted to focus on the idea of reflection. Really embracing the pause and taking a moment to look at what the year has given us before taking a snapshot of our plans ahead. We looked at classroom SEL data that is collected every class and is part of our building behavioral intervention plan. Students were asked to respond by thinking about what the high and low points represented. Did they feel like their data was true and reflected who they are? Are there any negative comments that had to be resolved but remain in their record?

Then students looked at their class grades and drafted emails to every teacher asking what can be done over the next 7 days to get work completed and graded. I told them that next week on the two days we had class they needed to be prepared to finish their fall portfolio update and have study materials to complete other classwork.

Finally, after all that discussion and prewriting, we looked at a worksheet that I modified from the Adobe December Challenge. The idea was for students to focus on the positive aspects of growth and success during the semester. I was honest about some of my failures and anxieties for the school year ahead. They were surprised that I was so worried about Twitter and losing contact with my teacher learning networks. But then I talked about successes I’ve had with students and working on my blog and YouTube channel. I didn’t want their reflections to be overly negative or limited to minor successes. I wanted to talk about the learning and the pivot out of a challenge. I spoke individually with most of the students and got a lot of great work.

I say all of this to get back to the idea that you may have one good week to be the positive force for change in a student’s life. Don’t waste the moment teach them how to pause, reflect, and plan for success during the holidays. It can be a great jumping off point for growth next year.