Previous Issues

WINTER 2025

Engaging Classroom Visitors

FALL 2024

Real-World Resourcing

SUMMER 2024

Back-to-School Edition

SPRING 2024

Year-End Celebration Issue

Issue 7 I Spring 2025

Your End-of-Year “Kick”: A Distance-Running Strategy for Teachers

Distance runners use a strategy called a “kick” at the end of a race to finish strong. A similar mindset can help educators end the school year mindful of accomplishments and excited for a new year to come.

What is a “kick” strategy?

A kick is a runner’s term for increasing speed in the final stretch of a race or simply resisting the urge to slow down. Kicks are visible in long-distance races at all levels of competition—youth cross country meets, city marathons, and Olympic events alike.

What if we approached the end of a school year in a similar way? Is there value in picking up speed in the final term?

Runners say the kick has psychological value. It feels good to cross the finish line at top speed or a steady consistent pace . . . it boosts self-esteem, leaves a positive impression, and provides momentum for the next race. What if a teacher’s kick could achieve the same?

Find what motivates you

A kick is personal. It’s about identifying what motivates you to keep going, what brings you joy and a sense of accomplishment—and then doing it and celebrating your effort.

What one thing could you accomplish by year’s end that would bring you that sense of accomplishment? Maybe there’s a skill or learning trait you’ve taught repeatedly all year that you want to see students confidently and consistently exhibit in the final weeks of the year. Not every skill you taught during the year, but the one that came up over and over again . . . the one that you might use to complete the sentence, If students walk out of my classroom having learned just one thing this year, I hope it is ___________.

Once you’ve identified what is most important to accomplish in your sprint to the end, you can plan lessons, in-class activities, and assignments accordingly.

Ideas for your sprint at the end of the school year

Maintain Your Pace

Remembering that a kick can simply mean resisting the urge to slow down, you might commit to maximizing instructional time in the final weeks of the year. Maintain a consistent assignment load. Don’t relax your expectations.

Try Something New

It might sound counterintuitive at first, but why not try something new at the end of the year to reinvigorate students?

For example, if you usually provide “Morning Work” for students to complete when they arrive each day, try “Morning Choice” instead, inviting students to choose from a few options of activities or stations.

You can mix up class routines in countless ways. Here are some other ideas to consider:

• Bring in guest readers for read-alouds.
• Create opportunities for small-group activities in place of some independent work.
• Replace reading logs with book recommendations that can be shared with other students.

You might even embrace your kick as an opportunity to pilot changes you’ve considered making for next year. Do you really need to wait?

Expand Something Big

Another way to approach your school-year kick is to think about the big ideas of the year—what skills did the class work on most—and consider how you might help students apply the skill(s) in a different context.

Broaden the Community

For example, a teacher who has prioritized building a strong classroom community might focus on activities or projects that help students imagine how a community or network grows over time. This teacher might say, “This year you were my fifth-grade class, but next year I’ll have new students. You’ll have a special bond with them because you will all be kids who had me as a fifth-grade teacher . . . What tips or words of advice would you offer them?”

Design-Your-Own Unit

Likewise, a teacher who has focused on writing, teaching students how to study mentor texts to craft their own original work in a wide variety of genres, might end the year with a choose-your-own-genre unit, inviting students to find their own mentor texts to add to what they’ve learned throughout the year.

Build a Portfolio

A portfolio project is another option for teachers who want to encourage reflection on growth. Helping students identify units or activities that they excelled in, struggled with, enjoyed, or perhaps even want to revise can help them recognize their progress and make connections across content areas. Equally exciting, when students make decisions about what to include or exclude in the portfolio and how to display examples . . . and then personally curate those portfolios, they’re engaging in complex processes of composition!

Share Your Stories

We’d love to hear about your end-of-year sprints! Whether you have long-standing traditions or are inspired to try something new, tell us about it. Your ideas can inspire other like-minded teachers in a future issue of The Hive!