What Worked This Year? A 15-Minute Teacher Reflection Routine

Before summer break begins, take 15 minutes to reflect. Keep what worked, change what needs improvement, and drop what no longer serves you or your students.

I don’t know about you, but by the last day of school, I am ready to close the door and not think about teaching again until mid-July or August if you can.

And honestly, we've earned that.

But before summer completely takes over, I spend 15 minutes capturing what the year taught me.

Because the best ideas are easy to forget. I know because I’ve forgotten things I wish now I knew.

To avoid this, I periodically make quick notes in my ideas notebook.

At the end of the school year, I make three simple lists and revisit them later in August. I hope they help you. Here they are.

Keep

What lessons, routines, activities, or strategies worked so well that you'd use them again tomorrow?

Change

What kind of worked but needs improvement? Maybe better timing, clearer directions, or less complexity can make it work much better?

Drop

What caused more headaches than learning? Even if you spend a good deal of planning time on it, not everything deserves to survive another school year.

Think About Students

1. Which activities generated the most discussion?

2. When were students genuinely engaged?

3. What moments brought the most joy?

Those moments make all the difference.

Keep It Simple

1. No massive spreadsheets or 40-page reflection binders.

2. One page of notes makes it likely you’ll actually revisit it.

Future you will thank you.

Last Thing

Teaching gets better one year at a time.

It’s not because we reinvent everything, but because we remember what mattered, what confused, and what simply sucked.

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You’ve captured the lessons—now close the notebook and enjoy your well-earned break.

QUICK NOTE: My new book Spark. Wire. Fire.: 100 Ready-to-Use Classroom Activities That Inspire Curiosity, Strengthen Memory, and Apply Learning can help you turn those reflections into a stronger, more engaging school year.

The paperback is coming July 15th.

The kindle version in now out and available for free for the first 48 hours. If you’re curious, I’d love for you to check it out and grab your copy on Amazon. The promotion expires at midnight on Thursday, July 2nd.

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BOOKS & TOOLS

EQUITY Poster

$1.50

Equity-Promoting Classroom Poster. What does EQUITY in the classroom look like?

• Everyone has a different start and finish line

• Quality is more important that quantity

• Understanding that diversity makes us stronger

• Inclusion despite beliefs, appearances, and circumstances

• Thoughtfulness lowers barriers and reduces biases

• Yesterday's mistakes are today's learning agenda

You can teach your students about equity and make it a daily classroom practice using this inspirational poster, which also includes images that accompany the equity description. You can discuss each letter characteristic with your students as a way of introducing your inclusive classroom and display it prominently as a reminder that diversity makes the classroom community stronger.

Add to cart

Mistakes Are... Poster

$3.00

In this classroom Mistakes are Expected, Respected, Inspected, Corrected!

Learned helplessness is a result of years of conditioning that mistakes are bad for learning. Nothing is further from the truth - some of the most powerful life lessons come from making mistakes, reflecting on them, and growing as a result.

This is a PNG Poster you can print and display in your classroom to encourage a culture of risk-taking and learning from mistakes.

Add to cart

Sale

Smart Practice Digital Poster

Sale Price: $2.00 Original Price: $3.00

Retrieval Practice, Spaced Practice, and Mixed Practice (Interleaving).

Studying Hard is not the same as Studying Smart. This High Quality printable, digital (PNG) poster is a constant classroom reminder of best practices for teachers and learning the smart way for students.

Add to cart

Crush School Rhymes (School Success)

$7.00

Classroom Wall Collage designed to promote effective, research-based, active learning strategies. Consists of 6 categories:

Learn Actively (Active Learning Strategies to avoid passive learning)

Mistakes Are What It Takes to Learn (Promoting a classroom culture of making and learning from mistakes and why such learning is effective)

Don’t Junk It, Chunk It (How to use the brain chunking technique)

Make Practice Smart (How to use smart and intentional study strategies instead of regurgitating and cramming information)

Visualize to Internalize (Dual Coding Strategy)

Teach It To Others (How to use what you learn to teach others to in turn learn it on a deeper level)

Each category includes 2 or 3 more specific descriptions of how it should be used. And, it rhymes for extra swag and student retention!

A total of 21 posters. Upon payment, you will be directed to a Google Drive link, which gives you 24 hours to copy the folder containing all 21 images to your Google Drive to use for educational purposes only.

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The 5 Questions Every Teacher Should Ask Before Summer Break

Before closing the classroom door for summer, take a few minutes to reflect on what worked, what didn't, and what you want more of next year. Small reflections today can lead to better teaching tomorrow.

Before you shut off the lights, stack the chairs, and head into summer, take a few minutes just for yourself.

No grading. No planning. Just reflection.

No formal evaluations or 3-page journal entries. Sometimes the best professional development starts with a few simple questions.

1. What worked really well this year?

Think lessons, routines, activities, and relationships. What consistently brought energy and engagement to your classroom?

Don’t just keep it. Do more of it.

2. What didn't work?

Not every idea deserves a second chance. Which lessons, assignments, or habits caused more stress than learning?

Some need to die and if the change is to last it’s important you’re the killer. Think of it as the mercy, put-it-out-of-its-misery killing.

3. What did students respond to?

Were they most engaged during discussions? Retrieval activities? Labs? Games? Group work?

Enthusiasm leaves clues. Use them wisely.

4. What one thing would make next year easier?

Not six or seven things.

One. Maybe two, but one is easier and more memorable.

And, small changes compound over time.

5. What do I want more of next year?

More curiosity? More discussion? More movement? More active learning?

Your answer points toward your priorities and makes teaching easier too.

Last Thing

Summer isn't just for rest. It's also a chance to reset.

And sometimes the best reset starts with a few simple questions and a mindful reflection.

---

Thanks for reading!

Now go rest and relax.

And when your mind goes back to thinking about ways to make your next year more engaging and less exhausting, keep an eye out for my new book:

Spark. Wire. Fire.: 100 Ready-to-Use Classroom Activities That Inspire Curiosity, Strengthen Memory, and Apply Learning.

Available August 1.

I hope it helps you teach smarter, not harder.

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BOOKS & TOOLS

3 Memory Palace Lessons

$3.00

Flashcards are okay but there's a better way. The Memory (or Mind) Palace Method is a powerful learning and memorization technique that when mastered allows a student to remember 10, 20, or even 30 vocabulary words or concepts (definitions included) with ease.

And, they actually remember what they learned using memory palaces! This series of lessons (which can be used as classroom handouts) walks students through creating their first memory palace, filling it with information they need to learn, and using it to train their memories. It also contains short readings, a video lesson, memory palace examples, and practice drills.

Fair Use

Feel free to use with your students. Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart

Mistakes Are... Poster

$3.00

In this classroom Mistakes are Expected, Respected, Inspected, Corrected!

Learned helplessness is a result of years of conditioning that mistakes are bad for learning. Nothing is further from the truth - some of the most powerful life lessons come from making mistakes, reflecting on them, and growing as a result.

This is a PNG Poster you can print and display in your classroom to encourage a culture of risk-taking and learning from mistakes.

Add to cart

Sale

Smart Practice Digital Poster

Sale Price: $2.00 Original Price: $3.00

Retrieval Practice, Spaced Practice, and Mixed Practice (Interleaving).

Studying Hard is not the same as Studying Smart. This High Quality printable, digital (PNG) poster is a constant classroom reminder of best practices for teachers and learning the smart way for students.

Add to cart

Crush School Rhymes (School Success)

$7.00

Classroom Wall Collage designed to promote effective, research-based, active learning strategies. Consists of 6 categories:

Learn Actively (Active Learning Strategies to avoid passive learning)

Mistakes Are What It Takes to Learn (Promoting a classroom culture of making and learning from mistakes and why such learning is effective)

Don’t Junk It, Chunk It (How to use the brain chunking technique)

Make Practice Smart (How to use smart and intentional study strategies instead of regurgitating and cramming information)

Visualize to Internalize (Dual Coding Strategy)

Teach It To Others (How to use what you learn to teach others to in turn learn it on a deeper level)

Each category includes 2 or 3 more specific descriptions of how it should be used. And, it rhymes for extra swag and student retention!

A total of 21 posters. Upon payment, you will be directed to a Google Drive link, which gives you 24 hours to copy the folder containing all 21 images to your Google Drive to use for educational purposes only.

Add to cart

5 Things Teachers Should Stop Doing Before Summer Break

Sometimes finishing the year strong means stopping old habits. Great teachers focus less on busy work and more on keeping students engaged, curious, and thinking.

By the final week of school, teachers are exhausted, grades are mostly done, and attention spans are hanging on by a thread. Yet many of us respond by doubling down on the very things that just don’t work.

The truth is, the last week of school doesn't require more tiring work. It requires different work.

If you're searching for end-of-the-school-year activities, student engagement strategies, or simply trying to survive the final days with your sanity intact, here are five things you might want to stop doing—and what you can do instead.

Stop Assigning Busy Work

Students can see right through assignments designed to fill time. Another review packet or stack of worksheets might keep students occupied, but occupied isn't the same as engaged.

Instead, replace this passive sit down and stay quiet work with Last Team Standing or Chain Reaction. Both activities turn review into retrieval practice and discussion. Students are actively recalling information, building connections, and having fun at the same time. That's a much better use of the last few days than another packet nobody wants.

Stop Talking Too Much

Let's face it. Long lectures or explanations weren't ideal in October, and they definitely aren't ideal when summer break is a few days away. Students need something that captures attention, not something that competes with vacay plans.

Instead, create curiosity. Try Prediction Mystery by pausing a video before the reveal or showing half a graph. Or place a strange object at the front of the room and use Mystery Object to get students asking questions before the lesson even starts. Curiosity is one of the most powerful classroom engagement strategies you'll ever use.

Stop Reviewing Passively

Rereading notes and watching the teacher go over answers feels productive, but familiarity is not the same as learning. Students strengthen memory when they retrieve information, not when they simply look at it.

That's why activities like 3-2-1 Recall, No Notes, Just Brain, and Draw the Definition are perfect end-of-year review activities. They force students to remember, explain, and apply ideas instead of just recognizing them.

Stop Mistaking Compliance for Learning

A quiet classroom can be deceiving. Students may be sitting still, but that doesn't mean they're thinking. Learning becomes visible when students explain ideas, debate evidence, and make connections.

When students are mentally on summer break, engagement matters more than ever. These HITS help students think, talk, connect, and finish the year strong.

Instead, try Real-Life Detective, an engaging activity where you present content-related images and ask students to analyze and gather evidence that helps them identify these concepts concepts. Or use Connect It! to help students organize and explain relationships between ideas. These activities reveal understanding far better than silent completion.

Stop Trying to Finish Everything

Perhaps the hardest lesson for teachers is realizing that students won't remember one more worksheet or one more PowerPoint slide. What they will remember are the experiences.

So don't be afraid to end the year with some energy and fun. Four Corners Chaos gets students moving and debating. Future Headline asks them to imagine what the future might look like using what they've learned. These simple activities help students apply knowledge while creating memorable moments during the final days of school.

Finish Strong, Not Exhausted

The best end-of-the-school-year activities aren't about squeezing in more content. They're about keeping students curious, engaged, and thinking right up until summer break.

Effective teachers don't finish the year by forcing one last push through the curriculum. They finish by creating experiences that students remember and keep energy high through the last day of school.

That's exactly why I love HITS—High Impact Teaching Strategies.

Simple, brain-based classroom activities that work with students instead of against them. And sometimes, especially in the last week of school, that's exactly what everyone needs.

---

Thanks for reading!

You’ve earned a break—so take it. Rest, recharge, and enjoy your summer.

When you’re ready to think about the classroom again, look for Spark. Wire. Fire.: 100 Ready-to-Use Classroom Activities That Inspire Curiosity, Strengthen Memory, and Apply Learning, coming this August.

It’s packed with practical strategies that engage students without exhausting teachers—so you can begin the new year with fresh ideas and energy to spare.

No results found

BOOKS & TOOLS

3 Memory Palace Lessons

$3.00

Flashcards are okay but there's a better way. The Memory (or Mind) Palace Method is a powerful learning and memorization technique that when mastered allows a student to remember 10, 20, or even 30 vocabulary words or concepts (definitions included) with ease.

And, they actually remember what they learned using memory palaces! This series of lessons (which can be used as classroom handouts) walks students through creating their first memory palace, filling it with information they need to learn, and using it to train their memories. It also contains short readings, a video lesson, memory palace examples, and practice drills.

Fair Use

Feel free to use with your students. Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart

EQUITY Poster

$1.50

Equity-Promoting Classroom Poster. What does EQUITY in the classroom look like?

• Everyone has a different start and finish line

• Quality is more important that quantity

• Understanding that diversity makes us stronger

• Inclusion despite beliefs, appearances, and circumstances

• Thoughtfulness lowers barriers and reduces biases

• Yesterday's mistakes are today's learning agenda

You can teach your students about equity and make it a daily classroom practice using this inspirational poster, which also includes images that accompany the equity description. You can discuss each letter characteristic with your students as a way of introducing your inclusive classroom and display it prominently as a reminder that diversity makes the classroom community stronger.

Add to cart

Mistakes Are... Poster

$3.00

In this classroom Mistakes are Expected, Respected, Inspected, Corrected!

Learned helplessness is a result of years of conditioning that mistakes are bad for learning. Nothing is further from the truth - some of the most powerful life lessons come from making mistakes, reflecting on them, and growing as a result.

This is a PNG Poster you can print and display in your classroom to encourage a culture of risk-taking and learning from mistakes.

Add to cart

Climate Change Project

$4.00

In this 3- to 4-day lesson, designed for a high school Earth and Space Science classroom, student groups are assigned and investigate 4 leading solutions to the climate change crisis our planet is experiencing. Then, they are called upon to debate against each other to try to convince others that their solution is the most viable and provide counterarguments against other solutions. It’s an intellectual thunderdome in which students are encouraged to use science to attacks each others points of view on climate change but not character.

Why and how does this learning strategy work?

Rote memorization out; seeking answers and deeper learning in.

The debate-style approach to learning is engaging and motivating for learners, because they are challenged to use real evidence and their wits to outmaneuver their opposition.

Not only do they act as investigators, developing communication, collaboration, and argumentation skills but they learn about viable solutions to the climate change conundrum we all find ourselves in. They learn Earth and Space Science content while investigating and debating solutions to a real-world phenomenon, which is what the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for.

Student Learning and Performance Objectives:

3. Research multiple, complex climate change solutions to discover that the world is more complicated than a single TikTok trend.

4. Articulate scientific arguments with actual evidence.

5. Listen to opposing viewpoints, to hone "social awareness" skills.

6. Realize that climate change solutions are multi-faceted, messy, and require more than just good vibes.

7. Describe and support with, not mere belief but actual evidence, the leading climate solutions proposed by, not the coven of online witches but the scientific community.

What's included:

1. 24 slides that introduce, explain, and guide the teacher and students

2. Detailed teacher notes on prep, main lesson, and follow up activities

3. General Lesson flow for teacher to follow to make it all seamless

4. A short and funny “hook” to increase student buy in

5. Detailed student directions

6. A list (research starter pack) of links to legit, scientific websites for students to use.

7. Group roles (team jobs) with descriptions of what each entails.

8. 4 climate change solutions to assign to 4 different student groups

9. Student Learning and Performance Objectives

10. Detailed Grading Rubric to guide students and make assessment easy

11. Debate Day introduction and format description

12. Follow up discussion questions (reflection and debrief)

Add to cart

Weather Report Project

$4.00

Save planning time with this Atmosphere Unit, 5-day Honors Earth and Space Science Project in which students research, design, create, and present a 7-day weather forecast for a specific city in the US or abroad.

Student Performance and Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how weather data is collected and interpreted.

2. Explain how weather patterns may be affected by geography (mountains, plains, valleys etc.).

3. Explain the atmospheric conditions (pressure, moisture etc.) necessary for different weather (sunny, windy, rainy etc.).

What's included:

1. 16 slides (Google Slides link for easy use and editing to fit your purposes)

2. Learning Objectives

3. Group Roles / Jobs (up to 5 with detailed description of jobs)

4. Detailed Project Directions / Requirements

5. Materials/Web Resources List

6. Link to a "Wheel of Names" containing city names - students spin and receive their assigned city.

7. Link to a grading rubric for student and teacher use (printable doc).

The project follows the guidelines set by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Questions?
Email me at oskar@crushschool.com. I’m happy to answer your questions.

Fair Use
Feel free to share and use this resource with your students.

Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart