Let’s Talk End of Year Awards
The end of the year is commonly a tiring and stressful time for teachers and students. Then to top it off choosing end of year awards and final school assemblies occur. Let’s talk about end of year awards today on the blog.
After the trauma of writing reports the joy train keeps chugging along when the nomination form for end of year awards arrives in your pigeon hole. There are many things I love about teaching but End of Year awards were one thing I loathed.
By Term 4 you have spent a year nurturing your students, developing their growth mindset and reinforcing they each have unique talents and skills. Now you see a form which requires you to select 1 possibly two students from your class to receive an award.
Once this selection process has occurred a letter is sent home to the family who has been selected to “feel proud of their child” this year for “their outstanding achievement and dedication to their school work”.
After this the presentation assembly occurs. You see the joy on the face of the child who has been awarded. See the bounce in their step as they walk quickly and quietly to the stage. To shake hands, smile and beam with delight as they hold their award up in line with their chest. You reflect on how hard that child has worked. How they have strived to reach their goals and excelled in your classroom this year. Their progress deserves recognition you agree. They are a worthy recipient of this end of year award.
However, then your eyes travel along your class line. You notice the students who are looking down at their toes. You see the child with the slumped shoulders. The child who is staring at you angrily. The child who you know will ask you “didn’t I work hard this year?”.
I have stood looking over my class for many years in this exact same scenario. Looked over the heads of my children with special needs who will never receive an Academic Achievement end of year award but who deserves the Totally Trustworthy award.
You give a look to that student who is buzzing in his seat. He can barely sit still through the end of year award presentation. Tapping his knees and swinging his legs back and forth. You know he struggles to attend to instructions, is slow to initiate tasks and needs to break up his work with movement breaks. He won’t earn the Academic Achievement award but he brings such a positive energy to your classroom. You are sure he would win the Joyful Vigour award.
You think of your newest enrolled child. He comes from a family who were all refugees. Trust was a major issue for this student when he arrived in your classroom. He has had to overcome so many fears and challenges? Where is his recognition? He is still grasping the English language but even without the vocabulary he knows he is missing out on something special. Where is his award recognising his courage this year?
Inclusive Classroom End of Year Awards
After the same end of year experience kept happening I decided it was time to create resources so I could acknowledge and celebrate each of the unique parts of my students which had made them so special all year.
My desire with creating these End of Year Class Awards was for each of my students, and their parents, to feel the pride that the child who stands on the stage feels. For parents to know that I had seen their child. I knew their child. I valued progress as much as the final outcome.
These Class End of Year Awards are a teacher time saver for the hectic end of year schedule. The resource includes 66 awards that celebrate student learning habits, character traits and unique talents. With 66 awards each child can have an award that matches them. You will find plenty of variety with some awards have varied statements. Simply print and then present to your students.
Celebrate all your students.
If you have stood in an assembly and not been content with the majority of your students missing out then I encourage you to change things up. Introduce your own classroom awards so no child has to finish the year without the recognition they deserve. Let each student finish up the year with their personalised end of year award.
