Wendy Turner: Everything SEL

I just love this interpretation of my year end reflection practice! This can work for ALL educators!

ArtsNOW shared their variation of Wendy Turner: Everything SEL's end-of-year reflection!

"This tells the story of a team of teachers who showed up this year - tried new things, took risks, found joy in unexpected places, and made learning come alive for their students in ways they couldn't have imagined at the start of the year."

Summer Loading. Grateful for another year full of joy, growth, and impact. 💕

The sun has set on 2nd grade this year! Students created sunset art as part of our closure. I love each one so much, just like each student. They are all unique and beautiful. 🌅

Student voice matters! I adapted a climate and culture questionnaire for education leaders and teachers for my elementary students in 2nd grade and added some written response questions. AI summarized the results for me. I am thrilled with this final product which I will use as a guidepost as I recover, reflect, and plan this summer for a great new school year in August.

Some AI insights were:

Part 1: Multiple Choice Trends
Q1: Your class overwhelmingly felt like it was a successful, well-rounded year.
Q2: Responses were spread across all options, with working with partners/groups (A) and trying again when something was hard (B) being the most common picks. A few chose reading/practicing on their own (D).
Q3: Explaining things in a new way (A) and making learning fun and interesting (D) led the pack, with a few students valuing think time (B) and encouragement when stuck (C).
Q4: Being kinder to each other (A) was the top choice, followed by trying harder to listen and focus (B) and following the rules (D).
Q5: More free choice time (D) and more movement breaks (C) were the clear favorites. A handful were happy with things as-is.

Part 2: Written Response Themes
Math was the dominant, times tables, multiplication, and math fact fluency came up repeatedly as well as reading/CKLA, learning in general, making new friends, and specific experiences like learning about Box Turtles with a wildlife expert, MPE, and the Calm Corner. One student wrote simply "everything," and one sweet one said "being with you, Ms. Turner" — and another echoed that sentiment too.

Students shared things like:
*Being a student can be really hard
*They need to move more
*They don't always want to be called on or talked to a certain way (a few mentioned not wanting to be yelled at)
*Some things (like sequences and routines) they don't enjoy
*It's hard to stay out of trouble
*They get frustrated and need patience

What are you still working on? Times tables / multiplication was the #1 answer by a wide margin. Reading, writing, and division also came up several times.

What would make school better for everyone? Responses included: more kindness, no bullying/hitting/lying, following the 3 to Be (safe, responsible, respectful), more books, more field trips, more fun/movement, more recess, and one very practical student who said "more lunch breaks for teachers and more planning time" — sounds like they're paying attention to how hard you work!

A Few Standout Moments:

*One student added "I LOVE you Ms. Turner, my brother ______ is coming to your class!" at the bottom of their paper — precious.
* _________ wrote that the best thing about Mrs. Turner is "everything."
*Several students independently named the times tables as both their proudest accomplishment AND their biggest area to keep growing — great metacognitive awareness for 2nd graders!

These kids clearly had a strong year and feel very connected to you and their classroom community.

I am SO proud of my students! What gets attended to and monitored works. We have a 400% increase in our math fact fluency from October to June. Our class average went from 16 to 65 on our weekly timed test. 5 students are working on multiplication facts ranging from the 3s to 9s. I’ll take it. I provided the structure and resources. They did the work. ⭐️⭐️

More here: https://www.edutopia.org/article/daily-routines-math-fact-fluency/

Do you need ideas for finishing strong in elementary school? Take a look at this piece I did for Edutopia! I hope you are inspired. If you have any other great ideas, please share them in the comments. ⭐️

Finishing Strong in Elementary School Teachers can make the end of the school year memorable for students by focusing on activities that reinforce the connections between them.

I am so incredibly honored that Teacher2Teacher shared my practice!Ask kids these questions during math. Take a minute to pause during math. I absolutely love teaching math. I am in awe of my kids and how they lean in and learn math. 💕 Edutopia

From @mrswendymturner: “We did a quick reflection in math this week. The important ideas and feelings about math we shared were: 1. Share a math topic you are confident in…..capability and pride! 2. Share a math topic you are struggling with…..vulnerability! 3. Share your perfect math day……excitement! I loved the answers SO much. So many of my 2nd grade students feel confident using a place value chart with hundreds, tens, and ones, the very essence of 2nd grade math. ⭐️ Some mentioned they are struggling with telling time and line plot graphs. Data confirmed this and we will revisit these topics as necessary. 💕 And the perfect math day….so many said it would include a 5 minute timed test!! What?? Well, these tests are not harmful when students understand the context behind them, have a way to build their skills, and their progress, both individual and collective, is shared and celebrated on a regular basis. Effort and attention creates results. 🙌🏻”

I just love this. 💕

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