Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching.
TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: Closing the Term: Review, Reflect, Celebrate
As the term wraps up, bring the energy! Celebrate what your students have accomplished—highlight big wins, recall funny or meaningful moments, and remind them how far they’ve come. A strong finish leaves students feeling seen, proud, and motivated to carry your lessons forward. You’ve got this!
This week, we challenge you to try a “last lecture” style wrap-up: one powerful takeaway, a bit of inspiration, and a heartfelt thank-you.
Here’s one way to do it
- Turn review into a celebration. Use Kahoot, a Jeopardy-style quiz, or even a class-created “Top 10 Things We Learned” list to revisit key concepts with fun and flair.
- Have students reflect on the prompt, “If you remember one thing from this class…” Share yours and invite students to share theirs too, creating a collective reflection that feels meaningful and memorable.
- Let students reflect on what they’re taking away from the course. Use this as a think-pair-share activity and have them share out at the end if they’d like.
- Ask them to write advice for future students of the course. It’s reflective for them and helpful for others.
- Take a class photo, write a short thank-you note or email to your students, or give them a postcard with a quote and a few personal words.
Ending strong isn’t about perfection—it’s about connection, closure, and a little bit of celebration.
DID YOU DO IT?
Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey. The survey is anonymous, but if you choose to enter your name, you’ll be entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter to win a new book from Faculty Development!
UPCOMING EVENTS
- As we wrap up another busy academic year with another round of graduations and celebrations, we want to take a moment to celebrate YOU. We hope you will mark your calendars for June 10th, 3-5 pm and plan to join us for a happy hour celebration with wine, beer, soda, and d'oeuvres to relax, reflect, and connect with others who you might have seen at Faculty Development events across campus. Please let us know if you’re coming here.
- Don’t miss our final CAFE of the year on Thursday, June 5th! CAFE: GIFTs, where our Faculty Associates will share some of their favorite teaching practices (Great Ideas for Teaching Students)—and invite you to share yours too! Register here.
- Have a stack of exams to grade? A backlog of essays to read? Final grades to calculate? Stop by our Grading Retreat on June 10th, from 9-12 pm to work on grading in community with other faculty. We all have to do it, so we might as well do it together. Come when you can and stay as long as you are able.
WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?
This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by Amy Lueck and Patti Simone on behalf of the Faculty Collaborative.
Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here. Don’t forget to check out our Faculty Associates office hours here.
And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development and Faculty Collaborative events.
