Emily 0:36
Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's episode, we are diving deep into fast finishers and sharing a teacher approved tip for Valentine's Day.
Heidi 0:47
Emily and I decided to do an episode on fast finishers, since it is not a topic that we have discussed much before. So to prepare, I started researching to see what suggestions were kind of out there. And let me tell you that search awakened some deep, deep teacher rage.
Heidi 1:06
Not at the teachers who are sharing their ideas. Let me make that clear. I'm not. I'm never mad at the teachers, but I was just so mad at this system that offers no support for making fast finishers feasible to manage.
Emily 1:18
No just one more thing, poor teachers. So fast finishers are such a tiny part of your job as a teacher. In fact, they're almost a throwaway topic that gets little attention, but they make a big impact on the success of your day.
Heidi 1:33
And the more I've been stewing over this, I think it kind of feels like the perfect metaphor for teaching in general. We have this vitally important part of every school day, yet there's no support, few resources, and very little guidance on the best way to approach and manage it. So you know, teachers, we're just doing the best that we can with the little we have, because that's what teachers do. Like with everything else in education. It shouldn't be like this, but this is where we are.
Emily 2:02
Yes, and part of what makes fast finishers so challenging is that a good fast finisher is a unicorn. Kids have to be able to do it independently, but it better not be busy work, and it should be a meaningful use of learning time, yet not so exciting that kids skip their assigned work to get to the fast finisher.
Heidi 2:21
But it also must be engaging enough that kids aren't bored by it, but not so much fun that it creates distractions. It can't be so rigorous that the kids who finish quickly feel punished by more work. But at the same time, it can't be so impactful that the slower workers miss out on learning opportunities because they're not quicker.
Emily 2:39
And all of this has to be contained in a system that differentiates for a variety of ability levels and doesn't require excessive materials or setup or management or grading, and has the perfect blend of predictability so students understand what to do and creativity, so kids don't get bored repeating the same activities all day every day.
Heidi 3:00
Easy peasy. I don't know what's challenging about that.
Emily 3:03
I can think of 100 fast finishers right now, if only.
Heidi 3:07
oh, the lies we just told. I actually think my brain is melting a little bit just thinking about it. And we heard from several teachers that they have the same challenges. And I think Erin summed up what a lot of teachers told us. She says, I struggle to give fast finishers something meaningful to do that isn't busy work or extra gameplay, so that the others don't rush through their work to get to do the same thing.
Emily 3:33
Yeah, clearly, there is a lot to unpack here, but let's start by explaining what we mean by fast finisher. We like to call them fast finishers, because it's fun to say, but you might know them as early finisher activities or early finisher work. Their purpose is to give students something to do once they finish their assigned work.
Heidi 3:53
Right. So if your class is practicing their spelling words, some kids are going to be done in five minutes, and some kids will be done in 20 minutes. So what are those fast spellers going to do for the next 15 minutes?
Emily 4:04
And that is the magic question. What are they going to do? We put so much focus on our actual lesson plans, and fast finishers are left with our scraps of effort, understandably, because we're tired. But if you're not making intentional plans, those 15 minutes will become wasted minutes for your fastest learners, and that can really add up.
Heidi 4:24
Yeah, by the time you get to the end of the day without meaningful fast finishers, your speediest students could easily end up losing out on 30 minutes or more of learning time. And then if you multiply that by a week, you can see that huge chunks of the school day are wasted if you don't have a plan.
Emily 4:43
Yeah, and besides the wasted learning opportunities, if you don't have meaningful fast finishers ready to go, you may find yourself with the dreaded management issues. Because if you don't give kids something engaging to do, it turns out, they will find something to do, and chances are good that they will find something to do that is not a helpful, productive use of time.
Heidi 5:03
Bless their hearts. So to save ourselves the hassle of management problems and to save our students from wasting half their day, what can we do?
Heidi 5:12
So just to revisit my past, I switched schools my second year of teaching, and that school had the tradition of printing monthly activity books. Each kid got a book of 40 to 60 seasonal activity pages that they would just work on all month long. I loved this. It was great because it was so simple to manage. The kids enjoyed it because there were those fun pages, like some word searches and mazes, but there were also color by math problem pages and word puzzles.
Heidi 5:39
It was engaging, but not so tempting that kids were rushing through their work to get to their books. And yeah, it was leaning towards busy work, but it simplified so many problems. But then after a couple of years, the principal realized that it was costing $2 per kid each month and she shut that down. So we had to come over the new system.
Emily 6:02
I love how teachers have to pivot what would be best for their educational environment and their teaching situation because of budget constraints. When there's so much money available in the world, why can't more of it go to education so that our teachers don't have to count all their copies? Sorry, I went on a little soapbox tangent there.
Heidi 6:26
Less than $20 a year per kid. Yeah, so if you really think about it, but you know, you know how copies add up?
Emily 6:32
Ah, yes. Well, one summer, I spent weeks planning out fast finishers for both Heidi's class and my class for the whole year. So I gave each day of the week a learning activity, like one day was word ladders, and I picked out enough to have one per week for the whole year. And then I printed them as quarter sized pages to save paper. And I had a small drawer set on my desk with these like little drawers, and each one had a different day labeled on it for the day's fast finishers.
Emily 7:07
So when they were done, they could go over on Monday, pull out the Monday drawer, do one of the little quarter size Monday fast finishers. But it was a lot of prep work. If I got ahead on the copies, great, but then I have to store all those quarter sized pieces of paper or find time to cut them the week of so it was hard. It was hard to get ahead on the prep on I think I did figure something out, but it was a hassle.
Emily 7:29
But then the other thing is that only bought me one fast finisher a day. So, you know, there are kids who need more than one a day, so it only marginally solved any problems with a lot of work up front.
Heidi 7:41
And I did like that system, and I stuck it out for a while, but again, I got bogged down by having to remember to switch out the papers and then, you know, if you've got half a stack left, it feels wasteful to toss it so then you're storing like. It just got to be too much to manage. Yep. After that, I just defaulted to reading. Every month I took my class to the school library, each student was allowed to choose three books to bring back to the class, and then I just randomly split up all the books into plastic tubs, and each table got a tub of books each day.
Emily 8:08
Yep. And I did something similar as one of my fast finisher options. I had the bins of books on each table, and you know, I did like this, because it was easy to manage. And there were moments that it saved me, of like, okay, and when you finish, just read from your table books. I mean, that is a nice system to have in place, and it did allow for more book choice than I allowed during independent reading time.
Emily 8:09
So it gave my struggling readers a chance to read Magic Tree House and Horrible Harry. I knew they probably couldn't read even probably 10% of the words on the page, but they were so proud to get the chance to try. And since we only used those book tubs for a few minutes at a time during the day, they weren't really wasting too much time on text that was too hard for them, so I didn't have to worry about it.
Heidi 8:51
I loved my book tubs, but eventually, though I hit on a system that completely changed my classroom. I scheduled my day so that I didn't need fast finishers, or I guess I needed them for much less time. I still kept the book tubs around because they were handy, and we'd use those for five or 10 minutes in the mornings.
Heidi 9:10
But instead, I turn my station times into my fast finishers. So my students had independent work time for morning work during math, occasionally during science, and then during language study, and I scheduled station time to be the follow up activity to each of those work times.
Heidi 9:26
Once students were done with their work, they just transitioned to the station, like the math game station or the writing station. I scheduled 15 to 20 minutes per station time. So yes, some kids might have the full 20 minutes and some kids might only have 10, but that still gave them enough time to do an activity or two.
Emily 9:43
And we talked all about this back in episode 159 so you can check that out if you want some more information on how Heidi used to do this.
Heidi 9:49
And I really found that stations are easier to differentiate than having a meaningful enrichment extension for each separate assignment during the day. Stations didn't need a lot of ongoing management. I started the year with just a few core activities in each station, and then I slowly added to them over time, so the kids always had lots of choices to keep them meaningfully engaged during that time. It just it made my day so much easier, and it made me realize that the best fast finisher was not needing a fast finisher in the first place.
Emily:Ideally, each assignment you give would be so perfectly differentiated that every student would finish the task at the same time, and you wouldn't need any fast finishers.
Emily:So for example, if you're doing story problems in math, you can leave the numbers out of the problem and then provide students with different options of numbers to add into the story problem. When a student finished the problem with one set of numbers, the fast finisher was built right in. They could solve the problem with a different set of numbers, or by using a different strategy.
Heidi:And I loved doing that with math or during my writing time, if students finished with one piece, they just got started on the next one. There's always more work to do. But let's be honest, that is basically impossible to manage for every part of the day.
Heidi:So the next best plan is to have an extension task for each assignment that pushes the kids to interact with the content on a deeper level.
Emily:But come on, that is kind of impractical on a lot of levels. First, it's a ton of work to come up with those rich tasks. And second, a new task after every assignment requires teacher support and a fast finisher is only helpful if students can do it independently.
Heidi:Really, if you can make it work, it is so much easier to just have your students transition to the next part of the day instead of having to stretch out the assignment until everyone is done.
Emily:But that isn't going to work in every situation. If you have to do all of your center or stations during one chunk of the day, you can still use your stations as fast finishers. Let kids choose a station to revisit when they're done with their work. Just put a limit on how many kids can be out of station at once.
Heidi:Or if you are worried about kids getting bored with too much station time in a day, you could separate fast finisher stations with set choices that don't require ongoing management from you. You just have to make sure that you teach each of your options first.
Emily:If you don't want to have separate stations, a choice board or poster might be the way to go. We heard from Rachel, who said, I have a what to do when I'm done board. There are five to six choices, such as, finish something in your folder, practice, math, facts, etc.
Heidi:And Carmen added, I set up a must do and a may do list on my daily slides for my core content work. When must do's are finished, students choose from a list of may do options. These are usually the same set choices each day, so there's not much to recreate. It helps keep kids engaged and on task, because they love the may do's.
Emily:I've seen teachers do lists with a condiment theme. So must do's are mustard. When those are done, students are expected to catch up on any unfinished work, and then come the may do Mayo option. And so I thought that was cute.
Heidi:Teachers in the theme. Man, every time.
Emily:We're too clever for our own good.
Heidi:As I have been thinking a lot about this topic for the past few weeks, I've realized that we don't need better fast finisher activities. We need better fast finisher systems. I saw someone's post about having like, 70 fast finisher boxes. Oh no, that's just too much to manage. As much as the kids would love it. It's just too hard on the teacher.
Heidi:So the must do or may do system or a choice board are great because it gives kids clear directions for what to do next, but it doesn't require a lot of ongoing work from the teacher to maintain.
Emily:One thing to keep an eye on is how often you use helping as a fast finisher. Occasionally, it's okay for kids who finish quickly to help other kids or help you with teacher work. But it's not fair for the kids. If you rely on it a lot. The quick learners deserve to grow their own learning, not just support other kids in their learning or help out with classroom tasks.
Heidi:Now, as with any other procedure in your classroom, your fast finisher system needs to be introduced in detail, or it's just going to become wasted time.
Emily:It's also helpful to remind students of the fast finisher options as you're giving the assignment, even if that means you give the same dang directions in every single lesson. Repeating the expectation decreases the likelihood of having kids come up to you with the dreaded I'm done, now what? question.
Heidi:And if they do come up to you with that question, don't answer it. Just point to the board or say something like I've already explained it. See if you can figure it out.
Heidi:And we know this is a lot to remember, but explicitly teaching your fast finishers and reminding students every time will cut down on headaches in the long run.
Heidi:And one of the other headaches we want to cut down on is rushed work. Lynn told us, I would have to say my biggest struggle with early finishers would be they hurry just to be done, rather than putting 100% effort into the task.
Emily:Yeah, I think we've all had that problem, and we've heard from many of you that have the same problem with your fast finishers.
Emily:So one way I combated this was by having the kids leave their work on their desks. I had them turn their papers over so other kids couldn't cheat off them. But it made it simple for me to walk around and scan who had actually done the assignment and who needed to come back to their desks and work on it, and then everyone just turned in their papers at the same time at the end of the lesson.
Heidi:Yeah I did the same thing. This was especially helpful with morning work. Once the kids realized that they would be busted for not finishing assignment, they were better about following through on their work.
Emily:It's so tricky because fast finishers do need to be engaging, but not so engaging that getting to them becomes the focus of learning time. So this might not be the time to break out the multiplication Guess Who game. Save the really fun stuff for centers and make fast finishers only medium fun.
Heidi:Especially if it's quiet, medium fun. Yes, something like memorization challenges can be great because they're easy to set up and maintain, and there are so many options: poems, state capitals, sports teams, nursery rhymes, names of constellations and famous artwork are all information that is just handy to have in your brain, and it can be really motivating for kids to master. We've got 72 short word family poems that would be great for memorization practice, and we'll link to them in the show notes.
Emily:Yeah, those would be perfect. And also in the show notes will link to a blog post from Mrs. Wren's class that includes a list of 80 memorization challenges.
Emily:One thing I like about that is that it's so easy to find subjects that will interest even your most reluctant learners. Some kids will not ever care to memorize the periodic table, but you can definitely find kids who are excited to learn sports statistics, Taylor Swift song titles, types of dinosaurs, or video game details. Even if it's not the most educational thing, learning how to memorize is an important life skill.
Heidi:But even though we want our fast finisher activities to be engaging and meaningful, I'm going to recommend keeping some pointless busy work right on hand. I like to save this for times when a student or two, or maybe the whole class wasn't meeting my expectations for how to handle fast finishers, and then instead of those medium, fun, quiet choices. They got boring skill and drill worksheets until they showed me they were ready to follow directions.
Emily:I think that's an important point. Some groups of kids just aren't able to manage the freedom of choice board or a list of may do activities. We can only meet kids where they are. So if you have to fall back on worksheet fast finishers before the holidays or in the last month of school, do what it takes to keep your classroom spiraling out of control.
Heidi:We're aiming for the idea with our students. But if we have to back up to something that is not our first choice, or, let's be honest, maybe not even our fifth choice, but it is what's needed to maintain our classes equilibrium, that's where we start. It's never wrong to add the structure needed to counter too much novelty. It only becomes a problem if we're staying here without trying to grow our students to that next level of responsibility.
Emily:Maybe your particular group of kids is never going to be able to handle choosing from 12 fast finisher options, but a good next step might be learning how to choose between two options, or learning how to check their unfinished work folder. We meet our kids where they are and guide them to the next step.
Heidi:If you are struggling with fast finishers in your class, you are definitely not alone. Start by seeing if you can avoid needing fast finishers at all and just have your students transition to the next part of the day when they are done with their assignments.
Emily:Next see if there are natural ways to extend the assignment so you don't need an extra fast finisher.
Heidi:But when you get those times, when you do need that little extra fast finisher, consider what kind of system can be set up so that students have engaging, but not too fun, independent learning opportunities. Consider something like a choice board or assigned apps a list of must do, may do, options or an ongoing system like memorization challenges.
Emily:If fast finisher choices become too much of a distraction, add more structure. Limit the choices available, or lean on worksheets until the kids are able to manage the extra novelty.
Heidi:Fast finishers are really tricky. Don't be afraid to experiment until you find the right fit for your class, and then when you do, we would love to hear about it, so come join us in our Teacher Approved Facebook group and give us all of the details.
Emily:Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip. Each week, we leave you with a small, actionable tip that you can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher approved tip is get your Valentines now. Tell us about this Heidi.
Heidi:Okay, this isn't a tip as much as it's a reminder, if you are like me and you've waited to the last minute before you know that that's a problem. So if you want to give your students Valentine's, start shopping for them now, so that you are not scrambling at the last minute and left with just whatever happens to be in stock.
Heidi:We will link to these in the show notes. But some of our favorite places to get Valentines are Oriental Trading. Target, Mind Wear, Paper Source has some really cute ones. And of course, Amazon. There's just nothing worse than getting to February 12 and not being able to find any Valentines that you think your students will be excited about.
Emily:Oh, for sure, and not to brag or anything, but I ordered the Valentines that my kids need to give to their classmates like the first week in January. I'm so impressed with myself.
Heidi:And that's another good reminder that if your own kids need Valentines, jump on that now.
Emily:Do it early. You'll be so glad.
Heidi:To wrap up the show we're sharing what we're giving extra credit to. Emily what gets you extra credit this week?
Emily:Well I'm giving extra credit to a gift that Santa brought my children. Santa really knows what they like, and he brought them this new gaming system called the Nex Playground, and it has been so much fun. I'm not actually, like, really big into video games for my kids, but this is totally different, because it's all it's kind of like a Wii. If you know you've played a Wii, it's much more like interactive. You have to move around and do things.
Emily:But in this case, it uses a camera, a small in this in the small little gaming system, to track the players movements. So you don't have to hold any remotes that might go flying and hit something, or have anything strapped to your leg or anything like that. So there's a lot of really fun things you can do with it, and it's just super engaging. Like I enjoy playing it with the kids, too.
Emily:Our favorite game is Starry, which is kind of like a Guitar Hero for dancing, which is good for my ability level. And it's more of the like move your arms dancing than having to move your legs a lot. I appreciate that too, but it can be a pretty good workout, too. And there's there's multiplayer games, or there's things you can play on your own.
Emily:One that my teen daughter and I played the other day that we found to be a really big workout was whack a mole, where we both were working to whack all these moles, and then they started coming out from the top to the sides. It was crazy. We were totally beat after. It was a very good workout. So if you are interested in a more active sort of gaming system. I highly recommend the Nex Playground.
Emily:And I do want to say they have excellent customer service. They have a Facebook group where they are constantly pulling the members to hear what kind of new games people are interested in, or updates to the current games and things like that. So I also feel really good about recommending them, because they have been really impressive with how they're handling this big rollout.
Emily:So also, all of the games are included in, like, a yearly subscription that you can pay for with the gaming system. So you don't have to buy a bunch of individual games. Like it comes with a few games on it, and then if you want to play all of them, you just pay a yearly fee, and you get tons of games. So highly recommend it.
Heidi:I'll have to come over and try whack a mole. That sounds fun.
Emily:You should it is fun.
Heidi:Too bad they don't have a classroom version, because that would be awesome for inside recess.
Emily:It would be so awesome. I know I wonder how it could be used. I mean, you'd have to take turns, so that would be the hard thing, but maybe the kids. Yeah, that's a good question. I'm gonna think about that and see if I can come up with a way that you could use this in your classroom. What are you giving extra credit to Heidi?
Heidi:Well, I'm giving extra credit to your Christmas present that you gave me Emily.
Emily:Santa knows you too, I guess.
Heidi:Yes. it is the Valari pillow. It's kind of like a Boppy. If you know a Boppy, it has just been so handy. I've loved it. My back is hurting much less. So it's just, you know, pillow that goes around your lap. And it's nice if I just want to scroll my phone while I'm on TV, like my arms aren't getting tired, or I can put my book on it, or my Kindle on it, and read. I have the hand paint a lot, and so it's nice to have something to hold, the thing for me, and it's just really soft.
Emily:Yeah, and I've seen on the Valari Instagram that a lot of people who like it are like gamers who want to be able to, like rest their arms while they're playing video games, or crafters, crocheters, knitters, or whatever kind of want to rest part of their arm down. And so it can be used for lots of things, not just phone scrolling, but we can attest that it's good for that too.
Heidi:It's been very handy. So thank you, Emily.
Emily:I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
Heidi:That is it for today's episode. Take a look at your fast finishers and see if there's any way to streamline what you're doing, and don't forget to grab those Valentine cards now.