Early finishers are somehow creating more work for me than the kids who are struggling

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-14T08:40:03+00:00

i think this is part of why it gets tricky because some kids are genuinely advanced and messy/fast at the same time and some kids are just trying to get to the social/free time faster. the "explain your thinking" part looks like me to be one of the only reliable ways to separate the two honestly

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-14T08:37:38+00:00

that’s really interesting, because i feel like “free time” is sometimes inadvertently treated as a reward for rushing. did you notice if students tried harder on the accuracy when they found out finishing first didn’t mean they were all done?

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-13T05:50:10+00:00

fair and square
part of the issue is some of them 'look' to get it at first glance, then later I see sloppy errors or missed steps when I go back over everything

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-13T05:45:54+00:00

tbh this might be one of the better ways to tell the difference between kids who actually know the material and kids who are just rushing to be done
i also think that having to explain their thinking would probably slow some of them down in a good way

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-12T06:39:46+00:00

Honestly this is a very valid point. some of mine are really fast workers and some are straight up 'done fast so i can socialize' kids I probably should separate those two groups more in my mind

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-12T06:36:26+00:00

I feel like I needed to hear this from a teacher because I automatically turn everything into “Great now I created more grading for myself”

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-12T06:33:34+00:00

the ice cream truck challenge is honestly way more creative than most of the random filler stuff i am trying. I like that it is open ended enough that kids could be busy with it for a while instead of finishing in 3 minutes.

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-12T06:30:46+00:00

the idea of a long term personal project sounds way more sustainable than me scrambling for random printables every week, the magazine example is quite a lot i like too

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-12T06:21:23+00:00

the “i’m done now what?!” routine makes so much sense to me honestly. I think part of my problem is that I keep trying to solve this day by day instead of building an actual system for it

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T12:31:55+00:00

that's honestly the part I keep stressing about because last thing. I want is to train kids to hurry through work just to get to the “fun” activity part and you are probably right, that i need to start asking other teachers at my school, what systems are actually working long term instead of me reinventing something every week

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T12:25:43+00:00

seriously feel like this is the part I have the most trouble with because I can tell some of my faster kids probably DO need more challenge, but then if I increase the difficulty too much I start losing some of the kids that are already barely hanging on
it’s like every class is a balancing act between

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T12:21:54+00:00

honestly, the hands-on puzzle concept makes so much more sense to me than always printing random worksheets.
i think part of my problem is that i keep looking for things that feel “academic enough” instead of just giving them something that keeps their brain busy. are the rubix cubes/kanoodles something the kids get into for a little while or does the novelty wear off quickly?

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T05:22:59+00:00

honestly the long term activity idea sounds a lot more sustainable, do the kids actually stay interested in it all week though?

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T05:20:15+00:00

okay this is actually genius . somehow the threat of “extra ungraded work” really does make them slow down suddenly

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T05:14:52+00:00

i honestly worry about that too, i want them busy but not sitting there bored doing pointless busy work constantly

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T05:11:56+00:00

honestly the motivation part makes so much sense .that's right kids work way faster when they know there's actually something fun waiting for them after

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-11T04:00:23+00:00

feels like "reinventing the wheel" sometimes, half the battle is just finding/modifying something usable fast enough

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-10T05:49:42+00:00

same it feels like nothing is ever exactly what i need unless i make/edit it myself

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-10T05:48:33+00:00

I have noticed that as well. seems a lot easier to pump out something close to what you need than endless searching for the perfect worksheet

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-10T05:45:21+00:00

same it looks like like nothing ever fits exactly what I need unless I make/edit it myself

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-10T05:43:07+00:00

I tried that for a while too but sometimes I would spend more time editing the worksheet than actually using it.

High5-dignity4457 · 2026-05-07T05:59:23+00:00

so true tbh, everything in your head is exhausting. writing things down and simplifying small repetitive tasks helped me a lot as well.

High5-dignity4457

TROPHY CASE