The Last 100 - Posting Here In Case It Might Help Teachers Think Creatively For Keeping Students Writing at Home

From one of Crandall's Writers' Notebooks - a Superpower

I owe the universe to Samantha Hall, Class of 2005, who came to the rescue. Denise Howe, a CWP-teacher and wonderful human being wondered, "Crandall, do you have that Last 100 activity you used to do with your seniors?"

Truth is, I did, but it is on an old external device locked away in my office on campus (and we're not allowed to go there).

So, I asked a student of yesteryear...by any chance do you...and WOLA! Not only did she respond, but others did, as well. My heart was warmed to know so many of students still have their Last 100 Writer's Notebook, and cherish it as a memento of their high school experience.

Here's the skinny - It took me almost 6 years until I figured a way to battle Senioritis during the last six weeks of school. They had a lot to do, but were sick of me, sick of each other, sick of their families, and sick of even themselves. Although colleagues and I would say, "You won't know how much you'll miss this until it's gone," there's no way you can tame horses biting at the bits and panthers pacing the cage. They want out.

So, I came up with the Last 100 (more than 100 options to write about in their writers' notebooks) for seniors to do in their last six weeks of school. They always had something to do, and it free'd me up to work one one one to help each make it to the finish line. I got them fresh notebooks and said, "You earn a point for every writing task you accomplish in the last six weeks, and I'm collecting your notebooks to see what you've been able to do."

Denise thought there might be a way to adapt the Last 100 for  assignments to give to students stuck away from school, indoors, at home needing to keep their brains alive.

I post this as a framework and recognize there are a million ways to rewrite The Last 100 given today's circumstances, and individual classroom goals. I post an example of The Last 100 here, so  teachers who are thinking creatively about how to best reach kids at home, might adapt this for their teaching. (This can also be created by parents - 100 things I want you to write about during this time of social distancing).

I know that my kids never complained abut the last assignment and loved working on their responses (and the challenge). Obviously the hugging and gathering exercises were from a different time, but there are ways young people today can still connect online. The last time I had seniors do this was 2007 and it makes me happy to know they hung onto their notebooks all these years later.

Note: Seniors I taught spent the year working on research that needed to be turned into a community project that they presented at the Boards. This, in addition to the state-required writing portfolio, were all on the table. Much needed to be juggled, so The Last 100 was a way to create memories, to keep them intellectually engaged, and to maintain my own sanity as I oversaw it all.

The Last 100

In no particular order

Keep this in your Writer’s Notebook: glued, taped, or stapled. Your job is to accomplish as many of these as you desire in the last six weeks of high school. Each entry (which needs to show thought and development) earns a point. Some entries are musts, while the rest are for you to choose. These are The Last 100 things I want you to accomplish as a student in my class.

These options are designed to capture your last moments…your memories…your thoughts. Note - a year from now, your high school reality will no longer be the same. I want you to have something that speaks louder to your hearts than just a year book. I wish you the best as you accomplish these tasks over the next 30 days.

1. Successfully pass Senior Boards with an apprentice or better.
2. Take a moment and reflect on your growth through your senior research and culminating project effort (evidence for the Boards)
3. Get support of what you accomplished with your project…a mentor letter…feedback.
4. Do you best on-demand State Writing Prompt. Reflect on what you wrote about in your journal.
5. Meet with your counselor and make sure everything is in order.
6. Read “Two Kinds,” “Half and Half,” and “White Tigers,” in Maxine Hong Kingston’s Woman Warrior. 
7. Write one acrostic poem for your kindergarten little buddy with their name.
8. Read a magazine and reflect on it.
9. Watch the news one night and reflect on it.
10. Watch a movie one night and reflect on it.
11. Make a list of ten things you want to experience and do some time in your life.
12. Do something you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t taken time to do so. Do it. Write about it.
13. Find something physically and mentally healthy to do every day…like exercise. Reflect on it.
14. Contact and elementary or middle school teacher and let them know how you are doing (a note, a visit, or card). Reflect.
15. Find interesting things about St. Augustine, Florida, where we’re going for our senior trip that gets you excited about.
16. Eat pancakes during the perfectly pointless pre-prom, post-portfolio pancake party and reflect on it (Note: this was a breakfast I hosted every year)
17. Write one letter to somebody/anybody and mail it (the old fashioned way)
18. View Mulan in class.
19. View one foreign film outside of class or go see a play. Reflect
20. Eat something you’ve never eaten or tried before.
21. Hug one person a day. Try to reach every kid in your senior class.
22. Find out the names of the person that three of your teachers first kissed. Think about what that means.
23. Doodle one picture.
24. Doodle another picture.
25. Doodle at least one more picture.
26. Okay, one more doodle. You know I love these.
27. Share one of your entries with someone in class and have them a response to it.
28. Commit one senseless, random act of kindness to someone you normally wouldn’t.
29. Eat luck with someone you normally don’t eat with.
30. Find out five new things about a classmate you never knew before.
31. Do #30 with another classmate.
32. Okay, Do #30 one more time with another classmate (this is important.
33. Write a “Dear Incoming Freshman” letter to be handed to the incoming freshman next year on their first day of school. Let them know what’s to come and give them advice (note - these will be edited in two drafts)
34. Donate one talisman to the incoming freshman class…a keepsake to be handed out to keep the Brown Schoo traditions alive.
35. Help a teacher clean a classroom.
36. Help a classmate with their senior research, project, and/or presentation.
37. Have one good, sit-down conversation with a parent or guardian about the transition about to come.
38. Discover one new music group or sound outside your comfort zone.
39. Thank someone for being who they are.
40. Find one new poem to glue into your journal
41. Find what you want to be read when you cross the stage and turn the tassel.
42. Attend senior awards night.
43. Keep someone on task, when they’re getting off task.
44. Try to convince someone new to hang out with you one day after school or on the weekend.
45. Give the principal one suggestion to make the school a better place.
46. Have someone make an entry in your journal.
47. Have some else make an entry in your journal
48. Have a third person make an entry in your journal
49. have a fourth person make an entry in your journal
50. Go outside. Take a walk. Breathe.
51. Volunteer your time and energy somewhere.
52. Get a comic strip and/or cartoon and tape it in your journal.
53. Draw the phases of the moon and label them. 
54. Propose a leadership activity to do for the entire class.
55. Learn how to sew a button.
56. Talk to/interview someone about life after high school
57. Look at your parent/guardian’s yearbook. Laugh.
58. Keep an eye out for someone having a bad day. Do something to make it better.
59. Memorize a poem of at least 15 lines.
60. Make your parent/guardian breakfast in bed.
61. Learn 15 Vietnamese words 
62. If you’re Vietnamese, teach 15 of your favorite Vietnamese words to another
63. Make someone sing for the class
64. Learn the song lyrics for Three Little Birds
65. Teach the class a silly game or song.
66. Teach Crandall how to do a cartwheel (you will fail)
67. Make a list of 10 things you’ll do this summer
68. Make a list of the top 10 books you’ve ever read
69. Make a list of the top 10 movies you’ve ever seen
70. Take a list of the top 10 songs you can’t live without
71. Make a list of the 10 people who have helped you most to this point. 
72. Buy yourself something that your really want
73. Donate something to charity
74. Spring cling your room, drawers, and closets at home.
75. Thing one on regret, horrible experience, or bad time. Write it down. Then throw it away.
76. Do Crandall’s Road “Writing Activity”
77. Kiss someone new (a peck on the cheek counts)
78. Look busy and productive at all times.
79. Ask a good question that really interests you. Start to answer.
80. Shoot. Ask another one. Go for it.
81. Okay, I want another one. Go.
    
82. Lose weight.
83. Gain weight.
84. Give Crandall a suggestion to be a better teacher.
85. Write a haiku for someone and give it to them.
86. Enjoy your prom
87. Discover 25 new words.
88. Borrow someone’s close and wear them for a day.
89. Go out for ice cream and love it.
90. Make a list of what you’ll miss most about high school
91. Learn all the keys on the keyboard. Memorize them.
92. Plant something.
93. Quit a bad habit.
94. Start a new one.
95. Do someone a favor. 
96. Go for a walk and talk with Crandall
97. Give evidence of Brown School value #1
98. Give evidence of Brown School value #2
99. Give evidence of Brown School value #3
100. Give evidence of Brown School value #4
101. Give evidence of Brown School value #5
102. Give evidence of Brown School value #6
103. Give evidence of Brown School value #7
104. .Give evidence of Brown School value #8
105. Give evidence of Brown School value #9
106.  Give evidence of Brown School value #10
107.  Find a cause. Fight for it.
108. Watch a movie from the year you were born.
109. Find trivia from the year you were born. 
110. Participate in final senior/kindergarten activities.
111. Create a goodie good-bye for you kindergarten partner.
112. Look up an old friend and say hello. 
113. Spend time with a retired person.
114. Learn at least 10 classmates middle names.
115. Hand someone a compliment.
116. Discuss the best cartoon ever.
117. If you were to have one famous person play you, who would it be and why.
118. Leave a surprise goodie treat for a custodian or staff member.
119. Find someone and randomly do a dance.
120. Make a list of what you hope for upon your graduation. 
121. Get someone to do something stupid with you.
122. Write down a good, clean joke
123. Write down another good, clean joke.
124. Impress a junior, sophomore, or freshman.
125. High five at least three of your teachers today.
126. Design your own entry
127. Design your own entry
128. Design your own entry
129. Design your own entry
130. Design your own entry