Sharing Good Practice
Get to know your students at
the start of the school year
By Melissa Monney
who differs from the person making
the statement.
b) “Personality BINGO”- using a
regular BINGO game card, students
write their different personality traits
into the squares. The educator (or
another student) uses his/her own
BINGO completed card and reads
his/her own traits. Students cover the
squares if they have the same traits
until there is a winner.
c) “Elimination”- students generate
statements that are put into a bowl.
Students stand as the educator reads
the statements; the students who do
not identify with the statement are
eliminated. The game continues until
there is only one person standing.
Student Records/Research
“Children learn more from who you
are than what you teach.” - Unknown
T
he beginning of the school year
sets the foundation for the rest
of the year, thus setting the
right tone for the way you want
the remainder of the school year to go
is imperative. The start of the school
year is the opportune time to get to
know the students who will be under
your guidance for the year. Apart from
observations and interactions with
the students, there are several ways
that educators can get to know their
students at the start of the school year.
Have a look below.
Questionnaire/Survey
Employing the use of questionnaires
or surveys is one way in which
educators can get to know their
“target audience”- their students.
Take into consideration subject matter
and yearlong learning objective(s).
The questions posed should be age
(and culturally) appropriate in assisting
the educator with getting to know the
students, and in helping to facilitate
a more student-centered learning
environment. Questionnaires/surveys
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could be academic, personal or a
combination of both. For example, a
learning style survey about how the
student prefers to learn, questions
about the student’s experience in
the subject or student personal
interests and/or goals. The type
of questionnaire/survey given, will
be dependent on the educator’s
goals and purpose for asking such
questions.
Questionnaires/surveys
provide the educator with the answers
to questions posed, and can be used
as an informal assessment of student
ability and language skills.
Games
Many educators have heard the
saying “do not smile until December”;
however, playing games is a good
source of receiving information on
students.
Three fun and easy games
that educators can play to get
to know students better are:
a) “Hot Seat”- place a chair in the front
of the class. The first person begins by
saying something about him/herself;
the “hot seat” is given to the person
Class Time
Aside from the aforementioned
methods, one of the best ways of
getting to know students is by viewing
student files, as they contain pertinent
information related to student’s
health, personal and academic
records. Additionally, educators can
consult with other educators or staff
to collect other types of data on the
student, such as classroom behaviour,
personality and possible interventions
that have been used or worked well
(or not so well) with the student in the
past.
Having a combination of these
methods would be a great way to
get to know students better as you
progress towards a successful school
year. Keep in mind that all of these
are just avenues, and the best way
for getting to know your students
will come from daily direct student
interaction, because “students don’t
care what you teach, until they know
that you care.”
Useful Links:
http://www.edcc.edu/trio/documents/
LearningStyleInventory.pdf
http://www.csun.edu/science/ref/
management/student-questionnaire/studentquestionnaires.html
http://712educators.about.com/od/
icebreakers/a/Back-To-School-StudentQuestionnaire.htm