Note: Any time a teacher models these activities, or participates with students, we create another opportunity for students to learn about our identities, experiences, interests.
| Activity | Description | Examples | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student Surveys |
An information collection tool that can serve as a starting point for developing your knowledge about your students. At its most basic, an effective beginning-of-year student survey should:
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First-Day-of-School Surveys: Get to Know Students
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https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/back-to-school-student-survey-questionnaire.shtml Relay GSE Designers. (2015). New York: Relay GSE. |
| Student Interviews |
Student surveys can be done in an interactive way that allows students to learn about one another. Have students use select survey questions to interview one another and record responses that you can collect to read later. |
Pro-tip 1: Ensure the questions do not ask students to reveal sensitive information Pro-tip 2: Allow students the option to not answer a question that feels too personal. Ask them to write it down to share only with you. |
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| Storytelling |
Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways in which people build connections with one another. Many teachers have students share what they did during their summer vacation on the first day of school. However, the right prompt can get students to reveal more about themselves. Students can share these stories in writing, orally, using pictures, or any combination of these. |
Share...
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| Creating Digital Stories | Students are encouraged to use multimodal technology (photographs, video, animation, sound, performance, print, etc) to capture aspects of their communities and lives and to tell a story of who they are. They may tell a story of their neighborhoods, communities, families, or any other context or cultural membership that shapes their lives. They can present the story in any way they like. | Muhammad, G. (2000) Cultivating Genius : An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy p. 76. Scholastic Teaching Resources | |
| Create Your Own Name Tag | Give students paper and markers to create a name tent that will be displayed on their desk for the first few weeks so they can learn their classmates’ names. Ask students to write their preferred name and three to five symbols, words, or drawings that best represent them. After they finish, they can share their name tent and their symbols with their group mates. | https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-learning-stations-kick-year | |
| Create an “All About Me” Bag | Provide each student with a paper lunch bag. Ask them to decorate the outside with words or images of things they like or what others can easily see about them. Have them place several objects in the bag that represent or symbolize things not easily known about them (e.g., a pet toy that belongs to their cat, a photo of them playing soccer, etc.). If you make one yourself, you can share it in your introduction—it can serve as a model. Give class time for them to share with a partner and in small groups. | https://www.edutopia.org/article/relationships-matter-more-rules | |
| My Values |
Ask students to identify 2-3 values, then write about why they are important to them. Read more about the impact of values affirmation here. |
See overview, activity sheet, and example here. | https://characterlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/grit_myvalues.pdf |
| Six Word Memoirs | Give students a simple prompt: Can you tell your life story in six words? Learn more about the exercise here. | See examples and resources for teachers using this in schools. | https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/community/six-in-schools/ |
| Would You Rather? | Researchers found that self-revealing questions, rather than superficial questions, would decrease anxiety and build psychological trust among strangers, especially people from different backgrounds. In this activity, people are asked to choose between two options and share why. | Would you rather…
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https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/would-you-rather/ |