Getting Started with Daily Questions to Boost Community and Incorporate SEL

Written by Emily Upton - Posted January 3, 2024

Are you looking for a simple yet powerful way to strengthen your classroom community and boost social-emotional learning? Are you struggling to find the time to cram social-emotional learning into your already jam-packed content block? Let me let you in on a secret: you do NOT need to incorporate all of the steps of a traditional morning meeting to foster those same connections in your classroom! You just need 15 minutes and one question each day to fit in a mini SEL lesson and build community!

Why Daily Questions?

First things first, why should you bother taking up your valuable class time with daily questions? Daily questions give your students a chance to connect, share, and grow together. It's an opportunity for them to express themselves, learn about their peers, and develop those all-important social and emotional skills.

The best part? You can fit them into a super short amount of time. That means you aren't losing instructional time, but you ARE getting the most bang for your buck by incorporating SEL into your daily routines!

Top Tips for Getting Started with Daily Questions:

Starting a new classroom routine can feel really daunting (especially in the middle of the year!). Here are my top tips for seamless integration of this new routine.

1. Make It a Daily Routine:

The beauty of daily questions lies in their consistency. Start by projecting the day's question on the board as your students walk into the classroom. Make it the very first thing they see when they enter. This sets a positive tone right from the get-go. Whether you're teaching math, science, or Taylor Swift 101 (okay, maybe not T Swift), include the daily question as the opening act in your daily teaching slides. It'll become an expectation, and you won't ever forget to do it! 

2. Finding the Perfect Timing:

Guess what? There's no one-size-fits-all rule here. Daily questions are super flexible! Got a random 10-minute gap between specials and lunch? Use it for your daily question. Need to calm down after an epic game of kickball at recess? Perfect time for a question. Want a smooth dismissal activity that won't turn into chaos? You guessed it—daily question to the rescue! These questions are like the Swiss Army knife of classroom activities. You can squeeze them into those spare moments in your schedule.

3. Mix It Up:

Life as a teacher is wonderfully unpredictable. You might have surprise assemblies, state testing, or a student who's feeling under the weather, all in one day. That's why it's essential to keep things fresh.

• Turn-and-Talk: When you've got a few minutes, pair students up to discuss the question with a partner. 
• Pick a Few Sharers: If time allows, call on a handful of students to share their thoughts with the class.
• Simultaneous Answers: When you're really crunched for time, consider having students respond all at once. For instance, they can stand up if they agree or stay seated if they disagree.

The key here is flexibility. Change things up based on the day's schedule and what works best for your class. Variety keeps the engagement levels high.

Let's Get Started!

Using daily questions for SEL and community building is the easiest way to build community and fit social-emotional learning into your daily lessons. By making it a part of your daily routine, finding those perfect moments to squeeze it in, and mixing up the sharing methods, you'll create a classroom environment where your students feel heard, valued, and connected.

The hardest part? Coming up with quality questions that work in some SEL every day! But, I've got you covered.

Want to grab 2 weeks of done-for-you daily questions? Click here!