Written by Emily Upton - Posted February 28, 2024
How often do you take the time to check in with your students about how they're doing inside and outside of the classroom? With 30 students, it's impossible to have one-on-one conversations with every student consistently. The solution is incorporating a weekly check-in form into your classroom! In this blog post, I'll share my top tips for incorporating a weekly check-in into your classroom routine, and why it's a game-changer for building relationships with your students.
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Why You Should Check In With Your Students
Implementing a weekly check-in form in the upper elementary gives you a sneak peek into the lives of your students inside and outside the classroom. This can help you to foster connections and teach them better! When your students feel cared about and like they're part of a community, they are more willing to work hard on tough academics.
Do your kiddos always want to tell you a million stories you don't have time for? Checking in with a weekly form can help! It gives your students an outlet and dedicated time to tell you about their grandma's cat and frees up your lesson time throughout the week to avoid those off-track stories.
Check-ins are also a way to fit a little social-emotional learning into your weekly schedule. SEL skills such as self-awareness, identifying emotions, and conflict resolution can be easily fit into your weekly questions. This practice not only helps students feel seen and valued for who they are but also gives you insight into how you can better support your students.
Top Tips For Using Weekly Check-Ins
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1. Use a Consistent Format
Fitting yet another thing into your jam-packed lessons can be daunting. But checking in with your students doesn't have to be overwhelming! Use a consistent weekly format so students know what to expect. This will help them complete the check-in quicker than if you switch it up each week. Also, have them complete the check-in at the same time in your schedule each week. I liked to have my students complete their check-in as their warm-up on Fridays! Your check-ins can be digital or printable. I always liked having my students complete a Google Form because I could quickly scroll through their responses in real-time.
2. Vary Some of the Questions
Just because you are using the same format each week doesn't mean you can't change up some of the questions! I liked to have a few basic questions (like tell me something good that happened this week or a goal for next week) that stayed the same each week, and a few that changed based on the season or our SEL focus of the week. By switching up what you ask each week, you will avoid the "I don't know" responses and keep your students engaged throughout the year.
3. Make Time to Share or Respond
Don't just toss those weekly check-ins in the trash! They can be a great way to build community. Give your students the chance to share with their peers (but don't force it in case they share sensitive info). My favorite way to build community with my students was to respond to their weekly check-ins! They submitted their forms on Friday morning, and I would type a quick response to set on their desk Monday morning. I always made one of the questions "do you want a response?" so that the kiddos who wanted that back-and-forth communication got it! It does take a little time to respond to everyone, but I found that when I typed the responses I could move pretty quickly.
Weekly Check-In Forms for SEL Integration
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