Getting to know your students

The first days of school are great for getting first impressions of your new students. Collecting information from students is interesting and fun when they are given open ended sentences to complete. You can gain insight on their personality (i.e. are they extroverts or introverts), learn about their interests (for differentiation), and fun facts about them personally.

Some of my favorite open ended sentences to use for my beginning of the year questionnaire are: 1) I learn from teachers best when… 2) I don’t learn from teachers that… 3) In math, I struggle with… 4) Last year in math my grades were… 5) Three things you should know about me are…

Creating a back to school questionnaire for your students should match your personality as a teacher and should be fun for students to complete. Students love to open up about themselves, especially when they don’t have to share in front of their classmates. It’s also fun to read student responses back to them at the end of the school year so they can hear how they have changed!