You are asking the wrong questions to the kids who are coming into your classroom on the first day of school. How do I know? Because we all ask the same, wrong, questions! Let’s see if you have asked a student any of these questions before.
How was your summer?
Did you do anything fun this summer?
Are you ready to be back at school?
It’s not your heart that is in the wrong place. It’s the fact that we already know the answers to the three questions. Ready for this? I may be psychic. The answers to the three questions are… fine, not much, and no. Try it out. See if I really have tapped into the dark arts of reading the minds of teenagers.
Instead, we need to be focused on opening the doors into the lives of the students a little bit at a time. This means getting to know them. And not getting to know them in a “let’s play a first day of school mixer game”. Rather, it should be to answer the question, “What do we know about our students?”
I have compiled a list of questions to help you think about how you are interacting with the students on the first days of school. The key to most of these questions is that the phrasing should be with some extreme. That means asking questions with words like ‘most’, ‘least’, ‘farthest’, ‘highlight’, ‘surprise’, etc. These words can be applied to so many different scenarios and it makes the kids actually think about their experiences and connect to you in a deeper way.
1. What was the highlight of the last week of summer?
By asking the highlight, it forces the student to decide what was best. It does not force them to think about the fact that their rich buddy got to go to Maui and they had to stay home. A highlight could be a personal best score on Geometry Dash. Limiting the time frame also speeds up the thought process for them as well as giving insight to how they were leading up to the school year.
2. What is the farthest distance you got from home?
Again, insights can come from this. It might be the grocery store or it might be the Philippines (which was mine this year!).
3. What are you least looking forward to about school?
This can expose some weaknesses or worries. Maybe you can come along side a worried student in support.
4. What was the most exciting experience you had this summer?
The student gets to define exciting. This is better than asking about what cool things they did. You see what lights their fire.
5. What teacher are you most excited to see again this year?
This question can open some doors into their thinking. If they say there aren’t any teachers that they are excited to see, then you know the first part of their perspective about school. If there is one, that creates a conversation with the teacher to find out the best way to serve that kid.
6. Who makes you happiest because they are in this class?
This helps show you relationships that might already exist and you can leverage.
7. What activity do you wish you could have done more of this summer?
The likely answer will be sleep. But if you dig a little past that, you might be able to find a driving passion in a kid’s life.
8. What was the best skill you learned this summer?
The kid probably hasn’t ever thought about their skill set. But if you can get them to think about it for a second, it can open them up and help you understand them. If you asked this question to my youngest son, he would probably say “Driving a dump truck.” Then you would be able to follow up with a couple of questions, one about the legality of a 14 year old driving farm equipment, and the other a reason why. This opens a kid to actually talking.
9. What was the most challenging thing you accomplished this summer?
They get to define challenge. This could be eye-opening to you.
10. What brings you the greatest joy about being back at school?
I know, I know. Nothing. Nothing brings you joy. But really, if you can find out what sparks their interest about school, you can connect to them more deeply.
I hope that this list will be a brainstorm for you on how you will ask questions. Will it catch kids off guard? Absolutely. Will it create better insights into the lives of your students? Absolutely. Will you be better able to teach them a challenging chemistry class because of a better understanding of the faces in your room. Also, absolutely.
So, what are you most excited about for the first two days of school?
Want another way to connect to your students in ways that are unexpected? Sit down and play a game with them. You will discover their competitive fire, their understanding, and their logical thought processes. Especially when the games teach your curriculum. Try Up & Atom to help you teach the relationships among moles, grams, and atoms. Use CHeMgO to help students write ionic formulas. And coming soon, Trendy! Trendy will go on pre-order very soon. Help your students understand the periodic trends of atomic radius, effective nuclear charge, electronegativity, first ionization and electron affinity. In a game. Dang, that’s cool.
Comments