Do Quick and Fun Check-Ins Regularly

NOTE: This strategy is part of the self-paced Nurture a Meaning Learning Community Course

Getting to know learners and building relationships can take time but dedicating a little bit of time each day or throughout the day through a variety of small routines and activities can go a long way. Check-in questions can range from silly prompts such as “would you rather?” to asking students to tell stories and share something deeper about themselves.

Bright Spots

Gain inspiration from authentic examples of this strategy shared by teachers who have used them with their learners.

Creating your own Bright Spots? Let’s get them out into the world! Share yours here.

Human Scavenger Hunt Bingo

Source: bingobaker.com

Generate a scavenger hunt card with your own prompts and have students walk around the room trying to see if they can find a signature from different classmates for each square of the card. This activity requires that students (and teachers who participate too!) ask questions of their classmates and learn about them.

Daily Themes

Use a different theme for each day to focus on for a daily activity to get to build community

Source: Megan Margerum on Twitter

Stand Up If…

Use this check-in or energizer (and come up with your own statements) even in the middle of class to get students sharing about themselves in a low-risk way that also gets them physically moving. Another version of this is a cross the line activity.

Hullaballoo

Source: A Word on Third Blog

You can use this activity during a class meeting, as an energizer in the middle of a lesson or at the end of a long day to get out some energy. Call out one way students should move around the room (the first column), one way students should greet each other (the second column) and one topic they should share about. Then students move around the room according to the directions, find a partner, greet them according to the directions and then share about the topic with their partner.

Resources

Inspired? Use the resources below to bring this learner-centered strategy to your learning community.
📖 Icebreakers that rock
📖 Would you rather questions
📖 Rose & thorn check-in

Associated Learner-Centered Competencies:

Build Relationships: I invest time to get to know my learners and for my learners to know me. (Authentic-Spark Collaboration)

Plan & Design for Equitable SEL: I design learning experiences that develop social and emotional skills and model my own social-emotional learning for learners.

Build Community with Learners:
I build learners’ ability to be in a community with others, especially those of different backgrounds, identities, and strengths.