Getting+to+Know+Your+Students+Activities

The way I got to know my students was in two ways. The first way was that the school councilor had the freshmen class take a survey about what they need help with. On this survey many checked that they needed help with time management/turning in assignments on time. Many others said they needed help with low self-esteem. This helped me to understand why those students act out during class. I also wrote my students a letter telling them about myself. My letter included things like where I grew up and what high school I went to. I also included some information about my family and things that I like to do on my spare time. I found that many of the students were really interested about me and really wanted to tell me about themselves also. I found that the activity allowed students to really open up and tell me really personal information. I feel that it has made me closer to my students and that they know that I care about what they say. I wish I could answer every letter that students wrote to me but that would take me forever. I also found it a little difficult to decide what I should put in my letter I didn’t want to give them too much information about my personal life but I wanted them to get to know me outside of being their teacher.
 * Getting to know my students from Nancy **

**Toilet Humor from Rebecca:**
In order to get to know my students better, I chose an activity involving toilet paper. Several rolls of toilet paper were passed around the room. Students were told to "take as much as they need to get the job done". After all the students took what they "needed", they had to stand up and give out one piece of information about themselves for every piece of toilet paper they took. I chose this activity for several reasons. Toilet paper is funny; the words "to get the job done" made the students burst out in laughter. This activity also comically abused the "smartass" who tried to take half a roll of toilet paper. I knew I would not have a problem with participation since teens are inherently egocentric and want to talk about themselves. It also indirectly gave students power over their fate and did not make me look like a nosey adult probing into their lives. The activity and its effectiveness went about as well as I thought it would. Students thought it was funny and even asked to go again. I assumed there would be a couple of students that would refuse to participate, but they bowed to peer pressure quickly. Most of what the students had to say was typical, and after performing the activity with three different classes I can't remember any one student's comment that stood out. The girls of the class generally disclosed information such as "I like to sing" and "My best friend is...". The males of the class stated they liked sports and could rap. There was one piece of information that ran rampant in all of the classes that I did not expect. The teens felt it was necessary within the first few pieces of paper to state that they were //heterosexual//. This hit me strangely. Why teens would be obsessed with making sure that everyone thought they were straight in this day and age is beyond me. I guess you learn something every day.

**Idea from Nick:**
In my classroom, students got to know each other through a teacher-led activity in which each student wrote his or her name along with a personal fact about his or her self on a small sheet of paper. The facts had to be ones that students would not mind sharing with the class. They did this silently and did not share their facts with others. The teacher gathered each slip of paper and put them into a hat. At the start of each day, the teacher would pull out a piece of paper and read the personal fact, but not the student’s name. She would then have the students try to guess who wrote the fact. If students were unable to guess who wrote the fact by about 4 guesses, the teacher would reveal the answer. This method was effective because students not only learned each other’s names, but an additional fact about each other. I was able to witness the effectiveness of this, as student’s recalled over a week later: “That’s Glen; he’s the one that likes spaghetti.”

The facts themselves varied. Some students stuck to the basics with facts such as “My favorite foods are spaghetti & meatballs and fried chicken.” Other students got a little more personal with facts like “I am an only child” and “I don’t know who my father is”. Only a few students were able to guess who wrote the fact right away; most facts took at least 2 guesses to get right. Oddly, students who seemed 100% certain that they knew who had written a particular fact were often wrong.

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to implement an activity of my own, as students have been very busy reviewing and preparing to take a unit test soon. When given the chance, however, I will likely use an activity called “International Day”. This will be similar to the activity described above, but it will involve more artistic expression and kinesthetic learning:

Have each student create a flag, logo, coat of arms, or anything artistic to represent his or her desk, or “country”. Colors could be anything, or symbols could be relevant to cultural backgrounds, country, city, etc. Each student should also make up a name for his/her country that contains the student’s name, and prepare a nametag. In addition, have them think of 3 facts about themselves that they would not mind sharing with the entire class. Students should get about 10-15 minutes to finish this activity with art supplies. After that, one half of the class will get up and walk to the other side of the room and spend 1-2 minutes gathering the name of and 3 facts about a student seated at his/her desk. The students will then switch roles and go back and forth until each student has visited (depending on time) 2 different students. Students will then share the facts they picked up until every student has been discussed.

**Idea from Mary:**
I decided to go a very traditional route when it came to getting to know my students. I decided it would be interesting to have them write to me about themselves outside of school. I have the students free write about themselves for 5 minutes as their bell ringer on the first day. Some seemed into it, others not so much. I do have to say, the activity not only gives me a look into the students' lives outside of school, but it's great practice for their writing as well.

I took a similar approach to Mary. I had my students write me a short letter in which they had to include their name and any nickname they like to be called; their year in school; something they are excited about and something they are worried about for when I take over. Just about every student completed it and many went above and beyond what I was expecting. My goal was by making this more personal, students would share more with me and that is exactly what happened. It also let me not use class time, so I was able to plan a full lesson for that day. Besides getting to know them, I was able to see each student's writing style, and it is immediately obvious who the stronger writers are. I now have a full list of things I need to work with my classes on regarding their writing. At the very end of the instructor sheet, I asked them to staple it to the front of their letter just as a test to see who actually read all of the directions and who just glanced at it.
 * Idea from Alex B:**

I really did not create a unique exercise to get to know the students better; however, the students had to do an assignment which they had to connect to it personally. All students taking social studies had to respond to a prompt in which they had to relate to a quote. I strongly emphasized that students should concentrate in relating to the quote than doing a research on the prompt. I used this opportunity to ask students questions and try to find out their interest, hobby, or story. We managed to spend a few days working on the essay which allowed me to help students write their essay and in that process I learned a few things about them.
 * Getting to know my students from Alex R**.

The essay was an opportunity that presented itself, which gave me a chance to get to know my students better. However if I had to design an activity to get to know my students, I would probably would have done something standard. For example, I would have a short letter that introduces me to the students. Then I would give students a few minutes to read it. After that, I would give students time to respond to that letter.


 * Yacker Tracker Activity**

This is the stop light noise monitor I mentioned in class. One of the teachers at my school uses it and he says its effective in keeping the noise down. He was saying how he would often tell his kids it was getting to loud when the class was working in groups, but whats "too loud." With the yacker tracker he was able to pin point a noise level(about 79 decibels) at which the groups could discuss but at the same time not get too loud.

The "Attention Getter" is also available on the site. I've never seen that one being used in a classroom but I doubt its as good as Julies monkey!

[|http://yackertracker.com]