🙋‍♀️ Really get to know your new students

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💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

✅ Back to school: Student interest surveys

In those first days back to school, so many new faces walk through your classroom door.

(Or, if you teach at a small school like I always have, you recognize lots of the faces and names … but there’s always something to learn about those students!)

They want to trust their teachers. Students want to know that they’re seen … known … understood … valued.

Spending some time getting to know those students can be a great investment that pays serious dividends.

A good start: student interest surveys.

1. Ask students about their interests. Their lives. Their families. You’ll learn a lot — and it’ll give you lots of material for follow-up questions with individual students later on.

2. You’ll notice trends that might surprise you. You might find that a particular class of sophomores is interested in anime. Or that this year’s fourth grade class likes animals much more than previous years.

3. You’ll get insights you can use while teaching. Slipping a student interest into an example or analogy can make learning feel more relevant. Plus, students will know you were paying attention.

🔑 KEY TO SUCCESS: Read the surveys — and then actually use the results. Otherwise, it can look like you’re not really paying attention. (And it’ll be a missed opportunity.)

🛠 TOOLS: Google Forms (or Microsoft Forms) is a great tool for these. You can review the results easily in a spreadsheet. But there’s no shame in using paper surveys!

🤖 BONUS: AI can help with the process. Ask an AI assistant like ChatGPT or Google Gemini for questions. You can even upload your spreadsheet of results and as AI to analyze them to summarize and provide insights. (Tip: Make a copy of the spreadsheet and remove student names before submitting to the AI assistant to protect privacy.)

I’ve included some copy/paste AI prompts you use (and modify) to help you create your surveys — and get AI analysis of the results.

Read: Student interest surveys to connect learning to their world

💻 TECH TIP 💻

🗣 “Talk for me” by Padlet

Padlet (padlet.com) just added a new feature that’s great for accessibility — and that has this world languages teacher giddy! 😆

WHAT IS PADLET: It’s like a digital bulletin board. Add “notes” that include a variety of multimedia to make maps, timelines, portfolios … even collaborative spaces. (Free version includes 3 Padlet boards; paid Classroom accounts include unlimited boards)

“Talk for me” lets you add a text note to a Padlet board that students can play as audio. Consider:

• Narrating poetry or plays

• Making instructions more accessible

• World languages listening activities

Just add a post to a board. Reveal all of the attachment options. Then click “Talk for me.” Add up to 1,000 characters … then convert the text to audio. Learn more here.

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!