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Getting to know your students

January 31, 2019

Welcome back to our Members and eNews Subscribers. A special welcome to new members who have joined in recent days.

This is a busy time of year as teachers, support staff and other school professionals meet new students, organise programs, teaching and learning activities and resources. We would like to share five ideas that you might use to get to know more about your students.

To introduce these activities some teachers, make a very short PowerPoint presentation sharing a few things about themselves, including something unique, or surprising. Students generally find this interesting and motivating for sharing things about themselves.

The activities are designed to encourage students to share a little about themselves, but do not delve too much into personal or family life at this point in the year. Teachers can usually gauge whether a student feels comfortable about the information they choose to share, and whether some information might be best left to be shared at a later time.

  1. Pair students. Challenge them to each find out three interesting things about their partner within three minutes. Have each student then introduce their partner to the class by name and share one thing they found most interesting about them.
  2. Sit the class in a circle. Ask students to take turns to introduce themselves, with their preferred name and to share their favourite book, film or game. Prepare students to tell a little about this favourite book, film or game and why they enjoy it.
  3. Provide art materials. Have students create a poster or picture showing something they engaged in during the holiday period, with a sentence or two to accompany their artwork. Display their work, with their name and where possible, a photo of the student.
  4. Give out two strips of paper. On one strip the student writes their name, on the other they write or draw something they would like to learn this year. Sit in a circle and place the strips with the things students want to learn in the middle. Students place their own name in their laps. Teachers and students then try to match each learning interest in turn with the student who listed it. When guessed, display the two matched strips to encourage further dialogue, and to help you to think about how to engage and motivate each student based on their interests.
  5. Learning technologies. Students list all the digital technologies they have interacted with or used before school today. Teachers and students can then make a mind map, a Venn diagram or other pictorial presentation showing the different technologies that have been used that morning. Some students could write a brief description.

If you have a good idea, please share your thoughts below.

One simple reminder for this year – remember to speak to each student in a positive way each day.

Good luck with 2019. If you are currently not a member, it is easy to join today by clicking here for options Join Now

Murray Evely, Psych4Schools Psychologist / Guidance Officer