Many students will attend class in person this fall for the first time in over a year. Every year, the start of a new school year provides an opportunity for connection development, but this year it will be especially crucial to reconnect with and get to know your kids personally.
Students must feel connected to peers and adults, view their identities as valued, and feel protected physically and emotionally in order for learning to take place. This will entail giving students the opportunity to share their stories, learn about their lives, and establish rituals and structures that foster a sense of connection and belonging.
We have put together getting-to-know-you questions to help you get to know your students about their learning. Although they can be converted into a multiple-choice style, the majority of questions are open-ended.
We encourage regional or institution administrators who are interested in fostering a sense of community and belonging among all members of the faculty and administration to share this article with them. This is a valuable tool to add to local or institutional resource websites, Tier 1 information hubs, or staff publications.
You are welcome to use these questions to learn more about your students in your classroom, whether they are present in person or not if you are an instructor, trainer, or educational coach. These getting-to-know-you questions work well during advisory sessions, daily briefings, morning gatherings, and small community brain breaks. Or, utilize them as a topic of conversation. Keep on reading if you want more motivation and suggestions for developing relationships with students all academic year.
1. What are your preferred pastimes?
2. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
3. Do you participate in community service?
4. What did you find the most challenging during the previous week?
5. Which book is your favorite?
6. What is your preferred TV program?
7. What is your preferred film?
8. What color is your favorite?
9. What is your preferred cuisine?
10. What do you enjoy having for breakfast?
11. If you have a favorite sport, what is it?
12. What animal would you choose to be for a day, and why?
13. What genre of music do you enjoy listening to?
14. Which instrument, if any, would you choose to learn to play?
15. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not in class?
16. What kind of education do you appreciate the best outside of the classroom?
17. What kind of ice cream is your personal fave?
18. What do you like to do best on the weekends?
19. Where would you go if you could go anyplace in the world?
20. Which emoji is your favorite or most used?
21. What are three fantastic things about you?
22. What is there about you that you wished people knew but they don’t?
23. What is a special talent you possess?
24. When you reach adulthood, what do you want to be?
25. What major global issue would you like to see resolved?
26. What is your greatest aspiration or objective in life?
27. What is your educational social and emotional major power?
28. Which of the following qualities best represents you, according to you: being funny, thoughtful, kind, or outgoing?
29. How do you like to communicate with your friends the most? by social media, phone or text conversation, or by physically meeting up?
30. What can your instructor do to get to know you effectively?
31. How can your teacher assist you if you’re having a bad day?
32. What is one thing about your teacher that you would like to know?
33. What do you believe to be the most crucial trait for a teacher to possess?
34. Who is an adult at your school that you can rely on?
35. Who is a school friend you can always count on?
See also: 100 Best Getting To Know You Questions
36. What do you do to unwind when you’re stressed?
37. What makes you feel the most valued and comprehended?
38. How would your family or friends characterize you?
39. What is anything for which you are grateful?
40. Where do the members in your family work?
42. What happens at your home during dinnertime?
43. What are some heirlooms or antiques from your family that best reflect your culture and identity?
44. Which language families, if any, do you speak (even rudimentarily)?
45. Who in your family do you look up to?
46. What is your favorite moment you’ve had with a relative?
47. What about your family do you like best?
48. What is a family custom you follow?
49. Do you and your family own pets? Would you like to own a pet if not?
50. What is the best recipe from your family?
51. Have you got any siblings? If not, do you prefer being an only child or would you like to have siblings?
52. What do you find most interesting, and why?
53. What subject do you find least interesting and why?
54. What is the greatest method for me to assist you as we work on that issue?
55. What one academic skill do you believe you have?
56. What one academic skill would you wish to develop the most?
57. What about school do you like best?
58. What do you dislike the most about learning?
59. What would you truly want to learn in school
60. Which of the following methods of learning—talking with people, listening, or reading—is your preferred method?
61. What would your ideal field trip be?
62. Do you prefer working on academics alone or in a group?
63. What is the best project or lesson you can recall from school?
64. What can I do to help you the most outside of class?
65. How would you like to be acknowledged if you completed a task or project well?
66. What are you most anticipating this academic year?
67. What is one thing about your teacher(s) this year that you would like to know?
68. What did you find to be the highlight of the previous week?
69. What did you find the most challenging this past week?
70. What more can teachers or other school-administered adults do to better support you?