SEL Checks

SEL Checks

We all know how important social and emotional well-being is for our students' health.  Mo Haskamp, an 8th grade Global Studies teacher at MMW and a team of peers came up with a plan to do a daily check in on students Social and Emotional Learning.

When Mo's students come into the classroom each day, a QR code is up on the Smartboard.  Students scan it, and up pops a quick survey for them to take before class starts.  Part of it looks like this:

After clicking one of these images, the student has a chance to elaborate if they'd like to share more detail about how they are feeling.  Mo has learned valuable information from her students that has helped her become a better, more personalized teacher.  She's also been able to direct students toward appropriate help if they need it.

This is an example of a reasonable, efficient way to get a lot of information from students at the beginning of class.  Please reach out to Mo if you'd like to learn more about how she implements her Social Emotional Learning Checks at the beginning of each class!

Rec It Challenge

Jon Guimont is a paraprofessional who noticed that students struggled to understand how to best recycle and compost their food waste at the end of lunch period.  

He invented the "Rec It Challenge."

The Rec It Challenge (short for "Recycle It Challenge) is a fun competition between students in different lunch sections at MMW to see who can do the best job sorting between composting, recycling, and trash.  The game is centered around recycling and becoming a green school.  Students are encouraged to help each other out, so that they can earn the most correctly sorted bins.  The bins turn into points and the points are added up at the end of the month.  The lunch group who earns the most correctly sorted bins will earn a reward.  The challenge is a fun way for students to understand the importance of composting and recycling.

Jon started the challenge near the end of last year.  He's been very encouraged to see that the 7th and 8th graders this year are still taking that extra second to sort out their trays.  Remember, actions become your habits, habits become your character, and character becomes your destiny.  Looks like these students are off to a great start on creating themselves an Earth-friendly destiny, thanks to Jon and his Rec It Challenge.

Maybe your school wants to be next to start the Rec It Challenge!