This year I have decided to incorporate a daily check-in into my daily routine with my middle school students. Our school is looking closer at social-emotional health and how as teachers we can keep track of students who are struggling and offer the right support for them.
When I saw Stacy Yung’s blog on how she uses Google Forms as a quick way to check-in with students, I knew I had to add this to my classroom. This simple survey is an easy and private way for students to share with me how they doing mentally and what is going on in their lives. I am also using part of Erin’s (@makingastatementinsped) mental health check-in options within the form.
Last year, I had students go through some really hard things last year that really affected their academics. If my co-teacher and I had known how they were feeling at the beginning of class, we would have changed how we interacted with them throughout the lesson. We also could have gotten them to chat with a school psychologist before their day got worse.
How I Will Use This In Class
Every day my students will come into class and log into their Chrome Books at their desk. They will go to our Google Classroom and click on the link of this Daily Starter. This check-in should only take a few minutes to fill out while I am taking roll. Then, students will finish the prompt on the board or begin the task I have posted on the board. During this time, I will quickly check their answers.
How to Check the Answers
For those of you new to Google Forms you can check your answers here:
Then, click on the Google Sheets button:
This is where I check their answers quickly to see who is struggling for the day. Within my Google Sheet I used “conditional formatting” so that when a student answers a 1 or 2 or a “struggling” answer in the check-in it will automatically be highlighted red so I can see it easily.
How to Use Conditional Formatting for this Check-In
To have your form automatically highlight your student’s answers that indicate they are struggling start by clicking “Format” at the top of the page.
Next, click on “conditional formatting” within the options.
From here a box will pop up on the side. Click on the column you’d like to start with and click on “+ add another rule.”
From here, make sure the right range is there. Since I clicked on the “D” column then it should say “D1:D104” in the range box. Then, select the format rule, “Text is exactly.” In the box below is where you will put the phrase or number that should be highlighted automatically. Below that, I chose the color red as my highlight color but you can choose whatever you like.
Then, I will add another rule for the same column and in the text box, I will change it to “2” so that if they answer a 1 or a 2 then it will be highlighted.
From here, you can move onto the other column and highlight the answers. For the column where they choose how they are feeling today, I did the same thing I did above but instead, I just copy and paste the answers in the box. That way, if they choose either, “I’m struggling,” “I’m struggling and need a check-in,” or “I’m a dark place” then it will be highlighted for me. Remember to make a new rule for each phrase!
Phew! Now your Google Sheet is ready to use.
Add The Response Sheet to Your Bookmarks
Personally, I like to add this Google Sheet to my bookmarks so it is easily accessible every day. You can do this by clicking the star next to the url.
Adding the Form to Google Classroom
From here, you can add this check-in to your Google Classroom so that students fill it out every day. This video can show you how to do that easily. I have already started it at the right time for you.
Here is a Copy of My Check-In
If you prefer to just use a copy of my Daily Check-In, you can make a copy here. *Just be sure to add in your own Bitmoji or you can delete the images altogether!
So tell me, will you be using this in your classroom? I’d love to know how you will incorporate it!