3 ways to continue building connections in the classroom

Now that the school year is in full swing, you may be looking for ways to get creative about how to build one-on-one student relationships. Using Along’s reflection questions, you can gain valuable insights about each individual student—but they’re also a great way to spot trends.

For example, try exploring Along’s content—organized into Collections for easy searching—and choose the following reflection question from “Sparks and strengths”:

A spark is a talent or interest that brings joy to a person’s life. What is your spark? Why?

After sending the question and their own response to students, you may notice that you received particularly engaging answers back. 

Here are some ideas for what to do next:

Build classroom community and belonging

Why not bolster this enthusiasm from students and explore the full collection? You can choose another reflection question to send, furthering your insights about each student.

Or, take a look at the research-backed activities within the collection. By incorporating one of the related activities into in-person class time, such as “Identify Your Sparks” or “Make a Strengths Chain,” you can continue to support students’ sense of belonging while also fostering connections amongst the entire class.

Teach a skill or strategy

As the school year progresses, you may be considering how to help your students develop skills such as goal setting or stress management. Using Along, you can assist your students by using the content in the skill-related collections. 

Within the “Focus” collection, for example, you could choose to send, “What are the biggest distractions when trying to focus?.” You may identify that some students could use additional support. From there, educators can do a quick, related activity, like the “Focus With the 5-4-3-2-1 Method.”

Check in with students

There may be times during the school year when students are sorting through their feelings, perhaps in response to a specific event. Why not choose a reflection question that may help them to process their feelings, such as “What emotions have you been experiencing lately?”

From there, you can consider a follow up classroom activity like “Write to Express Emotions.” Along offers reflection questions and activities to help “check in” with students and to nurture their emotional growth and development.

Looking for more ways to support students? Check out our “Continue the connections in the classroom” resource, or log into the Along content library today

Happy connecting!