Every August, I sit down and tweak the same sheet I’ve been using for years now. If you’ve been looking for a way to get to know your students better than ever, read on. 28 years into this profession, and I’m still rewriting questions, still swapping out prompts, still trying to get it a little more right than I did the year before. Make this the year you get to know your students better than ever!
The sheet is simple: a “Getting to Know You” handout I give every student, every class, every year. Some highlights from this year’s sheet include a values board, a current event students wish would come to life in class, and three songs for a class playlist. It looks like an icebreaker, but it’s more than that. It’s the first brick in every relationship I build all year.
Why It’s Never Too Late to Get to Know Your Students
It doesn’t have to happen in week one. Two years ago, I handed this sheet to a student who transferred in halfway through the year. She was brave enough to write that she had a sister who had passed away. That one line let me connect with her beyond the math, beyond the classroom, human to human, before we ever got to slope or systems of equations.
That’s the whole point of this post, and honestly the whole point of how I try to teach: it’s never too late to get to know your students. Not in September, not in February, not the week before finals. The door is always open if you’re the one holding it.
Turning Student Interests Into Engaging Math Lessons
Research supports the importance of strong teacher–student relationships for learning. In a meta-analysis of 99 studies, Roorda and colleagues (2011) found that positive, supportive teacher–student relationships were linked to greater school engagement and higher academic achievement, whereas negative relationships were linked to poorer outcomes.
evidencebasedmentoring
Once you know your students, the math gets more intriguing.
A few years ago, a student mentioned on this same sheet that she already ran her own small business but didn’t know how to grow it. That one sentence turned into lessons on data tracking, customer surveys, and analysis, perfect topics to talk about in an Algebra 2 Data Science class. We’re talking real numbers, from a business this student actually cared about. It also sparked something bigger: our school now regularly highlights student-run businesses, all because I asked a kid what she does with her spare time and actually ran with the answer.
That’s the pattern I see over and over. A song on a class playlist becomes a lesson on ratios or patterns. A current event a student wants to see “come to life” becomes the hook for a whole unit. Interests aren’t a distraction from the curriculum. They are the doorway into it, which is why I love speaking with teachers all over the world about this. As teachers, we just have to know what’s on the other side of the door, and this sheet is how I find out.
Download the Free Getting-to-Know-You Sheet
Take it. Tweak it. Make it yours.
Below is the exact sheet I used this year. Click the image to grab your own copy. Change the colors, swap a question, make it fit your students and your style. That’s what I do every single year.
If you use it, tweak it, or want to talk through how to turn what you learn into real classroom content, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out! Best wishes for an amazing start to your year!