Embed brief daily wellbeing check-ins across academic courses to build student-teacher connection¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The report describes small, embedded moments of wellbeing focus throughout the school day as a low-cost strategy with outsized impact. A CASEL panelist suggested a math teacher spend 45 seconds polling the class on how they felt about the lesson, noting that "the research shows if a teacher does that literally every day, in a month those kids are going to feel like they're connected to that teacher." Suffern is operationalizing this by setting an expectation that 90 seconds of each course include a teacher check-in, yielding nearly 10 minutes of daily wellbeing focus across five subjects.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Teachers set a consistent expectation for a brief check-in within each academic course

Constraints¶

• The report attributes the connection benefit to research cited by a panelist rather than presenting outcome data itself

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students
• academic teachers

Target Learning Goals¶

• student-teacher connection
• daily recognition of student feelings and wellbeing

Related Strategies¶

• Labeling Emotions Throughout The Day
• Mini Classroom Exercise Breaks
• Integrate Emotions into Daily Schedule and Routine
• Focus on Enjoyable Moments
• Social Emotional Learning Curricula
• Social Emotional Learning Routines
• Social Emotional Learning Integration
• Mindfulness Practice
• Embed practical stress-management and self-care strategies into existing daily routines
• Integrate mindfulness throughout the school day via mindful moments, pausing before reacting, and reflective norms

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Russell, Christina A. (2023, April). Centering wellbeing: Advancing social emotional learning for all. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/177