Check-ins
Overview
Checking in with learners, or taking the time to talk with individual learners about their experiences or goals, is important for fostering a positive classroom environment. Check-ins allow educators to understand learners' experiences more deeply and build trusting relationships that can support students' Emotions and Learner Mindset. Check-ins may be informal, yet intentional, or involve more formalized procedures such as those in the “check-in, check-out” (CICO) system, an evidence-based practice aligned with the Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports (PBIS) framework. “Check-in, check-out” provides touchpoints for a student to support progress towards a goal with other adults outside of the classroom such as an administrator, guidance counselor or buddy teacher. The emphasis on consistent, positive, collaboration with an adult embedded within formal and informal check-ins make this an effective practice with trauma-exposed youth, promoting trust, safety, empowerment, and supportive relationships between students and teachers. When implementing check-in strategies, educators should ensure they are framed within culturally responsive practices, respecting backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of all learners.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch as these elementary school teachers implement Check-ins with students focused on goal-related behavior and feedback.
Design It into Your Product
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Culturally Responsive Strategies
Developing empathy in educators and in learners is an iterative process that requires taking the time to understand and honor others' perspectives.
Developing cultural awareness as an educator is an ongoing process that includes a recognition and appreciation for the full diversity of students and an understanding of how one's own Identity intersects with students' identities.
Discussing race with students can range from conversations on cultural celebration (e.g., celebrating the importance of diversity) to developing critical consciousness (e.g., understanding the impact of social inequities like racism and how to dismantle it).
A first step to supporting learners is truly understanding who they are.
Equitable grading systems and practices reimagine how to communicate student progress and mastery through various methods that reduce subjectivity and increase opportunities to learn.
Family engagement happens when educators and schools collaborate with families to collectively support their child's learning in meaningful ways, both at school and at home.
Learning about students' cultures and connecting them to instructional practices helps foster a Sense of Belonging, increase positive student Identity development, and mitigate Stereotype Threat.
Culturally responsive texts include those that reflect different facets of students' identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic, and disability status, as well as the intersections of those identities.
Shadowing a student involves an educator, administrator, or designated adult observing a learner across different parts of their day to deepen their understanding of that learner's experience beyond their classroom.
Translanguaging is a flexible classroom practice enabling students to listen, speak, read, and write across their multiple languages or dialects, even if the teacher does not have formal knowledge of these additional languages.
