Checking in on Students’ Well Being

I went into my colleague’s room the other day and I noticed she had her “mood of the day” posted on the wall. In the corner of her whiteboard, in the front of the classroom, she kept a little section on her information simply to communicate about her. One thing she communicated was her mood. The mood was a simple emoji face.

I instantly loved this idea of sharing her mood so students knew how to interact with her but it also struck me that it is equally as important for teachers to know about our students’ mindset as they enter the classroom. After all, if students are feeling glum, annoyed, or tired, they are probably not going to learn.

Get your mood of the day poster here!

I instantly got to work making a poster of emoji faces so students can enter the classroom and quietly and non-verbally communicate to me how they feel. The poster is simply an 8.5 x 11 sheet that I had enlarged to poster size. Then I laminated small emoji faces that expressed how students were feeling. I made several copies of each face since the chance of many students feeling the same was is likely. I then put what I call blue putty (you can see here) and placed behind the emoji faces so they are on the wall next to the poster. You can also set the emoji faces in a basket with some tape next to it too. I like to use painters tape since it won’t take the paint off the wall.

I also made some cute cactus emojis to express how I was feeling. I just tape the cute emotions strip to my teacher board so students can see how I feel when they enter the room. I guess if I am feeling angry or grumpy, they will know not to mess with me!

I think being able to gauge students’ emotions can be super helpful in the classroom and how we present information. How will you monitor emotions in your classroom?

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