Must-Have Brilliant Student Survey Hack for Middle Schoolers

Student surveys are one of the most popular activity at the start of a new class. 
 
In an effort to get to know students, teachers often give students a survey full of questions about their interests.
 
This is a great opportunity to allow each student to share with you, in a private capacity.

​But, my teachers are losing out on a big opportunity if their survey is primarily interest based.
 
In this post, you’ll discover an easy survey hack that I’ve been using for years that yields powerful results.


The Student Survey

To fully benefit from this particular hack, there’s one thing you need to know first. 
 
Are you anxiously awaiting to hear what it is?
 
First, you must realize that the most effective student surveys include more than just interest questions about favorite sports, books, or hobbies.
 
Sure, you can include them. But only a select few. 
 
What you really want to know about students, are their work habits. 
 
More specifically, you want to know about their homework habits and their study habits. 
 
Instead of leaving these as open ended questions, it helps if you give students some multiple choice options here. And then give them an opportunity to add a comment if they choose. 
 
If your students are new to middle school, then you will definitely want to know where they are at – and if they have concerns.
 
Then ask your students about what sort of goals they have for the school year – or for the duration of your class with them.  This can give you great insight for what you might expect from them while they are in your class.
 
And finally, you want to give students a chance to share anything they want you to know about themselves.


The Brilliant Survey Hack

Okay, now on to the really good stuff.  What is the brilliant hack that will give you more insight to your students?
 
Send home a Parent Survey that mirrors the student survey.
 
There are so many benefits to doing this, I can barely wait to tell you!
 
So here’s what you do...
 
Give your students their survey the first day of class.  I always have students work on it when they first enter the room, while waiting for everyone to arrive and class to start. 
 
Tell students you will collect completed surveys, the next day.  This helps you establish that there is no reason to rush through work, because you will not accept it early.
 
For homework, students can finish their survey if they need to.  But, the actual homework assignment, is to have their parents complete a survey.
 
Most middle schoolers get a kick out of going home and then giving their parents an assignment to complete.
 
So chances are, you’ll get a good return the next day. 
Master the 6th-grade transition with the exact systems
​I use to build independent scholars.


The Parent Survey

In terms of questions on the parent survey, you can include the general questions about their child’s interests – but keep those to just a few.
 
These days it’s helpful if you ask who the child lives with.  There are so many children living with extended family and it’s really helpful to know this information to address people correctly.
 
You’ll want the parent survey questions to mirror the questions on the student survey. Especially with the homework and study habits.  But you’ll also want to know the parent’s goals for children and any concerns about middle school.
 
Then at the bottom of the survey, inform parents that their children filled out a similar survey today. Encourage them to take a few minutes to discuss the similarities and differences in the answers. 
 
This can be a real eye opener for families and help open the lines of communication!


​Extra Benefits

On top of helping families communicate and providing a wealth of information for you, these surveys are so incredibly helpful for teachers like you!
 
Using the information about homework and study habits, you now have an idea of what may be going on at home, and provide the right type of lessons and support to help students make improvements with their study skills.
 
These surveys can be a great way for teachers to also make a few preparations before having conferences with parents.  But together a few resources that you can give families that can help them put good study habits into place at home.


​Ready to Roll Materials

Now you are ready to implement this brilliant student survey hack! But wait, there’s more!
 
Instead of trying to figure out what questions to use for your surveys, you can use the surveys I’ve used in my classroom with great success: The Student and Parent Survey Pack.
 
And if you are in need of some materials to get your students headed on the right path with establishing good homework and study habits, then check out these flipped classroom video lessons that accompany my study skills curriculum:  Study Skills Video Lessons


Don’t stop now—you’re on a roll! Since we’re tackling the nitty-gritty of classroom management today, I’ve hand-picked these three posts specifically to help you level up your systems even further. Which one will you tackle next?"

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Teaching with Textbooks | Teach Like Midgley

I’m Hillary Midgley, and I help teachers move from classroom chaos to streamlined success with no-frills systems that make managing student work easy. New here? Start with the Manage Student Work ebook.