Check In Check Out Archives - Check in with Mrs G

One Relationships

Build relationships with your students! Every single student in your classroom can benefit from using a check in check out system, not just your students who are in need of a behavior intervention, (although it is useful for those students too!). Teachers, this gives you the opportunity to experience each student as an individual. You maybe shocked by the tiny glimpse into who your students are outside of your classroom and what they are walking in with everyday.

Two Social Emotional Learning

Develop social emotional learning! It is important to think of checking in and out with students as a whole program and not just a sheet. Teach your students to reflect on their own behaviors. Have students use the information collected to graph their emotions over a specific time period or a during time of high stress (testing week anyone?). Students can use this data to observe trends and develop their social emotional learning.

Three Empower Students

Empower students to own their emotions! The check in check out program can be a catalyst for teaching students to own their mindset. Reviewing the trends in their days at school can lead to brainstorming interventions. For example, “I noticed that in the last month I have had hard days on Mondays during math. This week during math I will make sure I join the small group so that I can get extra help and I will not feel as frustrated.” Bam! I love when students own their learning!

Implementing a system for checking in and out in my classroom takes about fifteen minutes each day. You can read more about the resources I use with my students. The impact on my students and on the culture in my classroom is astounding!

As our school moves towards an RTI model we are being encouraged to use a daily check in check out system. We meet with our own students and even make connections with students who may not be in our classes. When I heard this plan I was skeptical, sounds like more layers. I was right! It is more layers and it is wonderful!

Building relationships with students is why I became a teacher. So, the check in check out system already aligned with my values. I believed they would have a positive impact on students. I could not have guessed that these small daily interactions would change me as a teacher!

When I Started CICO…

Classroom behaviors decreased, I saw my students as individuals again, and the joy returned to my teaching practice! Reading these small and personal notes helped me keep my eyes above the waves of paperwork, chaos and all of the other things that weigh us down as teachers. I immediately felt more connected to the reason I became a teacher in the first place!

After two weeks of RTI check ins, I decided that a check in and check out was worthy use of ten minutes each day for all of my students. So… I got to work!

30 Days of Check In Check Out

I and started using a check in check out journal for thirty days with my learning support groups both k-2 and 3-5. This way students had an opportunity to respond to a quick prompt about themselves each morning. I gave them the option of answering the prompt as written or writing something they felt it was important for me to know. On most days, student responded to to the prompts. On other days, I was left near tears with the things my students shared. It helped me know where they were at each morning and gave me many entry points to connect with them.

When students stopped by to check out with me, they quickly used the rating scale to assign a number to their day. This was so insightful especially during high stress times (like state testing)! I found out quickly what was important to the kids in my groups and I used it to inform my teaching during our social group time. On days that we found ourselves with a few extra minutes, I asked for volunteers to share out. Student to student connections were deepened. A sense of acceptance and understanding spread throughout my groups during these ten minute talks. Students supporting their peers…This is the good stuff! The culture in my classroom thrived.

Resources for the Next Step

At the end of the thirty days I was impressed with the deepened relationships I had with my students. When we completed our journals, they asked for more! Some of my most resistant writers were standing in front of me asking if they had any more check ins to complete! This was a huge teaching win for me. I could not let this opportunity pass! I now have check in check out system for the entire school year. To encourage creativity, the new monthly journals allow students to complete their prompts using a combination of writing and sketching. You can try it with your students for FREE by clicking here.

I will continue to experiment in my classroom with different ways of checking in and out with each student! If you have a check in check out system that works with your students I would love to hear about it.