A First-Week Survey That Fits on an Index Card

One of the goals of pretty much every teacher I know during the first week of school is getting to know the students who will be in their classroom. A popular way to do this? An introductory survey. However, there is so much going on during that first week of the year, and many of us have a lot of new students to get to know. To address these issues, I’ve turned to a very simple, straightforward survey that ensures that I can read through every single student’s response before they walk into class the next day. The questions in this survey are intentional and help me start building community from day one—and the best part? The whole thing fits on a single index card.

QUESTION 1: WHAT IS YOUR TOP VALUE AND WHY?

An activity I use to open every school year is having students narrow down from a broad list of core values to ultimately identify their top value—which they then record as the first answer on their index card survey. Students reflect and share their responses with small groups and then as a whole group. 

This question allows me to show my students that I genuinely care about them as people and what they value beyond just our subject; and by encouraging students to share their responses, this question helps my students and I ground our classroom community in our values.

QUESTION 2: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH SCHOOL UP TO THIS POINT, 1–7?

Unlike the previous question in the survey, this is not something I ask students to share their answers aloud with—I don’t even require them to explain why they chose a specific number.

Instead, I introduce this question by naming my own understanding that students have each had their own journey with education before arriving in our classroom. Some really great, supportive experiences, I hope, but also inevitably some really difficult if not harmful experiences.

Then I ask them to choose a number between 1 (“Very negative and/or frustrating”) and 7 (“Incredibly positive and supportive”) and, if they want, to write a brief reason for their number.

This question matters to me because it creates space for students to hear their teacher acknowledge that school is not always a positive experience for everyone and for me to then express my own goal of working to make our classroom a place that will be good for them in the way they need it to be good.

It also creates a really cool moment in our classroom the following week when, after I’ve compiled all the index card survey results from all class periods, I can show them the distribution of answers (still anonymous), and they can realize that within the classroom every single number is represented. This is an important reminder that students with whom they may have been in the same classes for nearly a decade to that point may have had vastly different experiences from theirs.

QUESTION 3: WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOU FROM A CLASSROOM AND TEACHER?

Different students want and need different things in the course—and this question creates space for students to reflect individually and then collaboratively about what those wants and needs are.

For this question, I give students six different options to choose from: (a) consistency, (b) change, (c) challenge, (d) compassion, (e) clarity, and (f) creativity. I try to keep with the “C” theme, but you can of course add or remove any words that better fit your classroom context.

After students answer individually, I read each word and have students raise their hand if that was the word they chose—in doing so, I create an informal “class poll” so that students can see how others responded. They then get a chance to debrief with a partner, and I close this discussion by pointing out how some of these things are the exact opposite of another, and how the classroom will inevitably need to be different things at different times, too.

QUESTION 4: WHAT IS AN INTERESTING OR BORING FACT ABOUT YOURSELF?

This is one that was inspired by Kyle Niemis that I added this past year for the purpose of building more community early on in the classroom.

Here’s what we do: I give examples of what an “interesting”—mine: driving into a wall the first day I got my driver’s license—as well as a “boring” answer could look like—having two older brothers, their favorite type of snack—and then have students silently jot down their answer. They then get up and talk to three people they don’t know, making sure they say their name as well as their interesting or boring fact.

QUESTION 5: WHAT IS HELPFUL FOR ME TO KNOW TO BETTER SUPPORT YOU RIGHT AWAY IN THIS CLASSROOM?

This is the final question, 100 percent optional—and it’s a question in which the wording matters a lot.

Important things to keep in mind: You are probably just meeting these students for the first time, and by no means should there be an expectation that they tell you everything. In the past, I’ve seen this question worded like “Tell me something really important about you” or “What do you wish your teachers knew about you?”—while well-intended, these can very much go too far.

Instead, I recommend keeping this question narrow to the classroom and offering several example sharings that you could anticipate receiving: specific seating requests (“I need to sit close to the board in order to see”); learning environment notes (“I get overwhelmed when the room is too loud”); or pronoun/name preferences. In a situation where a student shares something that goes beyond the scope of your classroom, it is important to know the process in your school building of whom to talk to and how to follow up to get that student the support they need.

Remember: The goal of this survey is to be short enough that you can read through it for every single student and, if necessary, follow up with them to have a conversation about what they need to be their best self as a student and person in your classroom.