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Virtual Journal Google Form Template
Slides template below

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Template for daily SEL opening that sets a positive and caring stage for each day.

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My Internal Weather Report | Worksheet | Education.com

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Being aware of your emotions can be tricky! This worksheet helps students tune in by taking their own internal weather reports. Use it along with our Create an Internal Weather Report activity. Grade Subject View aligned standards No standards associated with this content.

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It is written with teens in mind, but is easily utilized with younger students. Can serve for conversations, google forms, asynchronous learning assignments, etc.

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Group work with teens can be both challenging and extremely rewarding. One of the responsibilities we as facilitators are charged with is mixing up content to curtail boredom-the feeling in youth that can easily snowball into disengagement, detachment, and less buy-in. When facilitating group work, whether it's therapy-based, skills-based, or even a traditional classroom (yes that's still a group!), one of the most common activities used to gage youths' current state of mind is a check-in. A check-in where a teen can speak about how they're feeling, how their day or week's been, or answer a targeted question related to a discussion or topic that might be presented in the session at some point.

What's important to know is that there are many different types of check-ins. Ultimately, it's good to diversify check-ins to be able to give youth more tools to verbalize their experience. The better youth are able to verbalize their experience, the better they'll be at managing their experience. This is something that we as therapists, counseling, educators, and anyone in the youth field should want to foster. Below are 6 simple but effective methods for integrating a check-in into your group or classroom.

I have written about the mindful check-in extensively: initially in my first book, A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Working with High-Risk Adolescents and more recently in Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents: A 12-Session Curriculum where the mindful check-in is formally integrated into the MBSAT curriculum.

Basically, this involves the teen first taking a breath and collecting their thoughts prior to actually speaking. This gives them a moment to contemplate how they really feel, and then when ready, sharing with the group how they feel in the present moment. They might share an emotion (e.g., happy, sad), a physical feeling (e.g., I'm really tired right now), or even a mental experience (e.g., overwhelmed with thoughts). The key is that they first breathe and then check in about how they're feeling in the present moment. I encourage youth to avoid general adjectives like "cool" "fine" "good" "okay" "alright" because they're often used so much in everyday conversation when referring to psychological states that they lose meaning and don't necessarily describe how someone is actually feeling. This is a good method for any of the check-ins listed in this post. If it's the first time doing this form of check-in with a group, I instruct participants in taking the breath and then explain, after everyone has checked-in, that we'll discuss more in depth, the purpose of taking breaths. This is a great way to foster mindfulness without meditating or even saying the word meditation. If you have the group do a check-in like this for a number of sessions, you'll start to see youth take the breath without you instructing that particular part of the process. And that's the goal: youth actually picking up a skill that they can take with them moving forward in life. Any check-in below can also (and I'd encourage you to do this) become a mindful check-in by instructing the group to take a breath, collect their thoughts, and focus on how they're feeling in the present moment prior to actually checking in.

The numerical check-in is the standard, "On a scale of 1-10, 1 being really negative and 10 being extremely positive, how do you feel right now?" This is actually my least favorite check-in because I believe it feeds into the societal obsession with numbers and statistics and leaves us with little information into what the youth is actually experiencing. Nevertheless, I have personally witnessed its value time and again because many youth I work with naturally express themselves this way. It's not uncommon for me to be in an informal conversation with a youth where he or she may respond to my question of "how are you feeling right now?" with "like a 7. Could be better, could be worse" without me ever asking them to quantify their experience. This is a simple and effective way for youth to check-in, especially if they don't have a large vocabulary for emotions or if you have a large group and little time.

The open check-in is the least restrictive check-in and gives teens the most flexibility in how they want to check-in. They could talk about how they're feeling, a past experience, something they're hoping for, usually for a flexible amount of time. You might simply ask students to check-in and see where they take it. The strength of this type of check-in is that it facilitates self-disclosure among the group, which ultimately will lead to (and be a measuring stick of) the cohesiveness and depth of the group. However, something to be aware of with this check-in is time. Without specific time limits youth could go on and next thing you know you have no time for your curriculum topic or not everyone in the group gets to check it. When deciding to do this type of check-in, make sure to think of class/group size, amount of total time you have, and other curricula you may need to get to during the session.

Conversely to the open check-in, the one or two word check-in is an activity that facilitates a youth to fully own how they're feeling without extra conversational qualifiers. They must bring their awareness to their primary experience and summarize it with one or two words, which help youth commit their awareness to their present moment experience. The one or two word check-in is also great if you're limited on time or have a large classroom. Again, be aware of and preempt youth to not use non-descriptive, everyday adjectives like "good" "cool" "fine" "okay" or "alright." The risk for this check-in is that it limits disclosure and shouldn't be used too often or your check-ins will become predictable and could facilitate boredom.

The deep check-in is a great way to facilitate empathy, compassion, and deepen group cohesion and trust. This type of check-in shouldn't be introduced prematurely in a group/class because most youth won't feel comfortable sharing about themselves if they aren't yet comfortable with the other group members. Thus, trust-building exercises should be facilitated and the deep check-in should only be used when the facilitator/teacher feels the group is at a level of cohesiveness that can handle deep disclosure and being vulnerable. A deep check-in can be facilitated by asking youth to begin with the statement, "something I've been holding in is..." or "something nobody knows about me is..." or "if you really knew me, you'd know..." and then complete the sentence. These have been time tested ways to bring youth into a deeper space with each other and have been used by organizations such as Challenge Day, the Mind Body Awareness Project, the MBSAT program referenced above, the Making the Peace Curriculum (where most of these exercises originated), and probably countless others. What's important is to have faith that youth can do these exercises so you'll actually try it with them, while at the same time not forcing this exercise prematurely. Also, as the facilitator of this exercise, it's important to understand the role and limits of your personal self-disclosure during a deep check-in and how that influences the disclosure of the rest of the group (check out the BARs Online course to learn about skillful self-disclosure in depth).

Finally, the metaphorical check-in uses metaphor to help youth describe their internal experience. This is a great way to diversify the check-in and tap in to young people's creativity. Below are 3 of my favorite metaphorical check-ins:

Internal Weather Report: Tell the youth that their feelings are like the weather. They can feel like there's a sunny day inside (e.g., happy, joy), like it's gloomy and grey (e.g., bored, down), rainy (e.g., sad, depressed), stormy (e.g., irritated, angry, etc.), or anything else they can think of. Present the metaphor and ask them to give the group their internal weather report. Let them define the weather and its connected emotions however they want.

Movie Genre: The movie genre metaphor is that feelings and experiences are like movie genres (e.g., action, adventure, horror, drama, etc.). Ask the youth to describe the current movie genre that is most salient in their experience. This check-in can also be altered to capture their broader life experience, for example: "What's been the major movie genre of your life thus far?" And a follow-up question could always be asked, "What one movie best describes your life?" for youth who are really into the metaphor.

Current Playlist: This music metaphor, similar to the movie genre, analogizes music to internal feelings. You might ask, "What instrument is currently playing inside right now?" or "What music or song best represents your feeling right now?" or "If your mood could be represented by music right now, what would it be?" This is a great way to get youth to describe how they're feeling, especially those that are musically inclined. Encourage flexibility by letting youth answer in their way; whether they speak about an instrument, particular song, album, or musician.

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The above check-ins represents six different modalities for talking about internal experience. They can be modified in multiple ways to include questions of the day and other important information you might want to draw out of youth in your class or group. The key is to not overuse any one type of check-in. Diversify your check-ins so that youth learn more ways to talk about their internal experience. The more tools they have to be aware of and speak about their experience, the better they'll manage their experience, which will lead to better overall emotional well-being.

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Group work with teens can be both challenging and extremely rewarding. One of the responsibilities we as facilitators are charged with is mixing up content to curtail boredom-the feeling in youth that can easily snowball into disengagement, detachment, and less buy-in.

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May require your own customization before sharing with students.

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Google Forms - create and analyze surveys, for free.

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Create a new survey on your own or with others at the same time. Choose from a variety of survey types and analyze results in Google Forms. Free from Google.

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

The rose and thorn check-in is a quick strategy for building community and developing student voice.

At the start of a recent class, my students gathered a bouquet of good news: a trip to Ireland, an end to recent car troubles, an upcoming visit with a friend. These were highlights they shared during our start-of-class routine, the rose and thorn check-in.

In this quick activity, students participate by sharing roses-something positive going on for a student that day-and thorns, which are negative, or at least less than positive.

Students can choose their level of vulnerability: A rose can simply be "the weather is nice today." A low-stakes thorn might be "I feel tired." Yet many students choose to share more personal items: "My rose is that even though I'm stressed out, I got all my homework done" or "My thorn is that my dog is sick and I'm really worried about her."

Going around the classroom, each student states one rose and one thorn. I share mine too. The whole process takes five minutes or less. Yet though this fast activity may seem simple, the rose and thorn check-in is an essential part of my classroom community-building.

Benefits of the Check-In

Students know that every voice matters: The rose and thorn check-in gets every student's voice into the room at the start of each class. Although students can always say "pass" instead of sharing, each student has the opportunity to be heard, every single day. The check-in is also a great opportunity to practice active listening, turn-taking, and following group norms.

Students develop awareness of others' emotions-and how to respond to them: When students share their roses and thorns, they give their classmates a snapshot of their emotional state. And if I hear a student say that their thorn is "I didn't sleep much last night" or "I feel like I can't focus today," I can adjust my interactions with that person accordingly.

Students increase their comfort with vulnerability: Rose and thorn check-ins are opportunities for students to practice being emotionally vulnerable with their peers. This comfort level translates directly into the ability to share opinions and take academic risks in other contexts.

Facilitation Tips

Acknowledge each person's contribution: My colleague John Milton Oliver, who also uses this strategy, suggests saying "thank you," followed by the student's name, and then turning your attention to the next person in the circle. This models acceptance while also keeping things moving.

Discuss how emotions impact learning: Before or after the check-in, invite students to consider how their roses and thorns might affect their ability to participate in class that day. Ask students to brainstorm how they might support a classmate who shares a big thorn or how to celebrate a friend's exciting rose.

Model authenticity: While remembering your role and professional boundaries, try to authentically share: "My rose is that my class last period went really well," or "My thorn is that I'm a little behind on giving feedback on your papers, and it's stressing me out." Show students that it's OK to be vulnerable.

Practice, practice, practice: Depending on the skill level and existing cohesiveness of your group, it can take many tries to get the hang of the routine. Don't give up-and make sure to keep it quick and consistent.

Monitor time: My younger students are often eager to negotiate with me: "Can I please have three roses and two thorns?" Give students think time to write or draw what they will share.

Make a plan for following up on concerns: Occasionally, students may share something concerning. Make a plan for how you and the class will respond. Many times, this simply means following up individually with a student to offer support. For topics that could use a whole-class discussion, consider building in opportunities for group processing, such as a weekly community-building circle.

Tending to Challenges

Here are some tips for making this activity go smoothly:

Help Your Garden Grow

When your class gets the hang of the rose and thorn check-in, feel free to modify it. For example, I taught one group of students who reframed it as Harry Potter and Voldemort. Let your students take ownership over how to make the check-in feel meaningful to them.

As students get better at sharing, you can add a third part to the share: the rosebud, something that they're looking forward to in the near future. Students can develop other variations or components as well.

If your group is too big to do a full share, my colleague John suggests a lightning round, in which the roses and thorns are condensed to two or three words: "Thorn: sick dog! Rose: sunshine!" You could instead create small groups of three or four students each who share their full check-ins with one another instead of the whole class.

As teachers know, there's never enough time in a class period to accomplish everything we'd like to. The rose and thorn check-in may feel like "one more thing," but I see it as an investment in my classroom community. Making time to hear each student's voice demonstrates that I care enough to prioritize listening.

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A Simple but Powerful Class Opening Activity

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The rose and thorn check-in is a quick strategy for building community and developing student voice.