60-Second Strategy: Attendance Question

Many are familiar with the famous scene from a 1980s movie where ennui-ridden high school students mumble a listless “here” in response to their name being called for attendance. Roll call can be boring—and a little painful. But language arts teacher Sarah Kristiansen at The Greene School in Rhode Island has found a way to turn it into a chance to connect, laugh, and learn a little about how her students might be feeling that day—by asking whimsical attendance questions.

Kristiansen’s daily opener serves as both a check-in and a mood assessment tool for students. She starts by presenting a fun question, often based on a meme mood scale or accompanied by humorous visuals projected on her board. As she calls names for attendance, each student responds to the posted question. 

One day’s mood scale question might be "Which medieval lion are you?" with each student responding by naming the particular image that best represents how they feel that day. Kristiansen has also used a menu from an ice cream truck, or hot-take preference questions like “Should ketchup go ON french fries, or off to the side?” (which, in one instance, sparked a heated debate that carried on beyond the classroom).

“When I start to take attendance, everybody stops talking because that's how we structured that attendance question—you’ve got to listen to what your peers are saying,” she says. In addition to providing Kristiansen with insight as to each student’s state coming into her class, it helps the students recognize how their classmates might be feeling that day.

The attendance question infuses the start of each class with joy and lighthearted humor, transforming a typically mundane task into an anticipated and enjoyable activity. This practice not only lightens the classroom atmosphere but also fosters a more connected and responsive classroom environment. By incorporating a playful element, Kristiansen sets a positive tone for the day, enhancing student engagement and participation from the outset: “It has become a really great and important part of our classroom culture.”

Editor’s note: This summary was written with support from Edutopia’s custom AI tool, which prioritizes information from our archive of educational content.