Monday, July 31, 2017

Teacher Celebrity Survey

I posted earlier about a survey I am using with our staff this year and received lots of questions about the specifics. Instead of replying to each person, I decided to add a quick post with the details! I would love to help you create something similar to get greater insight into the teachers you serve.


As an Instructional Coach, I try to build relationships with staff even before school starts. I hope that the underlying message implied in the survey lets staff members know how important they are and helps create an atmosphere of fun and family. I used Google Forms to create the survey. It took (maybe) ten minutes. I love Forms because it's super-easy, you can embed pictures and videos, and you can vary the response-types. It also exports the answers to a Google Sheet so you have all that info in an easy-to-read format.

Here are the questions I asked. I encourage you to include anything that will help you understand your people better. I'm working on a campus where I already know most teachers really well, so I wanted to keep it brief and fun.

1.  What's your favorite school-appropriate drink?

2.  How do you like to be acknowledged for a job well-done? 
I specifically asked #2 because I've learned that some adults love verbal acknowledgment, but it makes certain teachers uncomfortable. Written notes are important to some people, others like badges, small tokens of appreciation, or an e-mail. Coaches differentiate just as much for teachers as we once did for our students.

3.  What's your favorite candy?

4.  If you had a walk-up song like a Major League Baseball player, what would it be?
I'm going to compile the walk-up songs into a playlist and use it at staff meetings and other school events.

In Forms, you can add images and YouTube videos to your questions. I uploaded a picture of a vending machine for the drink question, and a video of MLB walk-up songs for question #4. 

In Lead Like a Pirate, Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf ask the following questions. I love the way it creates a fun twist on getting to know the teachers' goals. Teaching really is magic, and my job as a coach is to help make that magic happen for each educator I support. 

5.  What magic do you want to create in your classroom this year? How can I help?

When you're finished, you can send the link to your people, or copy the link and forward it out that way.

Happy Coaching!