Student Profile Surveys

I think that surverys are an awesome tool to use to help in differentiation. This is a great thing to do right at the beginning of the year. Kids love to tell about themselves and what they like to do and what their interests are. I think if done the right way, the sample surveys from the book can be very helpful for the teacher. They can look at them and see exactly what the student likes or dislikes and what their strengths and weaknesses are. It also asks things like if they like to work with objects, words, or numbers and what kinds of conditions they will learn best in. As a teacher, I would give these to my students at the very beginning of the year and definately use them to help structure the flow and activity. I could use it to help break them into groups and maybe work on different kinds of projects if their interests and the way the learn best are similar. I also think it really helps you to get to know them on a more personal level. You can talk to them about what their favorite animals and sports are, and then they know you really do care about them indvidually and they will trust you and thats one of the most important things if you are going to help them be a successful learner. The only thing I would add to one of the surveys from the book is probably questions about their family. I think that would be a good time to figure out their home situation without just coming right out and asking them. Maybe just what their parents do for a living, who they live with, and about their siblings. Their home life is obviously important because if they have an unfortunate living situtation at home, it is definately going to be harder for them to learn at school and be as successful as someone who has a very supportive and structured household.
After looking at all the inventories/surveys online, I found that they will all be useful in their own ways. Some of them I feel are geared towards older grades. The 28 questions one and the Rome one I probably would not use in my 3rd grade class cause it would be difficult for them to answer all those questions and I think they would honestly get bored. Some of the vocabulary is also harder so it would be impossible for them to answer questions about themselves if they didnt even know what it meant. So for me personally, in my student teaching, I will use one of those surveys, but maybe shorten it a little and change some of the questions. I want to make questions geared towards specifically what I will be teaching them cause I am not with them all year. That's where I do think something like the Rome one would come in handy because it is very content specific. I do really like the multiple intelligence survery with the smiley faces. I think it's easier for them to answer more questions cause all they have to do is circle the faces and I think it helps them be able to evaluate and sort of rate things from their lives and they are more likely to tell you how they really feel and not how they necessarily think you want to answer the questions. I really think I might use that one, just so I can get to know them better and see where they all stand in different areas. It is also a great pre-assessment tool. :) I am glad I got to look at so many different examples and ideas for how to do these cause I do think they are important for differentiating your class.