Kalispell Middle School pilots teacher-created check-in program

Kalispell Middle School sixth-grade health and physical education teacher David Baker wants kids to know they are seen. So he created a daily check-in tool of the same name.

“I’m just a teacher who wanted to get to know my kids better,” Baker said.

What also prompted him to roll it out was the public health crisis Flathead Valley schools experienced with the deaths of multiple students by suicide 2021.

“Last year it started as a Google form,” he said. “Students would fill it out every day; they’d come into class and let me know where they were at that day.”

Several teachers were doing check-ins, using spreadsheets. Baker, though, was looking for something simpler and sought help from a friend who is a web programmer to design a more intuitive check-in tool.

“I wanted to create something a bit more useful for us than what we’ve been using,” he said.

Seen was the result.

Knowing that time is of the essence in the classroom, Seen takes roughly two minutes to complete. Students answer the question, “How are you feeling today?” by selecting a box of descriptors best matching their mood. Then, they can select what factors are influencing those feelings with the opportunity to elaborate in their own words if they want to.

“If they aren’t doing well they might be having a really rough day with family or whatever else is going on, they didn’t sleep well, or they were pretty sick,” Baker said. “Kids checking in that they’re doing really well might say they’re doing well because their friends are getting along or their basketball game went well.”

From the teacher’s dashboard, educators can quickly view the check-ins and alerts, and can sort student responses.

“I could get the temperature of kids in the room really quickly,” Baker said. “It’s a little bit easier to digest than a spreadsheet,” he said

The tool has a feature that allows students to alert a teacher if they want to have a conversation and they can specify who they want to talk to.

“I think it’s a really cool opportunity to reach out to a teacher. Instead of voicing a concern and being vulnerable that way sometimes it’s easier for kids to be vulnerable behind a keyboard,” he said. “The idea is that if a student wants to talk … a teacher can approach them and take the pressure off the student to initiate a conversation.”

What he also found out was all the interesting activities and experiences he could ask students about and build relationships with, which is tough to do in the valley’s largest junior high.

“I was learning so much about my kids,” Baker said. “Hopefully it helps me, as a teacher, teach kids better in the classroom.”

At Kalispell Middle School, the student body and staff are broken up into teams. This school year, Baker’s team of sixth-graders and teachers have been piloting Seen and he’s been making improvements along the way such as how alerts work and results are viewed.

“We’re finding out what works and what’s not working. I’ve spoken with other teachers who see the value in it. I want to see what teachers can get out of it,” he said.

To try a demo of Seen, visit https://seen-dci.com/ and click in the upper right-hand corner. Baker may also be reached at david.baker@sd5.k12.mt.us.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.