My First Day of School Questionnaire

Is it just me, or is there something about this school year that makes this back-to-school season particularly exhausting? I’m so tired and slept so hard last night that I woke up and thought my nightstand was a Viking and threw a pillow at it.

Anyway, school starts this week for me, so yesterday I found myself needing to make a first day of school questionnaire. You know, something to keep the kids busy on those first few minutes while you’re out in the hall wrangling lost 6th graders and unworking lockers.

In past years, I’ve made them more “real” get-to-know-you questions, like “Tell me about your family,” and “What are your interests?”, but this year:

a) I am moving up with same kids from last year
b) Even if I didn’t know them already, I think there’s something inorganic and maybe even intrusive about asking kids, especially from the population I teach, to talk about their home life or answer personal questions with someone they’ve just met
c) I like finding out about them in conversation better anyway
d) I think you can find out a lot about people by asking them disarmingly weird questions

So, thus was born this first-day-of-school questionnaire:

1. What is your name?
2. What do you wish people had to call you? 
3. Which do you feel have a better chance of taking over the world: zombies or pirates? Justify your answer.
4. Would you rather find yourself in the world of Harry Potter (during the last two books) or The Hunger Games? Justify your answer.
5. If you could only have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? (You get an entree, side, drink, and dessert.)
6. Would you rather be attacked by one horse-sized duck, or one hundred duck-sized horses? Justify your answer.
7. Draw a visual representation of your answer to number 6 in the space below to the best of your ability.
8. Would you rather have the ability to fly or read minds?
9. What animal best fits your personality? (Not necessarily your favorite animal, but the one you identify with most.)
10. On the back of this paper, write a list of everything that makes you happy. If you do not want to write a list of everything that makes you happy, write a list of everything you can think of that is the color orange.

Here’s to the weirdest year ever.

What would you add to this questionnaire? Can you even get on my weird level?

Love,

Teach

P.S. Please feel free to steal/share/tweak/add and use for your first day!