Interactive openers

Mrs. Marie Finnegan-Copen’s class starts with a poll every day

Kelsey Thompson, Staff Writer
May 28, 2021

Each day eleventh grade English Teacher Mrs. Marie Copen starts class with music and a poll. The polls vary from day to day. Sometimes they relate to the content the class will be discussing that day and sometimes they are just a way to get everyone talking and get to know each other better.

On May 27 Mrs. Marie Copen started class with a poll about famous galvanizers of the people. (K. Thompson)

What made you want to start creating polls for your students?

Teaching and learning in a virtual world has been difficult for everyone.  I know that when I first had to turn the camera on and teach in that manner, I was very nervous mostly because I didn’t know my students and I knew that getting to know them under these circumstances was going to be more difficult.  I knew students had to be feeling the same way.  I wanted to create a space at the beginning of class where students could speak without worrying about being right or wrong–where they could open up and start talking and laughing together.  The ultimate goal, of course, was to help students get to know each other and feel comfortable about talking about English content later.  

Interactive openers help Mrs. Marie Copen get to know her students and helps the students get to know each other. (K. Thompson)

Where do you get your ideas for the themes of your polls?

After Term 1, I committed to doing a poll/opener of some sort every day.  Ms. Rylee Toler joined me as a student teacher, and she was also committed to creating a warm, open space at the beginning of class.  I always try to match a song to the content of the poll as well.  Sometimes, ideas just come to me, but I have also used the class content to guide the topic of the polls as well (“The Devil and Tom Walker” and “The Crucible” for example).  Many times, I have used national days like “National Tortilla Chip Day” or “National Pizza Day” and the like, as well as holidays/remembrances such as Mardi Gras, Chinese New Year, Black History Month, etc…  We’ve even written thank you messages to our librarians on National Librarian Day.  I often spend some time researching to create questions and/or find topics.  It can take between 15 minutes to an hour to create the slides and polls in Zoom, but many students have told me they look forward to the polls each day, which makes that time and effort worth it to be sure. 

What are some of your favorite polls that you have done in the past?

  • “Don’t Space out on Us!”–favorite space items
  • “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble”–who would win this battle?
  • “What’s your sweet tooth?”–favorite sweet treats
  • “Worst (AKA:  BEST) Disney Villain”
  • “Choose your Superpower” 
  • “Battle of the Boy Bands”
  • “National High-Five Day”

Students are fans of the polls. Junior Annika Waldram thinks “it’s more fun to start with a poll than just diving in.” Waldram also likes that Copen “plays a song which is cool.”

Junior Ellie Calkin likes the polls “because you get to learn more about other people and their opinions.”