Microsoft Reflect

A wellbeing app to support connection, expression, and learning

Get started
  • Icon for Build Self-Awareness & Empathy
    Build Self-Awareness & Empathy
  • Icon for Grow Emotional Vocabulary
    Grow Emotional Vocabulary
  • Icon for Identify & Navigate Your Emotions
    Identify & Navigate Your Emotions
  • Icon for Develop Growth-mindset & Confidence
    Develop Growth-mindset & Confidence

Using Reflect

Create impactful check-ins to gain wellbeing insights and build a happier, healthier learning community.

  • Create
    • Easily set up regular check-ins for students, staff, and families to understand how they feel about any topic, in any language.
    • Host live check-ins on a big screen or share a link to collect responses.
    • Have control over who is invited to respond and what they can see.
    Create new check-in in Reflect
  • Respond
    • The Feelings Monster, a research-backed character for all ages, showcases 60 different emotions in an engaging and playful way, assisting learners in authentically identifying and naming their emotions.
    • Having a space to share helps build a learning ecosystem where everyone feels safe to make mistakes and grow.
    Respond to check-in in Reflect
  • Insights into action
    • Gain valuable insights into where your learners are excelling and identify areas that require attention.
    • Cultivate connection, expression, and learning through data-informed conversations.
    • Tailor instruction to learners' needs and interests.
    View check-in responses and trends in Reflect
  • Build a culture of wellbeing
    • Foster a happier, healthier, and more balanced school with evidence-based resources and strategies.
    • Learners can take a Brain Break with our curated collection of short, inclusive activities designed to promote mental fitness, refresh the mind, and refocus.
    Brain breaks in Reflect

Resources

Free professional learning resources and guides, built by educators for educators.

Visit the Educator Toolkit

Awesome activities, Epic learning!

Incorporate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into your classroom with ready-to-use activities, lessons, and materials.

Visit the Activity Hub
Successful Feelings Monster
Meditate icon Meditate
Draw icon Draw
Move icon Move
Play icon Play
Music icon Music
Podcasts icon Podcasts
PPT icon
Worksheets icon Worksheets
Calm icon

Make Reflect part of your routine

  • Group of primary schools students smiling.
    SEL Check-ins
    One-on-one attention has an enormous impact on engagement, learning, and well-being of students. Without it, students’ needs can be missed, and emotions can surface in ways that aren’t easy to understand. Make check-ins part of your routine to give each of your students a place to share their feelings and give yourself data to track their status, progress and needs.
  • Group of higher-education students smiling.
    Learning progress
    Self-awareness and self-management are critical skills for lifelong learning - by providing opportunities for students to reflect on their learning educators not only inform the trajectory of their teaching, but also increase students’ agency in learning. Students can practice asking for help and develop a growth mindset through honestly evaluating their effort, motivation, and progress. It is vital that students have a safe space to develop these skills, as it takes plenty of practice!
  • School leaders and educators smiling.
    Educator wellness

    Social and emotional learning isn't just for kids. Evidence shows that teachers with higher levels of social-emotional competence have more effective classroom management, better retention, and higher academic achievement in their students. However, very little training is provided to support teachers' personal SEL.

    To effectively teach SEL skills, educators first need space to reflect personally and recognize their skills and opportunities for growth. Use Reflect to take the temperature of your school ecosystem and ensure that educators' own needs are being met so they can invest the best of themselves in teaching.

Setting the scene

Introduce Reflect to the class
Identifying feelings
Get to know comfortable emotions
Validate uncomfortable emotions
Build classroom community
Practicing empathy
Communicating feelings
Make space to move
Managing stress
Reflect before you act
All emotions are valid
Several school age children are sitting at desks with laptops open on their desks looking at the teacher and Hub with Reflect at the front of the classroom
Introduce Reflect to the class
When establishing your class check-in routine, make sure your students understand the expectations and how sharing emotions can support them in their learning.
Group selfie of two male and two female college friends in outdoor park
Identifying feelings
Knowing how you feel isn't always easy, but it's an important skill to develop for communicating and collaborating effectively. In addition to using Reflect check-ins, try modeling your thoughts aloud for your students. For example, “I’m not feeling as patient as usual today, I wonder if it’s because I didn’t sleep well or because I’m feeling overwhelmed.”
Female student is sitting at her desk with a laptop, smiling
Get to know comfortable emotions
When we recognize and sit with a comfortable emotion, it's easier to identify how it contributes to our wellness. With this awareness, we can actively work to create these conditions for ourselves.
Two elementary age children with their teacher, feeling uncomfortable
Validate uncomfortable emotions
All emotions are valid. Honestly assessing how we feel and communicating our needs is a skill that takes practice. By providing a space for students to share emotions, you can help destigmatize talking about and addressing uncomfortable feelings.
Studnets in the classroom helping each other
Build classroom community
Help students understand that everyone has comfortable and uncomfortable emotions, but every student's reasons for those emotions may be different. Communicating clearly and respecting one another's unique needs builds a strong class community.
Students sharing a laptop in the school library, smiling
Practicing empathy
Empathy is the ability to perceive, understand, and care about the experiences or perspectives of others. Help students practice perspective taking with the question, “How do you think your classmates are feeling right now?”
Group of college students in conversation around outdoor table on campus
Communicating feelings
When people don't have the skills to communicate their emotional needs, their feelings can show up in behaviors that are hard to understand. Helping students build the vocabulary and confidence to share their feelings can improve classroom behavior.
Students collaborate on performance piece at community center
Make space to move
Sometimes we need to work through our emotions physically. Encourage students to take breaks to stretch, dance, or take a walk. Taking a moment to connect our body and mind can help us to see things more clearly.
Student with a laptop, feeling uncomfortable
Managing stress
Like all skills, noticing stress and using strategies to relieve it takes practice. Help students connect the feelings they identify to management strategies. For stress we recommend strategies like breathing, taking a break, or even dancing!
Feemale student in dorm room using a laptop
Reflect before you act
When feelings are very strong, we often want to act immediately! With practice reflecting, students have a stronger ability to make thoughtful decisions.
College students in a study group, walking
All emotions are valid
Model talking openly with your students about emotions - your students look to you, and your willingness to demonstrate that the classroom is a safe place to communicate honestly is vital.

Reflect with confidence

With Microsoft Reflect you can be sure that your data and privacy is secure and that our solution comply with international regulations and best practices.

  • Icon for Secure
    Secure
    Reflect, as part of Microsoft 365, complies with regional and industry-specific regulations for data collection and use, including GDPR and FERPA.
  • Icon for Private
    Private
    Reflect keeps your data confidential. You have complete control over who is invited to respond to the check-in and what they can see.
  • Icon for Research-backed
    Research-backed
    We place significant emphasis on grounding Reflect in research to prioritize the safety and well-being of students, staff, and families.