Microsoft Reflect

A wellbeing app to support connection, expression, and learning

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  Build Self-Awareness & Empathy
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  Grow Emotional Vocabulary
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  Identify & Navigate Your Emotions
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  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.
  
• 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.
  
• 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.
  
• 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.
  

Ready to Reflect?

Learn how to get started with Reflect, right in your browser or seamlessly integrated with your favorite apps.

Reflect web application

You can simply access Reflect from your browser on any device, such as a desktop, tablet, or mobile, without having to download a separate app. It's easy and takes a few seconds to get started.

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Reflect for your LMS

Designed with the latest Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standards, offering robust security and simple installation in your learning management system (LMS).

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Microsoft Teams

Reflect is pre-installed and available for free in every class and staff team, providing a simple way to conduct check-ins with your students and colleagues.

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Class Notebook

Embed Reflect check-ins directly on the Class Notebook page for formative assessments or as "exit slips" that provide insights for the next lesson.

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Resources

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

Expand learning with activities!

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  All the Feels
  Ignite wellbeing conversations with brief clips featuring the Feelings Monster.
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  Minecraft
  Develop social-emotional skills through a creative and immersive experience.
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  PowerPoint
  Get students thinking with structured SEL projects.
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  Kahoot!
  Introduce and discuss social emotional skills with Kahoot! activities.
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  Flip
  Get creative with social and emotional learning.
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Make Reflect part of your routine

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  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.
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  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!
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  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

When establishing your class check-in routine, make sure your students understand the expectations and how sharing emotions can support them in their learning.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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?”

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

In the news

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  Reflecting on emotions and their impact on engaged learning
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  The hidden power of feelings
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  The Feelings Monster, building a character with all the feels
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  More meaningful check-ins with Microsoft Reflect
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  Prioritizing and Supporting Student Well-being
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  Emotion and Cognition in the Age of AI