One of the items that I immediately took to heart from the book The First Days of School by Harry Wong and Rosemary T. Wong was the concept of greeting students at the door. I’ve seen plenty of research that indicates how powerful this simple gesture is in building relationships with students and an overall positive atmosphere in the classroom. My personal experience supports this completely. In fact, this might be one of the few consistent elements of my teaching that I have tried to do since day one as a teacher. I say “tried” because there are class periods that I just cannot get to the door for one reason or another, but I would say that I’m successfully out there 90% of the time or more, and have done that for over 25 years.
I’ve seen some amazing teachers who go all out with their greetings, personalizing for each student, perhaps even giving each one a unique (previously agreed upon) handshake, and that’s fantastic! For me, I generally settle for “Good morning!” or “Good afternoon!” on most days. Mondays get a “Happy Monday!”, Fridays get a “Happy Friday!”, and special days get their own “Happy” whichever day we are celebrating. I do try to make certain that my eyes are also greeting each person, showing them that I’m glad that they are there for me to greet.
I try to make certain that every student gets one. It’s an acknowledgement of their existence that they might otherwise not have for the entire day. I’ve repeatedly had students tell me how much my greetings meant to them no matter how they might have acted about it at the time. On those days that I don’t make it to the door, it’s usually my most hardened students who comment on the lack of greeting–at which time, I pointedly make an effort to greet everyone in the room.
This means that I’m usually bad about holding conversations between class periods. I’m continually torn between giving the person who is speaking to me my full attention and making certain that I don’t miss any of the students in the hall. I get utterly frustrated when my phone rings during this time; although, I still try to make my greetings there warm and welcoming too.
I’m frequently asked how I can have so much energy, especially in the mornings. The truth is that I don’t know, but I suspect that it's connected to Newton’s Laws of Motion. The first “Good morning” can be a little tough to get out, but from then on there’s a sort of inertia that makes each subsequent one easier. In fact, starting this way usually helps keep up my energy through the day.
I’ve seen some amazing teachers who go all out with their greetings, personalizing for each student, perhaps even giving each one a unique (previously agreed upon) handshake, and that’s fantastic! For me, I generally settle for “Good morning!” or “Good afternoon!” on most days. Mondays get a “Happy Monday!”, Fridays get a “Happy Friday!”, and special days get their own “Happy” whichever day we are celebrating. I do try to make certain that my eyes are also greeting each person, showing them that I’m glad that they are there for me to greet.
I try to make certain that every student gets one. It’s an acknowledgement of their existence that they might otherwise not have for the entire day. I’ve repeatedly had students tell me how much my greetings meant to them no matter how they might have acted about it at the time. On those days that I don’t make it to the door, it’s usually my most hardened students who comment on the lack of greeting–at which time, I pointedly make an effort to greet everyone in the room.
This means that I’m usually bad about holding conversations between class periods. I’m continually torn between giving the person who is speaking to me my full attention and making certain that I don’t miss any of the students in the hall. I get utterly frustrated when my phone rings during this time; although, I still try to make my greetings there warm and welcoming too.
I’m frequently asked how I can have so much energy, especially in the mornings. The truth is that I don’t know, but I suspect that it's connected to Newton’s Laws of Motion. The first “Good morning” can be a little tough to get out, but from then on there’s a sort of inertia that makes each subsequent one easier. In fact, starting this way usually helps keep up my energy through the day.
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