As a classroom teacher, I learned fairly quickly of the benefits of greeting students at the door each morning as well as at each recess. Another successful practice I had was to ask students to write a summary at the end of each day, listing 3 successes or happy moments they had during the day. Not only did the greeting start the day with a positive hope for success but the middle and ending were moments of them realizing my relationship with each of them was extremely important to me. Yesterday I had the pleasure of reading about a 2014 study that found the morning greeting results to be bang on. The study states, “Starting class by greeting your students at the door helps set a positive tone for the rest of the day, promoting their sense of belonging, boosting their academic engagement, and reducing disruptive behaviour.” Try it! Let me know how it works for you!
