Here is an engaging daily classroom ritual with students that takes less than five minutes, requires little to no training and can improve students’ mood and behavior immediately.
It involves greeting each student individually as they walk through the classroom door, according to an article in Education Week. Second grade teacher Kaylee Hutcheson has embraced the practice this year and has no plans of stopping.
For Hutcheson and her 2nd graders at Hawthorne Elementary School in Mexico, Mo., the ritual looks like this: Every morning before the school day officially begins, she meets her students in the gym, then they walk together to her classroom. She stands at the door, with her students lined up, waiting to enter. “I give them their choice of greetings: high-five, elbow taps. Lots of them are huggers; that’s their love language,” said Hutcheson.
The 26-year-old, only in her 4th year of teaching, got the idea for the morning greetings on one of several teacher TikTok accounts that she follows.
Hutcheson says that since she’s been engaging students in daily individual greetings, she’s noticed fewer classroom disruptions and behavior issues throughout the morning.
Hutcheson packs a lot into just the two to three minutes that she spends individually greeting her students before they enter her classroom.
“I have 24 students, so I don’t always get time with each of them individually every day. This allows me to start our day on a super positive note,” she says. “I definitely want them to know that I’m glad that they’re here.”
During the greeting, as Hutcheson looks each student in the eye, many use the opportunity to share something with her. She’s heard about new puppies, siblings, and more. But not all students want to share, or even engage in the greeting, all the time.
“I tell them they don’t have to; it’s their choice,” Hutcheson says. “I do have a few students who don’t typically greet me every day. But I still make a point to greet them and say their name.”
Some compelling research supports the greeting practice that Hutcheson picked up from social media. Educational researchers have even given it a name: Positive Greetings at the Door (PGD) strategy. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions that analyzed the effects of the PGD strategy on 10 middle school classrooms reported positive results.
Recent evidence shows positive student-teacher relationships can improve teachers’ effectiveness, too. A study conducted by the University of Missouri College of Education and Human Development analyzed data from 280 school districts across the state and asked students in grades 4-10 to rate their teachers’ effectiveness on high-impact teaching methods, such as sparking cognitive engagement, promoting critical thinking and problem solving, and making curriculum interesting and relevant.
According to the survey responses, students who reported having more positive relationships with their teachers also noted that their teachers used more high-impact teaching practices.
Hutcheson says she is simply doing what appears to be working in her class.
“The [individual student] greeting is not something that’s mandatory, or something we’ve ever talked about at a staff meeting,” she says. Now, it’s just a part of my daily routine.”
Education Week
