How do you and your students start the day? Some schools have a fairly short classroom or advisory period, but how students and teachers spend that time is open-ended. In other schools, students begin learning from the first bell of the day.
As educators, we always want to maximize our instructional time, and there are many benefits for both students and teachers to spend time in morning conferences. This is especially true in middle school, where students are transitioning between the constraints of elementary school and the freedom of high school.
If you’re lucky enough to have dedicated time for this type of activity, you may be wondering how to spend it. These three activities will not only allow you to make deeper connections with your students, but they can set the tone for the entire day. They can be added to the first five minutes of a lesson or less to help prepare students for success and build community in the classroom. You can also try these activities during lunchtime, indoor recess, or other short periods of time with your students.
3 Ways to Set a Positive Tone for Morning Meetings
1. Provide some motivation. How do you start your day? Perhaps you can start with a positive affirmation or set a small goal for yourself. Whatever strategies you use to motivate yourself and get yourself excited about the upcoming day, bring them to your students.
If you like to use affirmations in your own life, choose one that is especially motivating and share it with your students. Post the affirmation on the board, have students repeat it, discuss it with their peers, and then share their thoughts as a whole. If you don’t think the affirmation is true, invite students to share a goal as a daily motivator. You can base the goal on your student’s academic performance, behavior, or synthesis. Give them time to discuss it with their peers and then share it with the whole group.
By creating a space for your students to get entrenched in positive statements and goals, you provide them with the opportunity to build momentum for the day and connect with each other as they do so. This is especially beneficial for middle school students, who are beginning to develop more of their own personal identities and may have a hard time finding their motivation or feeling as connected to their community as they do in elementary school.
2. Engage in non-academic conversations. One of my favorite ways to get students ready for a new day is to get them talking. So many students may still be asleep when they arrive at school, so morning meeting provides an opportunity to get students awake and engaged. Non-academic conversations are a great way to do this because they are fun, all voices are welcome, and can ease the transition from home to school.
If you’re wondering what a non-academic conversation looks like, it can be anything you want it to be. I always ask “would you like to” questions and have my students eagerly discuss whether Takis are better than Cheetos, ice cream is better than cookies, or soccer is better than basketball. Depending on your students’ interests, you can customize the questions and find ways to keep each student engaged.
By starting the day with an exciting debate, students will be better prepared to speak in class because they have awakened their minds and voices.
3. Celebrate community. Your morning assembly provides a unique opportunity to celebrate the community you have created and the accomplishments of individuals and teams. Has your class been working to improve homework completion, reduce behavioral issues, or support each other more? Whatever your goals are, use morning meetings as an opportunity to reflect on them and recognize progress.
You can also take time to celebrate your personal accomplishments in the classroom. Did a student win a spelling bee, score in a recent basketball game, or join the volleyball team? Take time in your morning meeting to focus on these accomplishments and celebrate them as a class.
If you’re a middle school teacher, you probably have at least a few students who have developed a “too cool for school” mentality – I certainly did! But even these students, and these students in particular, are happy that they and their accomplishments are getting positive attention.
These celebrations can help your students recognize the value of their positive contributions to the classroom community. You want your students to feel welcome, supported, and loved in your classroom. What better way to do that than to celebrate their successes and show that the entire classroom community is behind them?
These activities are a great way to start the day, and as you continue to get to know your students and their needs, you can adjust to make sure that every student is engaged and excited for the upcoming day. However you choose to start your day, think about the tone you want to set for your students:How do you inspire, motivate, and celebrate your students from the first moment they enter the classroom? Please share your ideas in the comments.