Say Hello (and Good-bye) to Your Students

October 28th, 2009 By: Suzanne Tingley in Articles, Teachers' Corner

Here’s a middle school classroom management tip that doesn’t require extra training, special materials, or new technology. It doesn’t cost anything and it’s (almost) guaranteed to improve your classroom climate.

Say hello to your students. Really.

Think about what you do before your first class or between classes during the day. If you’re like many teachers, you spend those few minutes at your desk, checking in homework, reviewing your plans, or conferring with a student. Or perhaps you’re at the computer, booting up the next lesson, or at the board writing out a problem as your students enter your classroom. Teachers who do make it out into the hall may chat with their colleagues while they’re waiting for the bell to ring signaling the start of the next class.

Tomorrow, try something different: Before your first class or between classes, stand in the doorway and greet your students as they enter your classroom. Instead of waiting for all of your students to be seated before focusing your full attention on them, give them a quick smile and a hello as they trickle in. (You can take care of your other tasks while students are working on their bellringers.) Greeting your students as they enter can result in a number of positive outcomes:

• You set a cheerful, friendly, welcoming tone right from the beginning. A smile and a personal word to a student before class encourages him or her to think of your classroom is a pleasant, safe place.
• Students appreciate your individual attention, however fleeting. If you greet a student by name, he or she knows you see him or her as a person, not just as another student.
• If you’ve had a conflict with a student yesterday, greeting that student with a smile today sends the message that this is a new day and you’re starting fresh.
• Your smile says you’re happy to be here, happy to be working with your students. Kids respond to teachers who are positive about school and enthusiastic about their courses.
• You as the teacher establish yourself as the classroom “host” as you welcome students into “your” room. Greeting students reminds them that in your room you have rules and expectations regarding civil behavior, mutual respect, and general kindness. You are the adult in charge.
• On a more prosaic note, you can intervene in any hallway horseplay before it gets out of hand or spills into your room.

If you’ve never greeted students at your door before, don’t be surprised if some of them barely acknowledge your hello at the beginning. A few will smile and maybe even return the greeting. Others may be too shy to respond. They may say nothing at all, maybe not even make eye contact. Others may give you a nod, a grunt, or a “Yo.” Remember, they’re middle schoolers, working their way through the social amenities and protocols they will need in life. If you persist, however, students will look forward to your greeting them and will learn to expect it. Soon you may be able to expand your repertoire from a simple “hello” to “Did you watch the game last night?” or “I see you scored the winning goal yesterday” or “Glad to see you back in school.” Just those few seconds of interaction show students that in your class, they’re not anonymous; you’re interested in them as individuals.

Greeting your students starts your class on a positive note with a good chance that everything will move smoothly for the next 40 – 45 minutes. Before you know it, the class is over and it’s time to say good-bye until tomorrow.

How you say good-bye is just as important as how you say hello. As the adult in charge, do not allow students to leave until you dismiss them. After all, your class is not a sporting event or a movie where students are free to get up and leave whenever they feel like it. Instead, teach students to remain in their seats until you’ve determined the class is over. Students know what tomorrow’s assignment is, they’ve handed in their homework, and you’ve finished speaking. Do not allow students to bolt out of your classroom when the bell rings no matter what is going on. It is simply not respectful and looks as if they can’t wait to get out of there! Instead, give students a proper good-bye: “Class dismissed.” You might even add, “Good job today!”

Saying hello and saying good-bye are the bookends of each class. Students appreciate order, and they like being able to predict what is going to happen in class and how their teachers are going to behave. The rest of their lives may or may not be as predictable, but being able to depend on your good will and class control helps make school a safe place where they can learn.

Retired superintendent and former teacher Suzanne Tingley is the author of How to Handle Difficult Parents: A Teacher’s Survival Guide (Cottonwood Press 2006).

Tags: Classroom Management