Several years ago, so long I can't remember exactly when or where, I read (or saw? or heard?) about how physical touch can build community. Just a brief handshake can forge an unconscious positive connection. As soon as I discovered the notion I put it to use. Standing outside my door before each class, I greeted each student by name with either a hand shake, a fist bump, or a high five.
I'm pretty sure I had positive results, but like so many things in a busy teacher's day, that strategy fell by the wayside as I reset the lesson on the smart board, pulled up the class attendance, and pushed in the chairs and picked up any stray belongings from the class before (another useful habit, along the lines of the broken window theory).
But today, something there was that prompted me to give the human touch a try with my last class of the day, which is again this year my most challenging, mostly because of a couple of boys who are impulsive, negative attention-seekers with poor self-regulation skills. And so I stood by the door and welcomed each kid by name and offered him or her a high-five along with my sincere wish to Have a great class! My co-teachers walked in last, with big smiles and hands slapping as they wished each other a good class, too.
Did it work? I'd like to think so-- the two most troublesome students were pretty subdued (but that might have been due to the fact that their moms were coming in today and tomorrow).
And everyone else? Was... sort of on task.
Even so, the episode reminded me that I teach people, not classes, and every single kid is a whole universe walking around in jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie. To them, the 42 minutes they spend in my class is a blip, and I am mostly incidental.
Unless I choose otherwise.
I'm pretty sure I had positive results, but like so many things in a busy teacher's day, that strategy fell by the wayside as I reset the lesson on the smart board, pulled up the class attendance, and pushed in the chairs and picked up any stray belongings from the class before (another useful habit, along the lines of the broken window theory).
But today, something there was that prompted me to give the human touch a try with my last class of the day, which is again this year my most challenging, mostly because of a couple of boys who are impulsive, negative attention-seekers with poor self-regulation skills. And so I stood by the door and welcomed each kid by name and offered him or her a high-five along with my sincere wish to Have a great class! My co-teachers walked in last, with big smiles and hands slapping as they wished each other a good class, too.
Did it work? I'd like to think so-- the two most troublesome students were pretty subdued (but that might have been due to the fact that their moms were coming in today and tomorrow).
And everyone else? Was... sort of on task.
Even so, the episode reminded me that I teach people, not classes, and every single kid is a whole universe walking around in jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie. To them, the 42 minutes they spend in my class is a blip, and I am mostly incidental.
Unless I choose otherwise.
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