Setting the Tone for a Positive, Productive Day: The Morning Meeting

During the first scenario, you wake up early, after hopefully a sound sleep, you sip coffee and eat your scrambled eggs, read the newspaper, maybe get a little exercise in. After showering and dressing, you leave to work a little early, knowing you could hit traffic. In the second case, you wake up late, scramble to get ready, forget to have breakfast and your much-needed caffeine, rush to your car and leave late, hoping you don’t hit traffic.

What’s the difference in these scenarios? In both situations, you have “set the tone” for the day—a positive, calm tone or a hectic, stressful one; but nevertheless, the tone has been set and will likely stay with you during the course of the day.

When students start the day in your classroom, as their teacher, you are also responsible for setting the tone. That’s why the morning meeting might be one of the most valuable tools you will learn as an educator. While it might look different in different classrooms, the morning meeting is when students, before starting the day’s learning, come together to share, discuss, and receive news. It is a time for students to feel part of the learning community, for them to feel valuable and to feel good about coming to school. According to Kriete and Davis (2002), the benefits of the morning meeting include:

1. Setting a tone of respect and kindness
2. Building relationships
3. Blending academic, social and emotional learning
4. Addressing the need for a sense of belonging and self-esteem

The morning meeting meets some of the basic needs described by Maslow (1954). In his theory of motivation, everyone has a ladder of needs that motivate them. After satisfying the most basic needs such as eating and sleep, individuals begin to crave to form bonds and relationships—to want to be part of a group or community. Children participating in a morning meeting, where they respectfully share and feel their opinion and thoughts are valued, can feel this need being met. The meetings are also a wonderful way to merge social-emotional learning and development with the academic focus. Additionally, students gain an opportunity to practice listening and speaking skills (Common Core standards) during this time. Teachers also can build their own relationships with students as they share stories and experiences from their own life, which humanizes them and helps develop a connection.

Kriete and Davis (2002) outline four steps for a successful meeting.

Greeting

During this phase, students greet each other by name (this can include a variety of creative approaches including shaking hands, singing, movement, etc.)

Sharing

Students share news and information about themselves and respond to each other in a positive manner.

Group Activity

The entire class does an activity together, learning and building community (Kriete and Davis’ book provides a host of different ideas for each of these steps).

Morning Message

Students practice academic skills and read and discuss a note posted by the teacher.

Kriete and Davis (2002) recommend spending 20-30 minutes to conduct the meeting—which should be done first thing in the day. Of course, you will have to adjust this time based on your schedule and events such as testing and assemblies. Other suggestions include establishing norms and ground rules for meetings (i.e., listening to the speaker) and starting with simple, “low-risk” meetings until students grow accustomed to the practice. My advice would be to embrace the concept of the morning meeting and make it your own by tailoring it to your students’ needs as well as the classroom schedule and environment. However you do it, just remember to set a positive tone at the start of each day!

References

Kriete, R. & Davis, C. (2002). The morning meeting book. Thunder Falls, MA: Northeast Foundation, Inc.

Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. NY, New York: Harper & Row.