Morning meeting Video Commentary
The song playing in the background was chosen by a student. At the beginning of the year, students select morning songs that we use to transition to Morning Meeting. By the end of a 2 minute song, students should clean up their morning work, and come to the rug. Students are in rug spots, assigned by the teacher, because this class had a hard time when they were given the chance to choose their own spots. After a while, the class decided that the rug spots really helped so we kept them.
When they are at the rug, I tell them what I notice. I say, “People look ready, voices are off, bodies are calm.” These specific noticings remind them of the expectations without praising, or without calling out (and embarrassing) people who may not have done so.
At the beginning of the year, we learned how to say good morning in many different languages. Each week, we learned a new one. Once we learned many, the student leading the greeting was able to choose which language they wanted to use for greeting. They could also choose which type of greeting they want to use. Examples of types of greetings are: ball greeting, skip-one, skip-two, zig-zag, random. Each of these has a specific order in which students are greeted.
When Vianna chooses the ball greeting, I ask them, “What do we need to think about when doing a ball greeting?” This sets up the expectations for how people will use the ball, and reminds students right before we do the activity. Even if we have done the ball greeting many, many times, I find it is important to do this every time.
Greeting with a ball (at random) means students have to pay attention to who has been greeted and who has not. At the beginning of the year, we talk about ways to respond if someone makes a mistake and greets someone again. Early on, students were yelling at each other or showing frustration and a need to intervene when someone greeted someone who had already been greeted. The students show the appropriate response here, and say, “I’ve already been greeted.” At the end, they ask if anyone has not been greeted yet before they pass it back to the greeting leader.
The activity after greeting can be a sharing, or class building activity. In today’s activity, called Emptying the Cup, we acknowledge that everyone brings with with different experiences as they come to school. We recognize that people may feel differently and communicate this using a self-rating scale. I ask, “How do you feel today?” Students show a 1-10 on their fingers, 1 being not so good, and 10 being very happy. Students look at each other’s ratings so we can understand where the other people are coming from. In this way, we can show extra kindness or care to people who may be sad or having a hard day. Students can choose to share their reasons or not. I also pay close attention to students’ self-ratings, and make it a point to check in with those who show a 1 or 2.
After we Empty our Cups, we learn about what to expect for the day. We read the morning message together. Students sign up for morning message leader as well as the greeting leader each day (and can only sign up once a week). Sometimes, we have a question of the day, to focus our class on a particular problem that we’ve been having, or on something we are about to do.
When they are at the rug, I tell them what I notice. I say, “People look ready, voices are off, bodies are calm.” These specific noticings remind them of the expectations without praising, or without calling out (and embarrassing) people who may not have done so.
At the beginning of the year, we learned how to say good morning in many different languages. Each week, we learned a new one. Once we learned many, the student leading the greeting was able to choose which language they wanted to use for greeting. They could also choose which type of greeting they want to use. Examples of types of greetings are: ball greeting, skip-one, skip-two, zig-zag, random. Each of these has a specific order in which students are greeted.
When Vianna chooses the ball greeting, I ask them, “What do we need to think about when doing a ball greeting?” This sets up the expectations for how people will use the ball, and reminds students right before we do the activity. Even if we have done the ball greeting many, many times, I find it is important to do this every time.
Greeting with a ball (at random) means students have to pay attention to who has been greeted and who has not. At the beginning of the year, we talk about ways to respond if someone makes a mistake and greets someone again. Early on, students were yelling at each other or showing frustration and a need to intervene when someone greeted someone who had already been greeted. The students show the appropriate response here, and say, “I’ve already been greeted.” At the end, they ask if anyone has not been greeted yet before they pass it back to the greeting leader.
The activity after greeting can be a sharing, or class building activity. In today’s activity, called Emptying the Cup, we acknowledge that everyone brings with with different experiences as they come to school. We recognize that people may feel differently and communicate this using a self-rating scale. I ask, “How do you feel today?” Students show a 1-10 on their fingers, 1 being not so good, and 10 being very happy. Students look at each other’s ratings so we can understand where the other people are coming from. In this way, we can show extra kindness or care to people who may be sad or having a hard day. Students can choose to share their reasons or not. I also pay close attention to students’ self-ratings, and make it a point to check in with those who show a 1 or 2.
After we Empty our Cups, we learn about what to expect for the day. We read the morning message together. Students sign up for morning message leader as well as the greeting leader each day (and can only sign up once a week). Sometimes, we have a question of the day, to focus our class on a particular problem that we’ve been having, or on something we are about to do.