As a teacher, I found that my students walked in with the same attitude. They too were a little bit “Eeyore-ish”… and I also realized this was when my inner-counselor first started going to work. I wanted to find a way to cheer them up too and find a way to teach them to leave their troubles and worries at the door and set the tone for their day.

5 Best-Practices That Changed My Classroom:

1. I Got Rid of My Own Eeyore:
   Yes! I became more focused on how I was talking to people and greeting people in the mornings. Especially, my students! I quickly discovered that my attitude in the mornings was often related to my lack of preparedness. So, I fixed that. I made sure my desk was clean and lesson plans were ready, copies were made, so that in the morning I could focus on being ready to greet my students and get our day routine rolling smoothly.
   
2. Greetings
   I started to actually greet my students. Sometimes it was a high-five, some times it was giving each other knuckles, or sometimes it was just a compliment or a “hello” and letting them know that I was happy to see them.
   
3. Student Organization
   Just like myself, I realized my students needed the organization. If they knew what event or what activity was coming next, they worked harder and more productively. I began to write a list in a column on the board every day under the date, so that students know what was coming next. It often looked like this (this is just an example, and probably and over-planned example):
   May 23, 2020
   •Morning Meeting
   •Class Read-Aloud
   •Reader’s Workshop
   •Word Work
   •Writer’s Workshop
   •Math Warm-up
   •PE Class Today!
   •Math Lesson 7: Division with Remainders
   •Science Lab
   •After Clean-up, we have a game!
   
   (I always added some sort of game or activity in because I am a tricky, trickster and I knew it would keep them motivated. Students were constantly asking, “Ms. Cline, when do we get to play the game?” and I would always remind them, we have to get our work done and get cleaned up and then we can play. “It’s totally up to you guys staying on track and helping me get to the game,” I would often say). One of our absolute favorite games I recently turned into a Google Slide Presentation, as well printable cards that I would keep on a binder ring for quick access when we needed a game or brain break. Check out the link below:
   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/100-Would-You-Rather-Question-Cards-WITH-Digital-Display-Option-5526831
   
4. Classroom Pow-wow
   I actually called it “pow-wow” instead of morning meeting. When I started this I was teaching 4th grade in Nevada, and one of the major social studies topics covered was settlers and the local Native Americans. I too, am part Native American and I thought this was a great way to teach students multiple uses for the word and a way to call our morning meeting something FUN. I caught a lot of flack from other teachers who didn’t understand how I could spend so much time on that. It “wasn’t covering any standards” and was a waste of time. Honestly, I would just accept their criticism with a smile and deep down I always knew – how could I NOT do this? Classroom Community is where it’s at! And classroom Pow-Wow was one of the BEST ways to build that community.
   
   Every morning we would meet in our reading corner. I would try to cover the following things with them.
   •First, a greeting and a hello. Followed by them greeting the person sitting next to them.
   •I would allow 3 to 5 people to share something they would like to talk about. THIS WAS HUGE! Some kids have big issues happen when they are away from us, and if they don’t get to talk about it, this will eat on them all day long – and they will not get anything done. (Sometimes they had pets die, losing family members, parents fighting, forgetting their lunch at home, power getting shut off – like these were real issues and I know just like Maslow’s Hierarchy, if we don’t address our basic needs first, we cannot flourish on anything else.)
   
   Being mindful of time, I knew I couldn’t hear from everyone so I would sometimes let them share with a partner for a minute or two… or I would encourage them to use the “I Wish My Teacher Knew” forms. As our Classroom Community built (I often called it our “Classroom Family”, I would get peers filling this form out for their friends to let me know things that the friend was too embarrassed to talk about. I loved the community and the empathy that was being built.)
   
   •I often had one topic to discuss. Sometimes it was a general question. Sometimes we brainstormed how to solve an issue (such as, I may have received a report that they were too noisy in the cafeteria) so we would make a T-chart together of things that we can and cannot do. Having students be a part of the problem solving was absolutely helpful!
   
5. SHOUT OUT!
   Lastly, I would read some class shout-outs. This was something students could work on during their own “down time” and turn in to the box. Sometimes I would write a students name down and assign it to them, but for the most part, I let them recognize the behaviors that they felt deserved a praise.

These 5 practices really changed who I was as an educator and it changed the productivity of my classroom entirely. My students learned really quickly that they were in a safe place, that they would be heard but they also could leave their problems at the door and set the tone to have a great day. Kids are so adaptable – it’s truly amazing what they can do. I can’t wait to hear back from you if you are new to trying these things in your classroom!