Morning Meeting- Sylvia Style

Sylvia Allen, the principal of Vineyard Elementary came to visit our Differentiation in Instruction class on Tuesday. She spoke about her experience of morning meeting in the classroom. an how it has changed the classroom community. The components of the morning meeting goes like this:

• Class Creed
• Greeting (Monday only)
• Pledge of Allegiance
• Memorization practice
• Class Business
• Goal Setting (monday only)
• Vegetables
• Dessert
• Two literacy terms
• One quote
• News or Current Events
• Share
• Class Cheer (or joke)

Now, you might be asking what all of these things are. Here is the general explanation and examples. The class creed is something that the class participates in and recites together. The creed is something that will help the students step up and consider their potential. 

The greeting is anything that aids the students in getting to know one another and that focuses on eye contact and proper greeting. This helps the students practice proper social interactions that will benefit them in and out of the classroom. Everyone know what the pledge of allegiance is, so I will move on to memorization practice. In this part of the meeting, we recite a passage that we have been working on as a class and individually. There is NO pressure to pass it off, and the class only moves on once EVERYONE has passed it off. Passing it off occurs privately to the teacher. After a few weeks of reciting the passage, usually students don't have a problem passing it off.

During the class business section of the meeting, Goal setting occurs every monday. During this time, the class participates in a short discussion about how they will behave that week, test score goals, etc. This should differ from week to week and from class to class. It is unique! Doing this allows the students to CHOOSE their goals and are more likely to succeed. Vegetables are things that are good for the class like a "math problem of the day" or "science question of the day." It even could include good behaviors noticed or goals achieved. Dessert is really complimenting a few students individually about who was kind, a perfect score, etc. This encourages students to try their best so they can be featured in morning meeting. The purpose of Two literacy terms is to teach without a worksheet! This can be omitted based on grade level.

The Quote can be anything you would like; it gets the students thinking and introduced to a number of different impactful people from society. News and current events is something that scares a lot of teachers. A lot of teachers want to protect their students and not scare them by what is going on in the world. It is better to educate, then to stay in ignorance. Part of being a teacher is not only helping students educationally, but as a member of society. So educate them! Let them know and feel that the classroom is a safe environment.

The Share portion will be discussed in a later post, so STAY TUNED!! And last but not least, Class cheer or joke. This will also come later, so be sure to check back for ideas.

You may be afraid that this will take too much time in your day....but it should only last 15-30 minutes. Morning meeting is something that will completely change the environment of your classroom and will save you so much stress, heartache, and time managing your students. Morning meeting will help your classroom feel like a community and create a safe environment. More examples of morning meeting agendas will be posted soon so stay tuned, and happy teaching!