Classroom Meetings

Action Plan and Reflection

I love the idea of morning meetings, but my school does not do these. Morning meetings

seem like a great idea for elementary school, but I work in a mid-high school and I struggle to

see where they could fit into our schedule. Our students don’t have “advisory” or “homeroom”

and taking 15-30 minutes from 1st period every day would not be feasible. Because I’m choosing

my second endorsement in elementary education, I’ll talk about how I’d plan to conduct morning

meetings in an elementary setting.

Gathering students together every morning to touch base with each other and plan for the

day is a great way for kids to be able to let me and their classmates know how they’re doing and

what they’re expecting for the day. It seems like an effective way to provide the students with an

idea of what the day’s activities will be, and generally just a good way for everyone to get on the

same page. In “The Power of the Morning Meeting: 5 Steps Toward Changing Your Classroom

and School Culture” by Lisa Dabbs, she writes that the morning meetings were

“transformational.” The idea of the morning meeting is to “set the tone for respectful learning,

establish a climate of trust, motivate students to feel significant, create empathy and encourage

collaboration” and “support social, emotional and academic learning” (Dabbs, 2013).

Beginning the meeting by greeting students by name and welcoming them to the

classroom is a way to make them all feel included. Checking in with everyone and letting

students share how they are doing allows everyone to have a voice and be heard. Organizing a

group activity can get everyone warmed up for the day and out of their shells, allowing for better

participation in the school day. Finally, using the time for announcements gives students the

opportunity to have an idea of what to expect for the day.

 Starting morning meetings with a little movement seems like a great way to get students

to open up to each other. I like the idea of having kids do jumping jacks, sit ups, etc. in order to

literally get warmed up and get their blood flowing. This way, they will have clearer minds to

use for the morning meeting activity. With just a quick search online, I was able to find dozens

of morning meeting activity ideas. Of these, several stood out as ones that I think would be fun to

try. I would begin by having students sit in a circle and say “Good morning (student name)” to

the person sitting to their right (or left) and going around the circle like that. Then, we would

each share what we like most about school and why. Another great idea is having each student

compliment another, whether by drawing names out of a hat, or choosing the person sitting to

their left/right (Woolf). There are lists of these types of questions online that I could rotate

through over several weeks. Getting kids familiar with each other and comfortable asking each

other questions is very important in getting them acquainted and used to working together.

Being able to bring kids together and let them get to know each other better can improve

their group work skills throughout the year. It strengthens their social-emotional learning by

having them work with all kids, rather than just their friends. They gain social skills that they

may not if they come to class and head straight to their desks, prepared to sit through a lecture

for the next hour. I’m looking forward to studying this further, and finding more activities to try

on my students.