4 Ways to Welcome Students in the Door - Center for Inspired Teaching

If you try this activity with your students, we’d love to see what you do. Share your journey via the #Inspired2Learn hashtag on your preferred social platform.

Discipline: These activities can be applied in any class or subject area though they do not have direct ties to content. With some creative thinking, you can make those connections by choosing prompts or actions related to what you are teaching that day.

Age level: All

Time: 3–5 minutes (or longer if you build out some of the in-class writing possibilities)

Click here to see the standards addressed by these activities.

A simple “Good morning it’s good to see you,” can be received in lots of different ways depending on how the message is delivered and how it is received. If you’re in a bad mood, “Good morning, it’s good to see you” can convey that, those same words can sound quite different when you’re genuinely excited to begin the day. But there are lots of other ways to greet our students and at the core, being seen and heard first thing in the morning or right as you enter class feels good. These activities help make that possible.

Choose One

As students enter, have them pick between two different things with a simple invitation like, “Which would you rather…” or “What do you like more…” This is a super fast way to learn a little something about your students and you can make the choices more complex as the year goes on and you get to know them better.

Introductory examples:

Cats / Dogs
Hot / Cold
Soccer / Football
Summer / Winter
Day / Night
Bare Feet / Shoes
Coffee / Tea (for older students!)
Cake / Ice Cream

More advanced examples:

Talking / Listening
Comforting / Being Comforted
Argue / Ruminate
Take a walk / Take a nap
Watch a game / Play a game

Beyond Handshakes

As students enter class greet them with a hello using different body parts, for example:

Fist bump
Touch elbows
Pinky waves
Shoulder shrugs
Toe taps
Eyebrow waves

Puppet Hellos

Puppets can be fun for any age but might be more joyfully received in the younger grades. For a curricular connection, you could use a puppet that has something to do with what you are teaching (i.e. a sea creature if you’re studying water or the ocean, a character tied to a book you are reading). The puppet can simply say hello or you might try a question that the students have to answer like: “What do you think my name is?” or “What do you think my laugh sounds like?” If this feels a bit outlandish, check out this Edutopia article about the many benefits of using puppets in class!

Word (or Number or Color) of the Day

Many people use interesting tools to help them set intentions for the day or to guide their thinking as they set out on a particular task. Fortune cookies, Tarot cards, and pieces of religious texts are just a few examples. What if your students start class with a word that gets them in a particular mindset? Here are a few ways to try something like this with your students:

- Create a deck of cards with various thought-provoking words on them and as students enter class give them a card that they go to their seat and write a few sentences about as the term relates to them. Words on these cards might include things like brave, curious, active, listening, and bold. Or, if you wanted to tie into the content you’re teaching the words could come from the vocabulary you’re teaching in the subject. So a unit on the weather might include terms like sunny, forecast, cloudy, stormy, pressure, and precipitation. Sentences students write might look something like this:

Today I am going to focus on my listening and see if I can do a better job of hearing what other people have to say. I like to talk a lot but I wonder if my words will be more thoughtful if I also spend time trying to hear more.

Today I am feeling a lot of pressure to get my assignments done. My teachers are asking a lot of me and so is my family but I think I am doing my best.

Hand students playing cards (remove the K,Q,J,A) as they enter and have them create a math problem using that number as the solution. For an added level of challenge keep the K,Q,J,A in the deck and have them figure out how to create math problems with those cards as the answer!
Get a collection of paint samples from the hardware store (the kind with several gradations of the color on one strip that each have a different name) and give each student one as they enter the classroom. Have them write a poem in which each line incorporates the name of the color. They can even write these poems ON the paint strips and then you can hang them on the classroom walls!

Standards Addressed by these Activities

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Competencies

Self-Awareness: The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.

Self-management: The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.

Social awareness: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.

Responsible decision-making: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.

Relationship skills: The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups. This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.