Morning Meetings: YES, YOU CAN, During Virtual Learning
by Nicole Powell
Picture this: It's another day of virtual learning. You're sitting in front of a computer staring at and talking to a lot of blank tiles. Sound familiar? You want to engage your students and start the day on a positive note, but where are your students? Are they really there behind that screen? Will they engage? Will they participate? Will you be working harder than your students? How can you engage them in this virtual world? Many educators are familiar with the concept of Morning Meetings and did them when they were face-to-face in the classroom. But can you - could you - still do Morning Meetings when teaching online? Yes! Yes, you can!
The structure of a Morning Meeting is pretty straightforward, usually containing four parts. A Morning Meeting usually starts with a greeting, progresses into an activity, segues into a discussion on a topic of your choosing, and then ends with a review of the upcoming day, or ends with your own twist! You can structure a meeting virtually (ha! see what I did there?!) any way you want that will meet the needs of your students. Though Morning Meetings are short, usually only lasting between 10 to 15 minutes, they are mighty in their impact!
The benefit of a Morning Meeting is that it is a casual and informal way for you and your students to bond and start the day on a positive note. These meetings foster and contribute to building a positive learning community. But remember, though these meetings may be casual and informal, they should be purpose-driven. Consider these questions as you craft your Morning Meeting routine: What do you want these meetings to do for your students? What do you want them to learn, or do? Think carefully about the end result you want to achieve. Collaboration? Community building? Engagement? Participation? What do your students need?
When in the classroom, it's easy to face your children and get them motivated to participate. Virtually? This is a whole different story. But you can do it! The key is to get the students to buy into it. How can you do this? It's simple! Get them involved in the decision-making, and give them a sense that they are active participants. Give them a sense of purpose, and responsibility.
Greeting
One of the great things about Zoom, Meets, WebEx or whichever platform you use, is that you not only have a chat bar for students to participate with, but you also have polling options. Use them! Ask the students what type of greeting they want to do. Have them respond in the chat box. Or, set up a schedule for different students to submit a greeting option. You could use a Google form to schedule this, or a Sign Up Genius link for older kids. Some students may not participate with their camera on, but they will feel less inhibition when typing in the chat bar. In whichever way your students decide to participate, celebrate it!
My students really enjoy the greeting portion of the meeting. Sometimes I pick a different language to greet with such as German, Japanese, or Spanish. Because I've done student surveys, I know what languages they speak in their home, and I can attend to those as well. How inclusive is that, where a student hears a greeting they're familiar with?! This would be a great time to ask your students if they want to share their background, and greetings they may want to contribute. You could have a lot of fun trying to get the students to greet each person to the left or right of themselves on their screen, like The Brady Bunch. An added benefit to this, is that they might even turn their cameras on!
Activity
For the activity portion of your meeting, there are many options! I like to start with a game or a physical activity such as running in place for 30 seconds, jumping jacks, or have them do an activity such as a yoga pose or a plank challenge. Many teachers have wonderful engaging Morning Meeting activities available in their TPT stores - and many are free resources! I often use these “Get Moving” sticks I purchased from Really Good Stuff. Remember though, students love to be involved in the decision-making, so you could ask the students what they want to do. You could have students submit a request via a Google form, or ask students to respond then and there on the spot. The benefit to instant feedback like this? Students are right there, they're participating - perhaps even competing with each other for the opportunity to have their idea chosen - and they become eager to be involved.
Discussion
The discussion portion of your Morning Meeting can be structured in many different ways. Again, the key is to get your students involved and get their input. You could do read-alouds, select from discussion cards (I purchased some “Mindfulness Discussion Cards” from Really Good Stuff), focus on specific learning targets, do mini-lessons related to specific content, really, the sky's the limit. I enjoy doing read-alouds during this portion, but pay attention to the needs of your students. Purposely chosen books always lead to great discussions! You can read the book, you could have a student read a book, or you could go to a read-aloud website such as Storyline Online and share your screen. You could have students fill out a Google form to request a day and a book that they want to read to the class. For older kids, they can sign up via Sign Up Genius. You can even have the students lead a discussion on the book. You could craft a Google form so students could submit their discussion questions to go along with the book. This way, you can preview the questions they want to ask beforehand.
Closure
To wind down your morning meeting, take charge by discussing the schedule for the day, or perhaps use this time to engage students in social emotional learning. This is an ideal time to do a check-in with your students via polls, or check in with a link to a Google form to see how your kids are doing. How are they feeling?
Do you have to do Morning Meetings every day? The simple answer is, no. Don't feel pressured into a daily meeting, especially if it's going to add to your level of stress in this already stressful time! Twice, or three times a week can have amazing results. I find huge success with starting the week, and ending the week with a Morning Meeting and the kids really, really look forward to this time together to talk, to bond, to be silly together, to have serious moments, to team-build, and to just get to know each other better.
Morning Meetings set the tone for your entire day, in fact, your entire week. They have the potential to engage students in their own learning since they are actively involved. They foster a sense of community and collaboration. They promote team-building, and really allow the students to get to know each other. They attend to the social emotional needs of your students, which is so desperately needed at this time. If you haven't started Morning Meetings yet, what are you waiting for?! Can you do it? Yes, yes you can!
Nicole Powell is a National Board Certified Teacher, teaching 5th grade in Arizona. She is a member of the Get Your Teach On Magic Squad, and a trip leader for BBT Edventures. You can follow her on Instagram at @powellsgroovypad.
