One habit that I now use as a best practice is standing just outside my classroom door, every class, every day, as my students are walking out the door.  A simple pleasant “Have a great day.”  “Thanks for coming.”  “Have an awesome weekend.” “Be safe this weekend.” This is what I like to call teacher customer service.  It creates positive relationships with your students.  It gets you present in the hallway to see what other interactions might be happening.  It allows you to see your colleagues.  In my opinion, it provides closure to your lesson, class and interactions with your kids.

After you do this enough, you will get to learn the verbal and non-verbal of your students as they walk about the door.  I occasionally do a check in with kids if it’s obvious their usually cheery “Thanks, you too.” is absent or their affect looks a little down.

This habit gets over looked by even the best educators.  We are all caught up sometimes prepping for the next class or physically rearranging something to get ready for the next group that is entering our space.

One Week Challenge

I am challenging you, if you have read this, to try this for ONE week!  That’s it.  Just one week.  Stand by the door for every class, every day, as your kids are leaving you.  See what you get from it and more importantly see how your students respond to it . Please add some comments to the blog below if you want.  Good luck!