Whether they are in pre-K or high school, a high five, a handshake, a fist bump, or even a simple wave can make all the difference when students enter the classroom.
Two Dallas ISD teachers have harnessed the power of the greeting to establish strong relationships with their students and help them succeed.
Dipcianet Galan, a teacher at Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School, greets her 3-year-old students at the door of her classroom every morning. She asks them to pick from four different greetings and reviews the letter of the day with them, in Spanish or English, depending on her students’ language.
“The way we greet each other has a huge impact on their day,” she said. “It sets the tone for every day.”
Galan has been a teacher for 15 years, the first few in Puerto Rico. She attended a Dallas ISD job fair on the island after her husband came to Dallas for work. She was hired as a teacher for one of the district’s pre-k partnerships, and two years ago, became a teacher at Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School.
Galan said she can tell what mood her students are in by the type of greeting they choose, and it also gives her the opportunity to praise them for a new hairstyle or compliment their shoes. She knows the greeting not only sets a positive tone for the day and allows her to read her students’ moods, but it’s also a learning opportunity for the students.
“Choosing for a 3-year-old is a big accomplishment,” she said. “These are great skills to learn because they can apply them in the real world. They acquire essential verbal and socialization skills. No matter their age, it’s important for them to have a sense of who they are, to know that someone cares about them, to gain confidence, and to express themselves.”
Despite a considerable age gap between Galan’s students and Liyah Joseph’s high school students at Career Institute East, Joseph says she sees a lot of the same connections using a greeting at the beginning of each of her classes.
She knows that, just like in pre-K, having someone to greet them at the door improves attendance and ensures students arrive on time. It establishes a commitment between the teacher and the students regardless of age.
“At first, they would come in and just sit,” Joseph said.
Joseph, who has been teaching at CIE for two years, said one of her first goals at the school was to establish a better connection with the students.
At the beginning, she had trouble establishing relationships with her students, but then she tried the greeting process and found it was a great way not only to start the class but also to develop trust between them.
“It changed the mood, established rapport and let us connect individually,” she said. “They are not used to people talking to them at the beginning, and their whole demeanor changes. Eventually, they break out. It might seem like something small, but it is really big.”
Like Galan, Joseph uses the greeting as a temperature check, and if she sees that a student is not having a great day, she addresses it before class and before it affects everyone else. You can watch a short video of her greeting here.
“They love it in pre-K, but they also love it at this age,” Joseph said. “And I wish more high school teachers would do it. One day, I forgot, and they just stood there at the door until I came out to do the greeting. I also look forward to being at the door. It puts me in a good mood.”
