The Magic of a Moment at the Classroom Door

As teachers, an increasing part of our day is involved with behaviour management. Behaviour management is a major component within the profession of teaching, and if we don’t have behaviour management techniques in place, our classrooms can quickly mount into chaos, frustration or being out of control which of course impacts our teaching and student’s ability to learn. No teacher I’m sure enjoys yelling at the students to bring the classroom under control, but sometimes we can feel at the mercy of unruly and escalating behaviour.

The most supportive behaviour management strategies include building relationships with students as the foundation, and the most effective strategy I’ve come to naturally use is the simple act of greeting students at the classroom door.

At the beginning of each lesson, I stand at the door and ask students who are outside the classroom to move into a line and then invite them to come in (depending on the school, there are varying degrees of how this can look).

As each student walks in, I joyfully say “Hello ….” and include their name. They know to walk to their desks and stand behind their chairs and I stand at the front of the class and wait for them to settle down. My focus is not to be distracted with any writing on the board or getting the roll up on my computer – from the moment they enter until they sit down, I am 100% focussed with them, smiling and having a genuinely positive demeanour. Then I always check in and ask the question to the whole class, “How are you?” Sometimes it’s needed to repeat the lining up and re-entering the room because of disturbance or noise; but always my attitude has a focus on connecting with each student.

And then, when the lesson is coming to an end, I keep an eye on the time so I can wrap it all up in time to be standing back at the door so that when the bell goes, I am there saying “Bye” or “Have a great day”- again, smiling.

Interestingly, even in the most well behaved schools I’ve worked in, initially the majority of students do not say hello or goodbye. They are often keen to leave or too distracted to notice or following a few years of lockdowns, perhaps not even aware how to fully interact anymore. 

Nonetheless, there is always a degree of genuine joy presented at meeting these young people at these bookended points of the lesson.

As the year progresses, I’ve consistently observed over many years of teaching, that students increase in their interaction at these moments, and with a lot of them, you can tell they begin to enjoy the deepening connection and interaction; the buoyancy of the ‘hellos’ increases, and some are genuinely happy to come to class as intonated in the tone of the interaction as they enter and leave. 

Increasingly this tone and attitude permeates into the lesson and interactions, and there is a definitive and growing unity amongst everyone as the class takes on an ambiance and vibrancy with more personal openness and warm familiarity.

This is immense! The consistency to say a simple but genuine hello and goodbye is powerful. It presents to the students the genuine fact that as teachers we are interested, supportive and truly care about them.

It also becomes a powerful tool to support student behaviour as it naturally and rapidly helps build relationships which as teachers we know is what makes it easier to address behaviours. Observing and interacting with students as they enter a classroom also alerts us to anyone who may ‘not be themselves’ and we can circle back at any point in the lesson to check in to see if all is okay with them.

This building of our relationships with students, in what can appear a tiny gesture and a single word or two, does not simply bookend a lesson, it builds a powerful platform from which engagement and learning can grow. It breaks down a historical idea that teacher and student are ‘separate’, a them and us, and instead offers a common unity and connection which sets teachers and students up alike for learning and relationship success.

Why not then maximise the best behaviour management strategy we have as teachers at the classroom door?