Morning Meeting

When I first joined my school, our community was experiencing a lot of change. Staff transitioned. We would be moving campuses.

Our new location was a dilapidated building. The heat didn’t work. The air conditioning didn’t work and the pipes would burst in the cold.

All of this contributed to a start of the year that felt a bit out of control. There were too many kids in the hall. Too many absences. Too much ​disruption. Several classes were filled with non-joyful noise. Several teachers appeared to be confused about expectations. Things were just off.

While I had planned to do a bit of observation and listening for a while, the culture and the climate of the place required immediate ​intervention. There were things I would want to change long term and things that needed to occur in the short term to get there.

I had to establish a foundation of trust, safety, and order.

It was time to implement a Morning Meeting.

Morning Meetings are not the same as morning announcements. Those daily reminders that are shared out over a loudspeaker during ​homeroom that barely catch anyone’s attention and inevitably interrupt teachers. Nor is it a recitation of operational information about the day.

Morning Meeting is a strategy. It is a tool for change.

Each morning, after kids arrived but before first period, the entire school would gather in the hall. Each class had assigned spots. I stood on a ​chair in the middle while teachers stood by their students.

It always began the same.

“Good Morning Crossroads!” I would shout excitedly.

“Good Morning Mr. Ebert.” The school would respond. Sometimes enthusiastically. Sometimes lethargically.

Then came the mini-sermon of the day.

In the beginning, I leveraged Morning Meeting to combat the chaos. It was a chance to speak about expectations and address confusion. It was ​my time to let everyone know how we expected each person, kids and adults, to conduct themselves.

Sometimes Morning Meeting was about one of our school’s values and how a child demonstrated it the day before. It could be about an ​interaction I witnessed at recess. During testing season it was often about the importance of the exam for their high school placement and how ​they were all much more than a number.

Once, it was about having an entire group of 8th graders take out their phones and call an absent child on his cell phone because he was ​missing too much school.

(Side Note: His Mom was SUPER angry but he came to school.)

During that first year, Morning Meeting was a time to get kids fired up about being together. The school needed a coherent culture. It needed ​an identity.

I would talk for a few minutes. Then, we would wrap the meeting with the BASE chant. It was call and response. It was loud. It was joyful. It was ​energizing.

Believe - Believe In Yourself

Achieve - Achieve In Academics

Succeed - Succeed In Life

Exceed - Exceed Expectations

During that first year, Morning Meeting was five days a week. Our students and teachers needed to see me daily and I, them. We were in the ​midst of an organizational shift and being present was one of the ways I could ensure that we were always working towards our vision.

I tried to match the tone to what I felt the need was for the day. I could be serious. I could be focused. I could also lead the entire school in “How ​to Dance Like a Penguin,” or “Challenge Mr. Ebert to a Push-Up Contest.” Whatever we needed to get going, that's what Morning Meeting was.

I also learned that when my tone was frustrated or angry then the day started poorly. I wish I could tell you that I only made that mistake once, ​but I can’t. There were several times when whatever I was carrying made its way into the Morning Meeting. Each one of those days we saw the ​kids absorb my feelings instead of a unifying and uplifting message.

Over the years, as our school community found its footing, Morning Meeting evolved. We reduced the frequency. First, we took it down to ​three days a week. During the last several years of my tenure, to Mondays only.

As our culture, climate, systems, and instruction improved, we retired the BASE chant. It was no longer needed. Our children were present and ​engaged (mostly). They knew expectations. They had chosen to be a part of our school and before they even entered our doors, they knew our ​values.

Instead of our loud, arena-like chant, we did a moment of mindfulness. I, or our Yoga, Mindfulness, and Mediation teacher, would lead the ​entire school in our mantra, “May we be safe. May we be happy. May we be at peace.” Then, everyone would quietly listen to the fading cling of ​a singing bowl.

After several years of implementing strategies, making a lot of mistakes, and getting lucky, our school began to match our vision. No single ​strategy can get a school to where it needs to be. We need to effectively implement as many strategies as we can handle to build schools where ​both children and adults can thrive.

Changing instruction alone won’t move a school forward. You need to build an identity, a community, a feeling. That can start as soon as kids ​enter the building.

That can start with Morning Meeting.

How to Morning Meeting

Location

Choose a location where you can gather grade level, multiple grade levels, or the entire school in one space.

Ensure the location is easy to access to all and can have a very quick entry and exit.

Ensure that the setup is consistent.

Ensure that children and adults know exactly where to stand and what the expectations are. In the beginning, we set up blue painters tape at ​the front of each line.

Time

From entry to exit, Morning Meeting should not take more than 8 minutes.

The speech, sermon, announcement section of the Morning Meeting should not take more than 5 minutes.

Speaker

This depends on how many different morning meetings need to be led. At our small school, I was the speaker most of the time. However, the ​Dean of Students would run it when needed. Sometimes other staff asked if they could. The pinnacle of our work was when children asked to ​lead Morning Meeting because they believed they had a message that the community needed to hear.

Recommendations For Talks

Topics are dependent on many factors and will change over time.

Relatable, personal stories are more effective than edicts.

Sharing about mistakes and failures lets everyone know that they are normal parts of being a person.

Everyone will remember the part that made them laugh.

Tone

Mood matters. If you’re uplifting, calm, or joyful – your people will feel it. If you’re in a bad mood when you speak, your whole school will start the ​day that way.

Morning Meeting is a place for sharing, joy, celebration, expectations and lessons learned. It is not a place for chastising.

Evolution

Morning Meeting should change over time because school communities should evolve. Make space to allow for a changing environment.

Morning Meeting should be as often as needed and no more than that.

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