The Importance of 'Hello'

The power of genuine greetings to build cohesion and positive relationships in class

Dr Helen Street

Barney the Cavoodle, is loved and adored by my entire family.

My children campaigned for nearly two years to get a four-legged pet. My partner Neil and I strongly resisted for a long time. We believed that our love of travel, and the general ‘busyness’ of our lives, made an extra addition to the family extremely problematic. Afterall, we have three daughters at three different schools, and we work hard. We are absolutely 'dog people' but… we thought that adding a pet to our home would mean adding extra responsibility and commitment we had little capacity for.

How wrong we were.

From the moment Barney arrived, he has lit up our household with love and joy. Barney raises our energy, rather than depletes it. He builds the cohesiveness of our family. He brings out the best in us. And he ensures I get at least one daily walk!

Albeit with a lot of enthusiastic running around, napping and eating, Barney leads a pretty simple life. He loves to chase balls in the garden, to sniff everything static or moving; and to let us know when someone has dared to walk past the house. Other than that, Barney’s only real 'job' is to say 'hello'. However, his ‘hello’ is no half-hearted attempt to acknowledge someone’s return home. Barney greets each of us with 110% of enthusiasm, every single time we open the front door. Whether we have just been to the shop for a carton of milk; or away for the weekend; he meets us with a wagging tail, a lot of ‘kisses’ and a lot of energy. This happy furry family member has taught us the value of consistently, whole heartedly starting every interaction with a committed, loving greeting.

In 2007, Allan Allday and Kerri Pakurar conducted a small study to explore the power of a positive morning greeting in a school environment. They instructed teachers to greet three disengaged students at the classroom door by using the student's name, along with a positive statement (e.g., “I like your new shoes,” “I am glad you are here today”). No specific scripts were given to the teachers because of the need for the greetings  to be perceived as sincere and consistent with the setting. Following the greetings, teachers were instructed to continue their normal routine for the rest of the class. They found that the teacher greetings produced large increases in each of the students' on-task behaviors. The study findings are interesting, but they need to be considered with caution.  Afterall, only three students participated.

More recently, in 2007, academic researcher Allan Allday and his colleagues, carried out a similar study with 203 participating students and ten teachers. In this larger, more structured study, the participating teachers in the experimental condition underwent training in the provision of a positive morning greeting. The teachers were taught to greet students by name with a positive additional reinforcement such as a verbal comment or query (e.g. how are you today? I like your new shoes etc.); or a non-verbal culturally appropriate gesture (e.g. a handshake, fist bump, thumbs up etc.). Following this positively framed personalized greeting, the teachers then used a positive statement to help the student transition into the classroom. For example, they might comment on the previous day’s success, remind the student that their effort produced good results, or make a statement about their belief in the student’s capabilities.

Independent observers in the classroom of both experimental conditions and control conditions of the study, observed the behaviour of the students. In particular, they noted their ‘academic engagement time’ (AET) which was described as any instance where students attended to instruction, watched the teacher or speaker, or concentrated on their classwork. Examples of AET involved writing, reading aloud, waiting patiently for assistance, communicating about assignments, or researching details of an assignment.

Findings from the study found that students in the experimental condition (i.e. those receiving the positive morning greeting) increased their AET by more than 20% compared to no increase seen in the control group. Statistical analyses of these findings strongly support the idea that the morning greetings created a significant positive impact on student AET.

More recently, shifts in morning routines which have been forced by the impact of COVID19 restrictions have provided great anecdotal support for the afore-mentioned studies.  For example, I recently spoke with staff from an international primary school in Hong Kong, who told me about the unexpected benefits of temperature testing their students. Instead of spending pre-class time preparing for the day or on other activities, all staff had been required to participate in the compulsory temperature checking of each child as they arrived at the school. Each time a teacher stopped a child to check their temperature, they also, as a matter of course, said hello and greeted them by name. The staff reported that the impact of the greetings had been unexpectedly powerful and positive. They had experienced greater cohesion in their classes, more attentive students and more positive behaviours. In fact, they were so impressed with the impact of morning greetings, they decided to continue them beyond the need to safeguard against COVID.

It certainly seems that starting a class by greeting your students at the door, can set a positive tone for the class, and possibly for the rest of the day. It is a simple yet powerful way to promote a sense of belonging, to boost academic engagement, and to reduce disruptive behavior.

It seems a good idea to ensure that a personalized greeting always includes addressing a student by their preferred name. We are trained from birth to respond favourably to the sound of our own name.  Hearing our name is also an obvious indication that a welcome message is definitely meant for us.  It is then beneficial to reinforce a simple “hello Jack” or “good morning Emma” with a verbal or non-verbal supporting action. An age appropriate thumbs up, or smile reinforces the notion that each student is seen, accepted and welcome. To then add a personal comment that emphasizes interest in a student, further builds cohesion and a nurturing experience from the beginning of the class.

A sincere, positive, personalized greeting encourages students to feel that they are seen, heard and respected in their school communities. When performed consistently, it also helps students to feel safe and secure in the context of classroom life.

If a warm greeting can help students to feel a greater sense of classroom belonging and safety, it is a worthwhile activity. If it prevents disruptive behaviour and supports academic engagement, it has saved time rather than taken time from teaching content. As such, classroom greetings are important for high schoolers as well as for younger students.

As a social, yet vulnerable animal, my dog Barney instinctively knows how important it is to set the scene well when a member of the pack returns home. He is driven to ensure we are a strong team, united together, to help ensure our survival. What’s more, Barney’s warm greetings ensure that we all delight in seeing him, every day. When we proactively build cohesion, we not only support other’s sense of belonging, we reap the benefits of a greater experience of belonging for ourselves. 

Just ask the happy dog sitting at my door.

References

Allday, Allan R & Pakurar, Kerri (2007) Effects of Teacher Greetings on Student On-task Behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 40(2): 317–320

Cook, Clayton R ; Fiat, Aria ; Larson, Madeline ; Daikos, Christopher ; Slemrod, Tal ; Holland, Elizabeth A ; Thayer, Andrew J ; Renshaw, Tyler (2018) Positive Greetings at the Door: Evaluation of a Low-Cost, High-Yield Proactive Classroom Management Strategy. Journal of positive behavior interventions, 20 (3), p.149-159