Student Contributor: K. Nelson
The morning mood chart is a chart with different moods or emotions. When asked a student tells the teacher how they are feeling for that day. It is helpful, because it gives students the opportunity to tell the teacher how they are feeling. This information is good, because then the teacher is aware how the students my behave.
Morning mood charts are best used in the morning at the beginning of the day. They should be used at the same time every day. This way the teacher can get a sense of how each of the students are feeling at the beginning of the day. After learning how their students are feeling a teacher can try to help a student to feel happier, more calm, or less worried. For example, if a student says that they are nervous for the day the teacher may then ask why and then try to help make the student less nervous. A teacher could also use the morning mood charts to track students emotions. They may find pattern where students become sad or anxious. With this information a teacher could then try to help of find help for that student. Personally, I have never had a personal experience with morning mood charts, but I know there were times in my school experience where they would have been helpful.
Morning mood charts would be in the Preventative Phase. It should be in this phase, because if a teacher knows how a student is feeling, then the teacher can do something to prevent misbehavior. The teacher can come up with strategies to set the student up for success. Morning mood charts may also relate to the Supportive Phase, because if a student is feeling down, a teacher could offer the student “Australia” (a part of a classroom to take a break). In short the teacher could use different ideas to help support the student. I don’t think morning mood charts really relate to the Corrective Phase. However, anything done in the Preventative Phase helps minimize the need to use the Corrective Phase.
More Information –
Tool Source: This idea came from Gus Nollmeyer and ideas for the chart can be found on Pintrest.
1st grade/20 students/urban
I used this tool with my students first thing in the morning. It was really helpful to know how my students were feeling at the beginning of the day so I could respond accordingly. It was very helpful to know which one of my students were sad or worried right at the beginning of the day so I was able to give them the support that they needed. For one student this looked like being more patient with them and for another, it was giving them some quiet time to themselves. I had some students who were confused about what some of the emotions meant, so I am planning on changing the chart I chose to use with something friendlier for their age and possibly with fewer emotions to choose from. This is something that I plan on using every day when I step into being their full-time teacher. This is a great addition to the website!
Demographics: 1st grade/15 students/Rural community
This tool was very easy to implement and create. I found a template of my own on Teachers Pay Teachers and had them laminated. By doing this, students could use the dry erase markers at their tables to circle their mood for the morning. I then would come around and collect them. This gave me an opportunity to connect quickly with each student. I then went through them quickly to see if there were any students who were in a not great mood for the morning. This information allowed me to be extra sensitive with those students, and give them extra support on morning work. For 1st grade, my mentor and I chose to only offer 3 mood options: happy face, frowny face, sad face. This was a way to make sure this was a quick routine and to not overwhelm them with too many options in the morning. I would suggest this tool to anyone who wants to build better relationships with their students. I think that this gave me an opportunity to connect with my students when they really needed it.
4th grade
22 students
Rural
This was something I really enjoyed. It was very easy to implement as students recognized it as a fun morning task. It isn’t an open discussion with the class where it may be hard to share your true emotions. Instead, it is a very comfortable paper task that allows the students to share how they are truly feeling. This is something that students rarely feel comfortable sharing and that thinking follows as they grow older. As the teacher I was pleased to notice that seldom did a student pick the same thing on back to back days. The students seemed to really embrace the task. This allowed me to differentiate based on their moods which improved the classes production and my teaching. I could see this working at all levels as it is very simple to implement and students seem to appreciate it.