Saying hello makes all the difference

A high five, a handshake, a fist bump, or even a simple wave can make all the difference for a student entering the classroom whether they are in prekindergarten or in high school. Two Dallas ISD teachers have harnessed the power of the greeting to establish strong relationships with their students and help them succeed.

Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School teacher Dipcianet Galan 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.

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. Because of her experience, 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 her high school students, health science teacher Liyah Joseph has seen a lot of the same connections using a greeting at the beginning of each of her three classes at Career Institute East. She knows that, just like in prekindergarten, 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,” said Joseph, who has been teaching at CIE for two years. From early on, she knew she wanted to establish a better connection with the students.

Joseph graduated high school with a medical assistant certificate and has an associate degree from Dallas College. She worked as a patient care technician before becoming a teacher through Dallas ISD’s local innovation plan while she obtains her bachelor’s degree in public health—the first in her family to do so. But once she graduates, she wants to become a certified teacher and continue in a career she has come to love.

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 prekindergarten, 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.”