What’s the end of the school day like for you? For many teachers, it can be often frustrating and chaotic as everyone waits in anticipation for home time. Students are growing up to be constantly rushed from one activity to the next. They are in motion from the time they climb out of bed in the morning until the time they climb back into bed at night. They have no time to sit back, take a deep breath, and reflect. Wouldn’t you prefer to offer your students a time for peace, reflection, dialogue, and fun at the end of each day? If so, the answer can be found in your afternoon meeting. What’s an afternoon meeting, you ask? Keep reading to find out!
What is an afternoon meeting and why do you need one?
We know the importance of classroom gathering for developing community. Many people have adopted morning meetings into their routine and school day, and those are powerful ways to start the day, but what about afternoon meetings? It’s so important to reflect and review on the day after it has passed; how did they do and what would they like to do better next time? It also makes for a much calmer end to the day, and is much better than just waiting for home time and running out of the building or shutting down the laptop! You can use afternoon morning meetings in a PowerPoint format or digital journal, and they work extremely well during face to face or online lessons to bring your class together one last time before they retire for the day. It effectively ends your school day in a nice little bow!
So what kind of activities can you do for an afternoon meeting? Here are 5 different ideas for your to end your day in a consistently positive and engaging way. These are easy to implement 5 minute prompts, ideal for distance learning and independent quiet time.
So what kind of activities can you do for an afternoon meeting? Here are 5 different ideas for your to end your day in a consistently positive and engaging way. These are easy to implement 5 minute prompts, ideal for distance learning and independent quiet time.
Monday afternoon meetings:
"Motivational Mondays" are great to end the day and week with a positive quote/thought/discussion. This quote is the same as the ones in the Morning Meeting set for continuity and deeper impact, but the prompts are different to allow for reflection on their day.
Tuesday afternoon meetings:
"True or False Tuesdays" are a fun way to end the day with a bit of joy and engaging trivia! You can have students put their hands up for true or false and then have a short discussion (or giggle) about some of the random facts they'll learn throughout the year. Alternatively, if you are teaching remotely you can use the afternoon meeting digital journal and ask students to type in their responses. These facts are different from the Morning Meeting set, but run along the same theme for continuity.
Wednesday afternoon meetings:
"Wellness Wednesdays" are for focusing on wellbeing, both mental and physical, that will help both themselves and demonstrate acts of kindness to others. These are either different or similar to the Morning Meeting set, but the prompts are different in order to encourage reflection on their day.
Thursday afternoon meetings:
"Thoughtful Thursdays" are to develop their thinking skills with some deep, philosophical thoughts and discussions. This can be done as a whole class or discussed in pairs or groups if preferred. These are completely different from the Morning Meeting set, but run along the same theme for continuity.
Friday afternoon meetings:
"Funny Fridays" are great for ending the week on a high with a funny joke! These jokes are different from the Morning Meeting set, but run along the same theme for continuity.
These themed daily afternoon meetings are a powerful to end the day, or even your lesson, and there are enough messages for each day of the school year. This time for reflection helps with personal development and improving oneself, especially if it ties into to the morning meeting and it's a calming ending to the school day or lesson.
To conclude:
It is just as important to end the day in a positive way as it is to start it in one, especially if you are reflecting on the same things you did in the morning meeting which helps conclude the day. An afternoon meeting also means that both you and your students and no longer rushing or stressing or desperate for the day to finish as you have an afternoon routine that is effective and you can look forward to. If you are still remote learning or in a hybrid model, you might prefer to use the afternoon meeting digital journal, whereby students can type their responses into to the journal so that you can review your students’ responses, and maybe even identify areas that you feel your students would benefit from further attention in the future.
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