On a recent Wednesday, Lewis asked the kids, who are either identified by teachers as needing additional intervention or have an individualized education plan (IEP), to give him something positive that happened to them the day before.
Then the group talks about the letters E, R and O, which stand for event, response and outcome. Something happens, the kids respond, and depending on how they react, the outcome changes.
Talking about E, R, and O is straightforward and quick, but it seems to work well for the kids who came in.
“If I can get them in a positive mind frame before going to class, I think that they’ll be able to respond positively to situations that happen to them during the day,” Lewis said.
Lewis reminds them to take a breath if they know they’re angry or not feeling good and someone asks them to do something.
“A lot of the kids I meet with, they’re pretty impulsive,” Lewis said. “It’s hard for them to think first and then act.”
Lewis said the kids he works with know when they did something bad. It’s focusing on the positive they have a harder time with.
“A lot of students with behaviors come in with school with a negative kind of feeling of, nobody really likes me, or nobody really gets me,” Lewis said. “And I want them to make sure they know somebody loves them at school and somebody’s here for them.”
The group seems to give some students something to look forward to. Lewis said one of the boys in his group hated school before joining the group. So far this year, Lewis said he hasn’t missed a day.
Dennis Elementary’s principal, Terrah Hunter, said Lewis’s class has had a “tremendous” impact.
“When he asked me, I agreed, but had no clue of the positive influence the morning huddle would have on our students,” she said.
Lewis said he brought up the idea to the administrators and they agreed readily to it.
When I visited, the kids were sitting on the floor and paying attention to what Lewis was saying.
But it wasn’t easy, Lewis said. He worked with other intervention specialists to get the kids to a place where they could sit calmly and listen.
Lewis also stands in the hallway and outside the school before class which seems to have a positive impact on kids too. There’s research showing greeting students at the door leads to them being more on-task during the day.
Many schools have reported an increase in negative behaviors in the students they teach. Even at the elementary level, more students are dealing with mental health problems. That takes a toll on the teachers, too, because dealing with several kids acting out makes it more difficult to get everyone to focus on a lesson.
Lewis’s meetup is a low-cost, low-effort intervention for the kids who need it, and it seems to work, according to the Dennis Elementary staff. It’s in its second year.
Jeff Rippl, the assistant principal at Dennis Elementary, said teachers have reported their kids seem calmer with the effort. Rippl said Lewis’s positive energy has helped throughout the building, and not just with the students he works with on a daily basis.
“Him starting the day that way helps head off a lot of problems,” Rippl said.
On the day I visited Lewis’s class, the morning announcements included a list of the kids who had gotten picked to go on a field trip. Several of the kids in the class got picked, but a kid who didn’t get to go clapped for his friends. Lewis immediately fist-bumped him and praised him in front of the group for cheering for his friends.
“We can be happy for other people,” he reminded his group.
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