The Power of Human Touch

For a couple of years at JES, my morning duty was to stand in the hallway and greet students as they arrived at school. During those years, I gave and received a lot of hugs. Countless students needed to start their days with hugs. One of my students, T, even needed a kiss on his forehead.

Because I do car rider duty every afternoon at GES, I don’t have a morning duty. Because I don’t have a morning duty, I don’t give and receive morning-duty hugs. I’ve fully begun to realize the implications of this reality over the past few weeks, and I’ve realized that I feel a slight disconnect with my students because of it. Truthfully, I’m not sure that some of my students know that I care about them.

So I did something different as my most challenging class entered my room this week: I greeted each student with either a wave, a fist bump, or a hug. Students got to choose which greeting they liked. I expected a lot of fist bumps and waves. Instead, I received hugs from over 85% of the class. I was genuinely surprised by this response, and I was surprised at how tight and how long some of my 4th grade students held on.

I think sometimes we forget the power of human touch.

I know that I must be careful. Touch has too often been used to hurt and abuse, and only God knows what my students see and feel at home. But I think I’m going to start trying to give more hugs, or waves, or fist bumps.

I need for my students to know that I care.

What is something you want to start doing? What led you to your decision?