5 Tips for Welcoming Classroom Visitors

Whether it is an all-day event or only a half-hour session, family visits to your classroom can feel reminiscent of hosting in-laws for the first time—a mix of emotions as you try to show a part of your world while also making a good impression on those who have entrusted their precious gift to you. Perhaps you are one of the fortunate individuals who are not jolted by these moments, but for many, including me when I first started teaching, these moments can be filled with stress and anxiety.

But after 25 years in elementary education, as a university professor, and as a parent of three children, I’ve learned five strategies that help ease my nerves when family visitors come to my classroom.

5 TIPS TO EASE FAMILY VISITS TO THE CLASSROOM

1. Set expectations with students. You probably already host morning meetings with your class, so this is a natural time to set some expectations for when you’re expecting visitors.

I start these meetings with positivity and an academic focus, using statements like “They will be here to see all of the wonderful things that are happening in our classroom”; “Let’s show how we use our strategies to be problem-solvers and shine for our visitors”; “As we know, everyone is welcome in our classroom. Let’s welcome our visitors.”

After setting some basic expectations, I lead my students in a role-play activity so they can practice the social skills needed for our visitors. This often looks like some students posing as our family visitors while others engage in their regular student activities. Because we only have visitors to our classroom a few times a year, it’s important to go through this process and help students understand what is expected of them.

Next, I help students think through how they will greet their families when they are in the classroom. My students choose to give a discreet wave, smile, or nod, which helps avoid any overly distracting embraces. By setting parameters about what it will look like when our visitors arrive, I can help my students feel a stronger sense of control and calm.

To formalize these expectations, I use a classroom context planning organizer that I review with students.

2. Assign roles to students. Depending on how visitations are coordinated schoolwide, families may enter your classroom at staggered times or simultaneously. By assigning roles to your students, you can help limit the interruptions to your lessons and empower students to feel a sense of pride and agency in the classroom.

In my classroom I assign roles such as a “greeter” who will greet a visitor at the door, a “hostess” to walk families to their designated seats, and an “itinerary supplier” who will give the visitor a printed agenda of what the day’s lesson will include. I print out badges for my students to wear, which only makes the roles more exciting.

3. Engage students in small group or partner activities. When family visitors are in the room, it can be helpful to get them involved with what students are working on. I like to set up stations for small groups to work on some kind of hands-on project.

For instance, during one visit, I set up small group stations where students and families had to work together to find pieces of information in different texts. At another station, students and families worked together to complete a crossword puzzle using vocabulary words and definitions that students had been learning in that unit.

Depending on what your students are working on, you could have small groups complete practice worksheets with the help of visitors or create a hands-on project using different art supplies.

4. Help visitors feel welcome. While many visitors will be excited to be in your classroom, some may feel a bit out of place or overwhelmed by the space. It’s important to ensure that they feel comfortable, which can start as simply as giving them a designated space to sit or stand in. Additionally, you can help them understand what will be happening in class that day by providing a printed agenda.

In my experience, I’ve also written notes to our visitors on the printed agenda giving them ideas about how to participate and reminders about what is expected of students while they are there. If you have visitors whose primary language is not English, it can be helpful to provide any of these materials in their preferred language as well.

It can also be helpful to actively invite visitors to engage or use them as examples of positive behavior to help guide students. This might look like positively praising a visitor for getting to their seat quickly and quietly, or it might mean asking a visitor to bring you a book off of the shelf for a read-aloud.

5. Smile and be yourself. This last strategy is the simplest, but it has really helped me feel at ease during classroom visits. At the end of the day, what families really want is to see their students in safe, nurturing classrooms—they aren’t expecting absolute perfection.

By focusing on what makes you and your students feel excited to learn together, you can show families an authentic version of your classroom that celebrates every student. Even when classroom visits feel a bit overwhelming, it’s helpful to remind yourself to just smile and keep doing what you know how to do—teach your students.