Morning Meetings (or Anytime)

Morning Meetings (or Anytime Meetings)

are a Good Time to Explore The 5 Needs we share in life.

Today, Morning Meetings are part of classes all around the country. This can be an excellent time to prepare for the day, calm some of the excitement and busyness of getting to school, and have time to settle down and refocus. This can also be a valuable time to briefly explore each of the needs we share in life. Some teachers find meeting after lunch better than in the morning, so anytime you meet as a class can be an excellent time to focus on The 5 Needs.

Why?

The 5 Needs are universal, yet how we meet each of the needs can be easy, complex, and determined by our circumstances and abilities. Showing students (and their parents) that we are all more alike than different can reduce “bully-type behaviors, ” teach compassion and empathy, and empower students. Teaching about our shared needs can “level the playing field” also. Teaching about the needs, and talking about them, incorporating the language of the needs into the classroom can also show students, what we are more alike than different.

The 5 Needs are:

1. Staying Alive
2. Love and Belonging
3. Freedom and Boundaries
4. Power
5. Fun

When we each try to meet these needs, we can show that it doesn’t matter if we have “the best” shoes, houses, clothes, or anything else; we all just need shoes. Talking about this out in the open as part of a lesson or brief morning chat is not like trying to “preach” or “lecture” to the students. The atmosphere is different, so the reception of the words we use is also different.

How can this happen in Meetings?

Here are some brief ideas about how we can introduce The 5 Needs. If you want more information or want to set up a consultation, contact Wendy at: wendyswenson@proton.me.

We all need a place to live. We all need food, clean water, and basic hygiene to stay well. We all need to be able to say when these things are not too easy for us. While we talk about Staying Alive, we can also talk about suicide prevention, depression, and anxiety if these are age appropriate and if we see a need to go there. Sometimes, mentioning that we can talk about these things later can help students feel they have an “open door” to come to you.

We can talk about loving ourselves, learning to be loved, learning how to communicate, having friendship skills, and making choices about where we want to “fit in” or “belong” in school and in the community while we talk about Love and Belonging.

 While exploring Freedom and Boundaries, homework, time management, sports, other activities, and what we do in our free time can be explored. We can also talk about the price of freedom. Maybe we need to be responsible for chores, grades, and jobs, and respect social rules to have some freedom. Maybe we get to set our own boundaries, and maybe society or parents or schools get to set up some of our boundaries.

By exploring Power, we can show that we have more power in our lives than we may realize. Power can come in our words, thoughts, and actions. Some people find power in writing, meditating, exercise, and sometimes, we need to rest to increase our power. We want to learn to identify our our so we an use it to hep ourselves and others.

While discussing Fun, we can show how what is fun for one person may be challenging for another. We can respect this, and we can learn how to explore what we might like to do; sadly, sometimes, if you ask an adult or child, “What do you like to do for fun?” they may not even know.

The Bottom line…

The 5 Needs can be used to demonstrate diversity. Different cultures and different generations meet the same needs differently. Yet, they each strive to meet the same needs in their own ways. One of the most important changes is to notice that the questions change from “What is WRONG with you? to “What do you NEED?”

All of the needs can be interconnected. We can meet more than one need at a time and we can meet each need individually too. We can see the needs throughout history and efficiently connect them to the topics studied in the classroom. Projects for extra credit can also be provided (which worked well in both high school and elementary schools).

Using The 5 Needs in Morning Meetings is easy, flexible, and helpful. If a little box is provided (with a lock) that students can put questions in or tell you about something they may need help with in meeting their needs, this can be powerful. Sometimes students need help with some area, and it is not that they don’t want to share it with the teacher, but there is no opportunity. Using The 5 Needs in the morning meetings can allow students to let teachers into more of their world. The 5 Needs conversations can provide a platform to talk about real-life issues in a safe way and the box with a lock can alow students to ask or share more and you can reach out to the school social worker or counselors if things come up that need more time or resources than you are able to provide. the 5 Needs can open doors to conversations that are important.

If you are interested in more information or want help in using The 5 Needs with your students,

feel free to write to me at: wendyswenson@proton.me