Openhand
A openhand gesture is always the way to greet your students to ensure comfort and security in the classroom.
I do alot of public speaking as well at teaching in the classroom,,, I want to add that I have adapted gestures to improve my overall acceptability to the different groups.. something else I have noticed is, if I am tired, I tend to drop my good practices and resort to lesser NV's and the results show in my classroom very quick. Posture is a hard one to hold onto when we are aging, and have presented the same material repeatedly for several courses..
You must always make time to find out about your students and work with them to achieve their goal. But always remembering to not turn into a buddy but stay a guide.
Because you spend almost a year with your students in a career education setting, it is important to learn them on a slightly personal yet professional level. Understanding the outside influences as well as in class influences individually will allow for the creation of harmony for all including yourself, after all we are all humans.
