South Lyon teacher greets each student with personalized handshake

SOUTH LYON, Mich. (FOX 2) - What better way to start the school day than with a handshake.

Sure it's not your traditional handshake, but it's the individual greeting each sixth grader gets each morning in Tamara Besco's math class at Millennium Middle School in South Lyon.

"It used to take like 10 minutes a day because we couldn't remember them but now it's like two minutes," said Ryan Murphy.

Ryan and his classmates were given an assignment to create their own handshakes at home. They recorded them and Mrs. Besco learned every single one over Thanksgiving break.

"She went home over the three days and she came back and it was down pat," said Jack Vargo.

It's given the kids something fun to do and something else.

"It's like a way for us each to get to know each other and especially us and the teacher -- to get to know each other's personality. It's fun," said Lily Groves.

And it's a connection, something Mrs. Besco calls reach versus teach. With all the pressures that come with middle school, social media andbullying, she wanted her students to know she cares.

"I just think that anything you can do to reach them on a personal level and let them know that you are here for them if they need anything is really, really important and it's part of our job nowadays," she said.

Mrs. Besco said putting effort into them makes them want to put effort into the class.

"Now we know that if we had a problem we could go to Miss Besco and ask her for help," Ryan said.