(Primary image credit to kiroTV.com)
How do you build a rapport with students? Fairness, kindness, and constancy all build a young person’s trust in the adults he or she works with. One third grade teacher in Denver, Colorado, decided to offer an empathetic ear to her students—and the results were nothing short of heartwarming.
Ms. Kyle Schwartz was a new teacher, just beginning her tenure in the classroom, when she realized the need for a deeper connection with her students that transcended memorized names and assessment test scores.
“I struggled to understand the reality of my students' lives and how to best support them,” she related during an interview with ABC News. “I just felt like there was something I didn't know about my students.”
And so, the “I Wish My Teacher Knew” exercise was born.
Schwartz asked each of her students to write a sentence starting with the phrase “I wish my teacher knew.” The notes could be anonymous if the student chose—the exercise was more to give Schwartz insight into the collective mind of her class rather than any one student—though Schwartz told ABC News that many of her students signed the notes. Some even shared their notes with their classmates, eager to share their perspectives.
Schwartz was “blown away” by her students simple, stark honesty. She learned that some students didn’t have pencils to complete homework assignments and that others’ parents weren’t home to sign reading logs. Still others were excited to be a part of her class. All the notes were read and taken to heart.
Moved by the responses, Schwartz took to Twitter, sharing her class’s notes with fellow teachers using the hashtag “#IWishMyTeacherKnew.” Within days, the lesson caught on in classrooms across both the U.S. and Canada, with student responses representing all backgrounds pouring onto the platform and offering a brief glimpse into the often-impenetrable mind of a child.
Psychologist Dr. Joti Samra told News1130 that the lesson was “certainly an effective way to get children to disclose something that they may not otherwise,” noting that the key factors to have students reveal such intimate statements are the sense of trust and connection they have with the teacher. She goes on to say that while some teachers may hesitate to bring family or home life into the classroom,
“...the role that teachers play for students, it’s a very important role for many children, particularly ones that may be coming from a family background where they’re not having that level of trust or support with someone. Teachers end up being in the role that they’re the first or only person to learn of quite difficult circumstances that a student may be having.”
This movement has become a springboard for other campaigns, with some teachers using the hashtag to promote summer reading programs (and one enterprising principal coupling a picture of selected student notes with the hashtag “#IWishMyStudentsKnew”). Hundreds of classrooms have become closer-knit communities—all thanks to one teacher who wanted to lend her students an empathetic, listening ear.
(Primary image credit to kiroTV.com)
Additional ISM resources:
Private School News Vol. 8 No. 10 Teachers and Students Love to Loop
Private School News Vol. 9 No. 9 Teachers Gone Viral
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 36 No. 16 The 21st Century School: Technology and Small Children
