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Colorado Teacher Shares Notes: Kyle Schwartz Shares ‘I Wish My Teacher Knew’ Activity, It Goes Viral

By Effie Orfanides
Published on: 01:44 PST, Apr 17, 2015

A Colorado teacher shared notes that her students wrote during an activity called “I wish my teacher knew,” and those notes have gone viral. According to ABC News, Kyle Schwartz is a third grade teacher at Doull Elementary in Denver. She says that she wanted to build up a level of trust between her and her students, so she allowed them to submit their responses without their names. Interestingly enough, most of her students included their names and were eager to share their responses with their classmates.

“I let students determine if they would like to answer anonymously. I have found that most students are not only willing to include their name, but also enjoy sharing with the class. Even when what my students are sharing is sensitive in nature, most students want their classmates to know.”

The Colorado teacher shares notes of this nature with other teachers, but she really wanted to do something bigger. She decided to share these notes on social media because she wanted to inspire other teachers to do the same activity with their students. According to Sport Act, teachers around the country have been doing so and have been tweeting some of their students’ responses using the hashtag #IWishMyTeacherKnew.

“In the end, all teachers want to support their students, and #iwishmyteacherknew is a simple and powerful way to do that.”

While some of the notes are funny — most children tend to be — many of the notes are very deep. Ms. Schwartz called them “heartbreaking.”

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, this lesson has helped build community in the classroom. The students that Schwartz teaches come from all walks of life, but 92 percent of them qualify for free or reduced lunch, so they may not be that different from one another after all. Each student has a different home life, but many find comfort in knowing that their peers have struggles too. Whether it’s not enough time with mom, no pencils, or too much homework, these students can relate to one another, and they can feel a sense of inclusion in the classroom.

[Photo via Twitter]

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