Kyle Schwartz is a third-grade teacher at Denver's Doull Elementary School. In an effort to understand the lives of her students, allowing her to figure out how to best support them, she started a lesson plan called "I Wish My Teacher Knew."
Schwartz encouraged her students to participate in the activity by finishing sentences starting with "I wish my teacher knew." She let them write the notes anonymously to help the students open up more but Schwartz found that most are actually fine with including their name and even sharing what they wrote with the rest of the class.
"Some notes are heartbreaking ... I care deeply about each and every one of my students and I don't want any of them to have to suffer the consequences of living in poverty," she said.
Surprised by the sheer honesty her class had about the activity, Schwartz took to Twitter to share some of the notes, each one accompanied by the hashtag #IWishMyTeacherKnew. This was also a means for her to inspire other teachers to incorporate the same activity into their lesson plans, allowing them to better understand their students.
Soon, photos and tweets from other schools, even those from other countries, started pouring in.
Schwartz believe that her lesson plan caught on so quickly because teachers are naturally highly collaborative, freely sharing and exploring their resources. All teachers essentially want the best for their students and #IWishMyTeacherKnew gave them a simple yet powerful means to support the children.
#iwishmyteacherknew that I want to go to college #edchat pic.twitter.com/pal9Y4L846
— Kyle Schwartz (@kylemschwartz) April 7, 2015
Had my students write "I wish my teacher knew___" It's a reality check. #edchat #fellowschat pic.twitter.com/8vFUZqQnu0 — Kyle Schwartz (@kylemschwartz) March 28, 2015
#iwishmyteacherknew I don't have a friend to play with me. Honest answers from kids #edchat pic.twitter.com/5H0EPgRzPQ
— Kyle Schwartz (@kylemschwartz) April 6, 2015
According to her, building a community within the classroom is one of the major goals of the lesson plan. It looks like it's working because Schwartz shared that after a girl shared with the class that she has no one to play with during recess, the class basically told her they got her back. The following day at recess, the girl was playing other girls. "Not only can I support my students but my students can support each other," she added.
#IWishMyTeacherKnew my parents pic.twitter.com/X2DF9sbWw6 — Kyle Schwartz (@kylemschwartz) April 17, 2015
#iwishmyteacherknew how much I miss my dad since he got deported #edchat #ImmigrationReform pic.twitter.com/yUK0FCwwiO
— Kyle Schwartz (@kylemschwartz) April 6, 2015
Aside from connecting with her students and allowing her students to connect with each other, Schwartz hopes to be able to connect her students as well as their families with the resources they need to live more comfortably. Out of everyone in her class, many hail from underprivileged homes, with 92 percent of them qualifying for free or reduced lunch at school.
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