Student Secrets

We’ve been following with interest the news about the now-viral #IWishMyTeacherKnew campaign. What started as a simple classroom exercise by third-grade teacher Kyle Schwartz has quickly spread to become a social media movement showing exactly what’s going on in the hearts and minds of kids not just in Kyle’s Denver elementary school, but in classrooms elsewhere as well.

Share some of the #IWishMyTeacherKnew responses with your family, then take the conversation further:

What do you wish your teacher knew? (Or, if you’re an adult, what do you wish your teachers had known?)

Why do you think it was important for this teacher to ask her students this question?

Why do you think the story is so popular on social media?

Which one of the responses moved you the most? Why?

Do you think kids in your school would have similar responses? Why or why not?

If you could do this #IWishMyTeacherKnew activity yourself, but replace “teacher” with another person, who would you choose? What might you share with them?

What do you think your teacher might say, if you asked him/her to finish the sentence “I Wish My Students Knew….?”