(PCM) In an attempt to get to know the lives of her students a bit better, Kyle Schwartz, a Denver area elementary school teacher came up with the idea to have her students write her a note completing the sentence “I wish my teacher knew … “.
The responses she received were incredibly eye-opening, adorable and some were even absolutely heartbreaking. Schwartz began sharing many of the children’s response on her Twitter account and they have since gone viral.
Schwartz revealed to ABC News, “Ninety-two percent of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch. As a new teacher, I struggled to understand the reality of my students’ lives and how to best support them. I just felt like there was something I didn’t know about my students.”
#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
Schwartz is also encouraging other teachers to use her project in the classroom and has started the hashtag #IWishMyTeacherKnew as a way to share and communicate with other teachers all over the world.
#iwishmyteacherknew sometimes my reading log isn’t signed because my mom is not around a lot #edchat pic.twitter.com/mUsm4zRdKc
— Kyle Schwartz (@kylemschwartz) April 6, 2015
The point of the project was for Schwartz to be able to build a better community in the classroom, so that she and her students could have a better understanding of each other. It is the hope that everyone will learn how to support each other in the process by learning some details about another’s life that they may not have known before.