I'm attempting to write everyday in March.Today is 9/31.
Today was the last day of third quarter. This typically means a chance for reflection in my seventh grade classroom, and this Friday was no different. I shared the following with my students in Google Classroom, asking them to write me back.
FYI - the you get to create you comment is in reference to a Hank Green video we watched earlier in the year.
I wasn't sure where the responses would go, but I was floored. I won't share exact responses here, but they ran the gamut from students...
- worried about their grades because they didn't want to disappoint their mom.
- planning for college and wanting to become... a teacher, a psychologist, join the military, own a restaurant, create their own line of computers more successful than Apple, a writer, work for the FBI, etc.
- sharing issues they've had with friends this year.
- sharing how hard they struggle to balance everything.
- writing of their fear of never measuring up to their siblings.
- writing of their gratitude that language arts is a safe space that they can find out who they are.
- wondering why they weren't successful in "x" class even though they really worked on it.
- asking if I had any ideas on how to help a certain friend situation.
- sharing health issues and asked for help explaining how it was getting in the way of their goals.
- writing of their lack of confidence, or the front that they put up so that no one would know about their lack of confidence.
- sharing that they felt depressed last year, but this year something has changed.
And on, and on, and on. I read through over seventy of these quick writes today and, quite often, I held back some tears. I'm honored to teach a subject that students can share themselves in. Sometimes what they share is hard, sometimes it makes me laugh, but always I am grateful that they trust me enough to share their true selves. It is a gift that I never take lightly.
