#Iwishmyteacherknew Examples Revealing All Around
by TeachThought Staff
Kyle Schwartz teaches third grade at Doull Elementary in Colorado.
By now, you’ve likely heard of her–or at least one of her ideas, #Iwishmyteacherknew.
Every now and then, there’s an “Education” story that the masses take notice of–standardized testing, Michelle Rhee, Waiting for Superman, the flipped classroom, the iPad failure in LA, the testing scandal in LA, among others. The most recent to crossover is the hashtag #Iwishmyteacherknew, which is what it sounds like it might be–an asynchronous conversation (or rather, series of statements) illuminating the realities that many students face every day.
On one hand, there’s an inherent kind of other disconnect at work here that makes the whole thing a huge act of spectacle, while inviting frank discussions about privacy. We’ll talk more about that in a follow-up later this week. To provide context to that kind of analysis, first the tweets themselves.
Schwartz told ABC News, “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.” The emotional pull is, of course, heartbreak, and it’s here in spades–quick, visual vignettes that act as windows into often emotionally vulnerable minds and broken homes, the big idea is that students aren’t curriculum receptacles.
School overwhelms some, while providing a sanctuary for others. And sometimes both. Schwartz continued, “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.”
Good on her, but let’s reflect for a moment in our response. Reducing the whole “thing” to a socioeconomic wake-up call is missing the point. If nothing else–in lieu of some sensationalism born from the current viral tone of it all–there’s this real sense in these tweets that students are merely along for the ride in their education. They’re passively receiving instead of dead-center in the middle of it all, co-creating, curious, and constructing their pathways forward on-the-fly.
Students, teachers (and some trolls) have jumped in with both feet to provide an assortment of sharing that’s–well, check out 40 or so examples we’ve curated below. On Wednesday or Thursday, we’ll take a look at the bigger picture of #Iwishmyteacherknew.
#Iwishmyteacherknew’ 40 Moving Examples Of #Iwishmyteacherknew; 40 Moving Examples Of #Iwishmyteacherknew