Denver teacher’s lesson plan goes viral, launches movement

A Denver teacher’s lesson plan has gone viral after it revealed the inner workings of her students’ minds.

Kyle Schwartz, 28, is a third-grade teacher at Denver’s Doull Elementary School, where more than 90 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. In an effort to get to know her students better, she created a lesson plan called “I Wish My Teacher Knew.”

She said she was blown away by her students’ responses to the prompt, which she began sharing on Twitter. Pretty soon, the hashtag #IWishMyTeacherKnew was trending.

“The whole thing started as a way for me to get to know my students better and understand where they’re coming from,” Schwartz said. “It was really eye-opening. What they shared was very honest, very vulnerable, and it helped me understand who my students are as people.”

Many of the students’ responses revealed details about their lives at home. One student wrote, “I wish my teacher knew I don’t have pencals (sic) at home to do my homework.” Another said, “I wish my teacher knew sometimes my reading log is not signed because my mom is not around a lot.”

Other students shared their love of learning and their hopes for the future, letting their teacher know they enjoy school or want to go to college. Schwartz stressed the pride she feels for her students’ academic performance.

“In Denver particularly, there’s not a whole lot of awareness of the inequities we have in our city,” she said. “In Denver, you’re never more than 10 minutes away from a school that’s facing these problems caused by childhood poverty. As a city, I’d love to see us rally together and support all of our students.”

Once Schwartz began sharing her students’ responses on Twitter, other teachers joined her campaign and spread the word. Now, she’s using the awareness to benefit struggling schools.

“I’ve had a huge response from people who want to take action and really support our students,” Schwartz said. “People are asking, ‘What can I do to help?’ “

She said she is encouraging such supporters to organize book harvests and donate their children’s old books to schools in need.

“The book harvest is just as simple as getting the books from your home that you’re not using and into kids’ hands,” she explained.

Schwartz, a native of Highlands Ranch, has been teaching in Denver for three years. Prior to that, she spent a year as an AmeriCorps member in Washington D.C., where she worked with City Year.

“Part of City Year’s focus is working in education, working with schools,” Schwartz explained. “I never wanted to go into education before that. But we started tutoring, and I had this one student named Kevin that was super excited every day, and that made me want to become a teacher. I wanted to come back to the area I grew up in and make a difference.”

Schwartz said the entire “I Wish My Teacher Knew” experience has taught her a great deal about teaching effectively.

“I’ve really learned just how crucial it is to build a community within your classroom and how empowering it can be for students when you give them a voice,” she said. “When you let them tell you what’s important to them, it can be very enlightening. Our classroom feels like a family.”

Anyone interested in supporting Schwartz’s classroom can visit her page on DonorsChoose.org.

Anna Gauldin: 303-954-1666, agauldin@denverpost.com

I don’t have a friend to paly (sic) with me.

I want to go to college.

I want to read more lunch lady books because I only read one.

My brother is sleeping so hard that he is breathing to (sic) hard and loud that I cannot sleep.

My parents.

I love school.

Vietnamese because then she can say words that I forget.

How much I miss my dad because he got deported.

Sometimes my reading log is not signed because my mom is not around a lot.

I don’t have pencals (sic) at home to do my homework.