In Response to #iwishmyteacherknew

There are a ton of tweets with the hashtag #iwishmyteacherknew. The idea is, as a teacher, you ask your class what they wish you knew and you collect their responses. This idea is not new. I remember hearing about it two year ago. But, with the beginning of a new school year, it's come back around. Oh, and there is a teacher making money off of it, too.

What?! Making money, you might ask?

Yes, a teacher asked her class this question and turned the responses into a book (not linking to it, on purpose). Now, I'm all for writing about the profession. I have a stack of edu books waiting to be read. What I'm not into is asking kids to share their deepest thoughts, fears, and struggles and then turning around and sharing them with the world. Rafranz Davis says it great, read her post here.

You are their teacher. If they feel safe enough with you to share personal details,

DO:
1. read it
2. let it inform you as a teacher
3. and keep it private!

DON'T:
-share on social media
-use it to look like some type of "hero"
-turn their responses into a book for your profit!

Listen, I get it, teaching is HARD. Kids have struggles. But, as a caring teacher, you already knew that, didn't you? Read this by Pernille Ripp

Full disclosure, I did this activity last year with my 6th graders. I made a Google form to collect responses. But I made it clear: "Only myself and my co-teacher would read their responses." You know what, I did learn from those responses. I'm glad I did it, but I'm also glad that I respected the students (and their families) enough to keep that information to myself.

Comments

  1. I am so glad you wrote this. I had the same reaction when I saw it. And I wondered how these precious kids would ever be able to trust her with their hearts again. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. As a pre-service teacher we are discussing assessment right now in one of my classes, and I find this idea very interesting because we discussed how valuable, even essential, Affective Assessment is. Asking students this type of information would be affective because we are asking for their dispositions and other personal information.

    I really like that you point out the value of using the information to guide instruction because that is so true! It can be such useful information, but also as teachers we must remember that students have a right to privacy and that we should not share this type of information with the world.

    I really like your idea of using a Google Form because that can even make student responses anonymous if desired, something I may definitely consider using in the future as I enter the field!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mathew!
      Thanks for visiting my blog and taking the time to comment! :)

      Delete

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