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Teacher shares heartbreaking notes from third graders, sparks social media movement

Posted at 9:28 AM, Apr 17, 2015
and last updated 2015-04-17 09:28:05-04

Credit: Kyle Schwartz / @kylemschwartz

DENVER — A third-grade teacher in Denver has sparked a social media movement after her classroom assignment “I Wish My Teacher My Knew” went viral.

As a part of the trust-building classroom assignment, Kyle Schwartz asked her students to write down something they thought she should know.

“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,” Kyle Schwartz told ABC News.

Schwartz shared some of the most powerful responses on Twitter using the hashtag #IWishMyTeacherKnew. Soon she was getting responses from teachers all over the world.

Schwartz admits some of the notes are heartbreaking, but she wanted to share the experience with other teachers.

“I think it caught on so fast because teachers are highly collaborative and freely share and explore resources,” Schwartz told ABC News.

Here are some of the responses from other teachers who gave their students the same assignment: