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I Wish My Teacher Knew: How One Question Can Change
Everything for Our Kids
By Kyle Schwartz
Reviewed by Jeff Cranmore Grand Canyon University
I Wish My Teacher Knew: How One Question Can Change Everything for our Kids by Kyle
Schwartz explores the role of relationships and the building of community in the classroom. Schwartz believes these are key to creating a positive environment that promotes learning for all students. The book explores a number of larger issues that students face, such as dealing with challenges and building relationships, and offers suggestions for teachers on creating a positive classroom culture that can dramatically impact student learning. By developing relationships with students and families, Schwartz believes that we can address learning outcomes. She notes:
When our students struggle in school, we need to find the root of the problem and to do this the first step is often asking an empathetic question. Think of a child who arrives late to school. Greeting the child with disappointment, hostility, or sarcasm makes the child feel they are the problem. (p. 67)
I Wish My Teacher Knew expands upon the author’s experiences in the classroom, when she began asking her third grade students to share what they wished she knew about them. Schwartz shares many experiences and the insights she gained, including well-meaning mistakes she made early in her career; these insights are especially powerful and valuable to new teachers. In one example, Schwartz recounts handing out snacks to students. When one student refused and became angry, she realized that she had inadvertently, but publicly, announced the student’s food scarcity situation. Schwartz turned this situation into an opportunity to create food pantries within the classroom, which allowed students to take needed food without drawing attention to themselves. This example provides a powerful lesson for new teachers, who are often unaware that sometimes their attempts to help students actually call attention to the very issues students feel are embarrassing to share with their classmates. These unintentional episodes can create negative self-image issues for the student. New teachers can take this lesson to heart, and pursue more discreet conversations, when they have private ways to learn about what students are coping with.
Through eight chapters, the book explores larger issues that impact students and learning, including student mobility, poverty, family structures, grief and loss, trauma, the importance of character education, developing self-efficacy, and student engagement. Each chapter presents a topic based on the teacher’s experience with a particular student. This leads into an in-depth exploration of the issue at hand, with supporting data such as current research in the field or Schwartz’s own classroom outcome data. Throughout the chapters, she mixes student stories with relevant data on student poverty rates, child protective reporting data, and student mobility rates, along with encouragement for teachers to address the broader picture of the struggles today’s students commonly face.
Further, Schwartz provides tools for teachers to support students in different situations, described in each chapter (e.g., classroom supports, community resources, legal requirements, and the importance of teacher self-care). The book concludes with a full teacher’s guide that outlines the implementation process for adding these relationship strategies in the classroom, which is a key piece to ensure teachers enact these best practices to reach other students in other schools. Rather than endorsing specific professional development, such as character education approaches, Schwartz shows the reader ways to build a change in school culture through web support and social media.
Creating a Culture of Relationships in the Classroom
Building relationship capacity has become a focus of education. Toste, Heath, Connor, and Peng (2015) noted the importance of school and classrooms in child development and how the relationship with the teacher is at the center of these processes. Further, Laurian-Fitzgerald and Roman (2016) found students increased their growth mindset in classrooms where they believed their teachers and their peers were supportive. Cadima, Verschueren, Leal, and Guedes (2016) saw increases in both students’ academic performance and their self-regulation in classrooms with positive student-teacher relationships that focused on encouragement. Positive relationships between students and teachers have been linked to academic achievement, overall well-being, and a sense of security in children. The relationships then form an opportunity for teachers to teach beyond the academic curriculum. Schwartz provides several examples for teachers in building these relationships. She emphasizes the importance of character education in the classroom, noting:
If you don’t work in education, you might not understand what a teacher’s job really is. If you think our job is to teach students reading, writing, and math, you’re wrong. Teachers teach students, not subjects. We are in the business of growing people by creating situations in which students collaborate, think critically, and solve problems. This requires that our schools and all teachers take an active role in developing children in our classrooms not only as scholars, but also as human beings with strength of character. (p. 147)
The American School Counselor Association (2016) further promotes the inclusion of character education, calling on teachers and administrators to partner with professional school counselors in the delivery of character education to all students. The examples provided in I Wish My Teacher Knew illustrate the opportunity to include important resiliency skills as a daily part of classroom instruction and interaction; for example, there are specific chapters that cover traits such as inclusiveness, supporting others in need, and self-efficacy, as well as chapters that discuss working with children as they deal with trauma and grief. Swartz offers practical applications to teachers on how to embed these traits into the daily practices in the classroom, such as including lessons on diversity and accepting others who are from different backgrounds.
Schwartz also addresses how educators can work with students as they face challenges. Specifically, the author points to the differences between fixed and growth mindsets. With fixed mindsets, students often believe that their ability or intelligence is fixed; they are intelligent, or they are not, with no way to change this. With a growth mindset, students see the possibility of
discussion could include additional college-related exercises for upper grades. Teacher tools for high school teachers might include the knowledge that students eligible for free or reduced lunch programs may also qualify for fee waivers for the SAT, ACT, and some college application fees. These would be additional items that might further assist teachers as they seek to support students.
Overall, I Wish My Teacher Knew provides an excellent opportunity for teachers wishing to make a difference in students’ lives. Having a positive relationship with a caring school adult can have a meaningful impact on students. Sharing her personal experiences and those of her students illustrates the possibilities for teachers’ communication and collaboration on building relationships. Schwartz noted:
I have also learned the power of the shared experience. So much of learning is universal. Teachers the world over have shared with me their own experiences with “I wish my teacher knew” notes. In countless languages, students have bravely shared their truth with the caring adults who teach them each day. All teachers want to connect with their students. All students want to be heard. In every corner of the globe, this is the intersection where relationships are formed. (p. 215)
The book would be an excellent addition to teacher preparation courses or as a book study for new teachers. Schwartz provides real-world examples of successes and opportunities for growth in supporting students. While more focused on the experiences in elementary campuses, the importance of building a relationship with students is applicable to teachers of all levels. I Wish My Teacher Knew is easy to read, making it accessible to all levels of educators. The research and resources provide readers a foundation for those wishing to dig deeper into ways to support students. Further, the teacher tools and reflective moments give teachers the needed information to begin immediate positive changes in their classroom. Schwartz’s care for her students is clear, and an excellent model for teachers to strive for.
Author Notes Jeff Cranmore , Ph.D., is a Senior Dissertation Adjunct at Grand Canyon University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jeff Cranmore at jeff.cranmore@my.gcu.edu.
References
American School Counselor Association (2016). The school counselor and character education. Retrieved from: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/ PositionStatements/PS_CharacterEducation.pdf
Cadima, J., Verschueren, K., Leal, T., & Guedes, C. (2016). Classroom interactions, dyadic teacher-child relationships, and self-regulation in socially disadvantaged young children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , 44 (1), 7-17. doi:10.1007/s10802-015- 0060-
Dweck, C. (2015). Growth. British Journal of Educational Psychology , 85 (2), 242-245. doi:10.1111/bjep.
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Balentine.
Laurian-Fitzgerald, S., & Roman, A.F. (2016). The effects of teaching cooperative learning skills on developing young students’ growth mindset. Journal Plus Education/Educatia Plus , 14, 68-82.
McKinney-Vento Act (2001). The Education of Students in Homeless Situations in the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act: Summary of McKinney-Vento Act and Title I Provisions. Retrieved from: https://nche.ed.gov/downloads/briefs/summary.pdf
Toste, J. R., Heath, N. L., Connor, C. M., & Peng, P. (2015). Reconceptualizing teacher-student relationships: Applicability of the working alliance within classroom contexts. The Elementary School Journal , 116 (1), 1-19. doi:10.1086/
Soleimanpour, S., Geierstanger, S., & Brindis, C. D. (2017). Adverse childhood experiences and resilience: Addressing the unique needs of adolescents. Academic Pediatrics , 17, S108- S114.
