I Wish My Students / Teacher Knew

Activity

Community building activities, Ongoing engagement, Setting the tone activities

I Wish My Students / Teacher Knew

Amena Magdy

A reflective activity that fosters connection and wellbeing by inviting teachers and students to complete the prompt “I wish my teacher/students knew…” – encouraging empathy, feedback, and meaningful communication.

Tech needed: Shared online space

Synchronous, Asynchronous

Accessibility: Text-based

Duration: < 5 mins

Student preparation: None

Educator preparation: Moderate

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

This activity promotes both teacher and student wellbeing throughout the whole semester (beginning, middle and end). It helps you and students to connect as human beings and communicate effectively.

USEFUL FOR

Rapport building and adding a human touch to your class by suggesting a periodic reflection of their emotional reactions. It can be used as an asynchronous assignment (shared or private). It is also useful for feedback and for making adaptations to classroom management techniques, strategies and assignments based on the responses/feedback of students.

PREPARATION

Write separate sentences or a short paragraph starting with “I wish my teacher/students knew that…”

INSTRUCTIONS

Write a sentence or a paragraph starting with “I wish my students knew that…”. Then share it on the class’s online space (Google Classroom, Google currents, etc.) where students can comment on it if they wish.
Students write a sentence or a paragraph starting with “I wish my teacher knew that…”. Students can share it as a post on the class’s online space – similar to you – or they might share it privately with you via email. Students can also participate anonymously using Google Docs.
After trying the activity for the first time, you can agree with your students on the frequency (every two weeks, month, etc.). You might use a surveying tool to measure the effectiveness of this activity, decide the frequency and receive further suggestions.
Students are free to write as much as they want, but you should keep your paragraph short so they do not get bored.

DURATION

It depends on how much time you and your students wish to spend on the activity.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

It can be used synchronously (for quick responses) and asynchronously (for deeper reflection). It is also suitable for both face-to-face and online classes.
Responses can be related to learning, life, or anything else. For example, you might write “I wish my students knew that I miss seeing their lovely faces”. While a student can write “I wish my teacher knew that I get nervous when s/he calls on me.”
If students are willing to share their output with others, names can be removed and the activity can be turned into a guessing game.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Shared Space (Google Classroom, Google Currents, a blog, shared Google docs. etc.)

USEFUL RESOURCES

I wish my students knew … – template with example statements created by Amena (Word Doc, 19 KB).