"I've been feeling lonely. No one wants to be friends with me."
"I like this class, but no one wants to be my friend. I feel yucky."
"It makes me sad when people ignore me."
I asked them to anonymously write down on a note card how they have been feeling in class. I read each card aloud. Not all of them were negative. In fact, only 9 of them were. But those 9 cards were what stood out to the class.
"How do you feel after hearing how your classmates are feeling about being in our class?"
Students all around the carpet raised their hands. One boy, my shyest one, timidly raised his hand. "I feel sad for the person who wrote that they don't have friends. I want to tell them that I will be their friend."
The class nodded their heads in agreement.
Many of the kids shared. There was a heaviness revealed. My kids were more solemn than I have seen them all year.
Yucky. Sad. Lonely. Ignored. Made fun of. Hurt. I wrote the words on the board. "What makes you feel these things?"
The kids shared openly. They shared about not being invited to play on the playground. They shared about having no one to eat lunch with. They shared about feeling like they were disgusting.
Then we looked at our list. "This is our class and this is how our classmates are feeling. We're doing this to each other. What will you take responsibility for?"
The students took some more index cards. Some wrote apologies to the class. Some wrote apologies to people that they know they have hurt. Some did it anonymously. Others signed their apologies with their names.
When we all re-gathered, I read the apologies aloud one by one. After the first one was read, completely unprompted, the class clapped. It was as if they were saying to each other "Thank you for apologizing. We forgive you." It was amazing.
We talked about forgiveness. “So is it like we are starting our lives all over again, Ms. Wong?”
“...Yes…Can we all agree to hit the restart button with each other?” They nodded their heads with smiles on their faces, eager to have a new chance.
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3 comments:
Steph,
This is so beautiful. Wow! I'm so grateful these kids have a teacher who wants to love them like God does, and wants them to care for each other in the same way ... I wish I had that in my 5th grade (and I went to a Christian school!)! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Caroline
Seriously a beautiful moment Steph. A defining moment or recognition. Thank you for bringing who you are into the classroom. You helped me more than I can probably understand my freshman year, and you are helping these kids not only to be good students, but good people.
Wow! That is a great idea for your class that probably made them think about the way that their actions towards each other affects them.
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