Student Wishes

Mylie from Edison Education here today!

As we head into the holidays, we all know that our student become obsessed with all of the gifts they are or are not getting for the holidays. That is why it was so important to me to make sure kids were thinking about intangible things they were thankful for as a Thanksgiving activity. You can read more on that here. 

I have already heard from one student, "I hate this time of year. All everyone talks about is their stuff. I can't wait for January to get here." This absolutely breaks my heart because so many of our students have wishes that are much deeper than toys or gadgets. So, in order to extend our Thanksgiving activity, I asked each of my students to think about an intangible thing they would wish for. It did not have to be realistic, but it did have to be something they truly wish they could have. I made sure that it was private so they did not have to be embarrassed with sharing in front of peers. Some of them were pretty hilarious:
*Please excuse the sentence structure and spelling. a) I teach math. b) These are special ed students. Thanks!*

Some of them were a little more serious:

And a few of them taught me more about my students' lives than I knew before:

I am very proud of my students for how seriously MOST of them took this activity. I actually learned a lot about several of them that I did not know before. I did not know that one had lost a brother. I did not know that one had not seen their dad in 4 years. I did not know that one had a dad in prison. It was very eye opening for me, but I am hoping it also helped my students realize that it is not all about the toys and gadgets. Those are just fillers for the things in life that truly matter.

If you could have one intangible wish for Christmas, what would it be?