Teacher's "I Need" Box Becomes Viral After It Changed The Lives Of Her Students

Jan 19, 2019 by apost team

Teachers have the ability to influence the next generation's minds in a great way. In addition to instilling crucial values in the young through the education system, they encourage them to be happier and more confident individuals.

There are many teachers, across the globe, who are making a difference. Such teachers deserve to be recognized for their efforts.

For one middle school teacher, her efforts to change how she and her students communicate has gone viral.

Julie Brown is a teacher hailing from Texas. She has been a middle school teacher for over 15 years now. This means that she has experience in dealing with kids in that age group. However, getting the kids to open up at the beginning of the school year becomes hard, and it's likely that this is the time they have a lot of concerns. So, Julia wanted to find a way that students would express their feelings freely. She thought of a box where her students could write down what they felt if they are afraid to voice their concerns out loud.

In an interview with CafeMom, she said that the teachers in her school decided to do a survey of all students. One of the things they needed to know was if there were any adults at the school the kids felt they would talk to about anything. 10% of the students said that there was no one they'd talk to.

Some of these kids were in her class, and it broke her heart. This is how the "I Need Box" came about. She wanted her students to know that they could rely on her for anything no matter what it was.

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During the month of August, Julia shred, on her Facebook page, what she hoped the box would bring. She even shared some examples that encouraged the kids to share their feelings. They include:

• I need supplies for school
• I need help in dealing with a bully
• I need to switch seats
• I need help with school work
• I need guidance on a personal issue
• I need assistance on a previous lesson
• I need help sorting out an issue with a friend
• All I need is a hug

Julia says that all she wants is to let her students know she's there to help with whatever they need.

Last week, Julia shared an update of the box's success, and some of the messages she got will make you cry. She said that one week of using the box led to 2 boys opening up about bullying. This is one of the issues she took care of. Once she noticed that the box was making a difference, she asked every one of her students to put a note inside the box daily.

The students don't have to write anything on the note. All she wants is for every student to visit the box every day. This has encouraged the kids to be open about a lot of the issues they are going through, both at school and at home.

The thing that Julia loves the most is that now, some of her students have started going directly to her with their issues. In her 15 years of teaching middle school, she says that this is the best thing she has done to influence her kids at the beginning of a school year.

Without a doubt, this world needs people like Julia. Her updated post has almost 90,000 likes. It also has over 90000 shares on social media.

Julia has inspired many for her kindness and clever idea. Some of the comments about her idea made her emotional. She never thought she'd influence so many people inside and outside the school with her idea.

One woman said that she is a splendid teacher for coming up with such an encouraging way of getting kids to share their problems. Another person said they were thankful for teachers like her, who provide safe methods of communication. One person said how something her teacher did for them changed their life.

Clearly, teachers can influence the current and future lives of their students in a huge way. That is why a teacher needs to wise in how they relate with their kids. Most kids look up to their teachers and how they deal with issues can influence how the kids do it too. Julia's idea is splendid, and many students will benefit from it

This article has been very encouraging. It is good knowing that there are teachers who care about the lives of the kids they teach. If this has touched your heart in any way, kindly send it to someone else. They could be inspired too.

Have you or your child ever had a teacher who touched your heart like this? We would love to hear your story, so let us know!