I recently saw an article online where a teacher passed out notes and asked her students to finish the sentence, “I wish my teacher knew..”

The students are all younger, but the meaning is pretty clear. Students have struggles inside and outside of the classroom that they rarely get the chance to talk about. Teachers are often unaware of the happenings in their students’ lives. So, today, I decided I would complete the sentence.

I wish my teacher knew that I work an average of 32 hours a week. I wish my teacher knew that I asked for less hours and actually ended up with more. This week I am working 42 hours. I wish my teacher knew that I cared so much about her class and my grades, but that when I get off work at 10:30 I only have energy to crawl into bed and hope to sleep. I wish my teacher knew that I get an average of 5 hours of sleep each night. I wish my teacher knew that I am trying my best to stay awake in school, but that sometimes my eyelids feel like anvils. I wish my teacher knew that I am falling behind on my school assignments because of the amount of homework I am receiving from 7 different classes each day. I wish my teacher knew that I love reading, writing, playing with dogs, and running, but that I no longer have time for these things. I wish my teacher knew that I wish I had time for the things I love to do because without them, life sucks. I wish my teacher knew that I never get to see the one person who makes it all better. I wish my teacher knew that sometimes I spend her class period dreaming about driving to a different state and starting over. I wish my teacher knew that I’m really not trying to add to her mountain of stress, but that I can’t help it. I wish my teacher knew that I am not trying to be rude when I say I can’t come in after school. I wish my teacher knew that I would prefer to come in after school over going to work because it would mean I would finally have a break.

I wish my teacher knew that I am not prepared for what life will be after May 13th.