As told by a Contributor
“If you walk into our classroom now, you’ll see a bag hanging by the door. The bag contains everything [like worries, challenges, heartbreaks, etc that] our classmates carry to school that we consider problems or bad things in our lives – the things that distract us, sadden us, or make us angry.
Something I have found in common with every student in conversation that’s upsetting them. The student believes he/she is the only one who has a problem, difficult life, family problem, whatever it may be.
So today, we all anonymously wrote down on pieces of paper, what’s heavy on our hearts; crumpled them up, and threw them in a basket. I mixed them all up and students had to pick one up and we all read them out loud.
I could not believe some of the things they have to deal with at home, and neither could their peers. It resulted in a lot of tears, a lot of hugs, a lot of ‘I had no idea so many people had hard things to deal with too.’
The message of the project, as I discussed with them is that you never know the weight people are carrying.
It is so important to remember that when we interact with others. I wanted them to see that they were not alone and that they had a whole class of people who could relate and support them.
Our stories now hang by our door as a reminder to the “bag” others may carry with them.”