As a teacher, it's incredibly important to get to know your students as deeply as possible. But with so many students to keep track of, the reality is that it's tough to build a meaningful relationship with each one. One middle school teacher in the Irving Independent School District in Texas came up with a genius solution.
Julia Brown created an "I Need" box for her students to write down their needs each day. The box allows students to ask for help without having to go up to Julia and ask her directly. It's perfect for students who would otherwise be too shy or self-conscious to speak up, and it also works well for problems that are tricky to discuss with adults, like bullying or arguments.
Julia set up the "I Need" box for the first time at the beginning of the school year in August. Almost immediately, the new box came in handy.
"The first week, two boys let me know about a bullying situation," Julia wrote on Facebook. "We got it taken care of."
Julia's Facebook post about the project went massively viral, with over 116,000 shares. Parents, teachers, and students alike are all inspired by the "I Need" box.
Julia Brown has been teaching middle school for 15 years.
At the start of this year, she decided to try something new to help students who don't feel comfortable going to adults for help.
She created an "I Need" box.
"If a student needs something they are not comfortable voicing aloud," Julia wrote about the box in August, "they can write it on the notecard with their name and put it in the box. I’ll get back to them about it before the week is done."
In the first week, two boys used the box to let Julia know about a bullying situation.
"We got it taken care of," Julia said.
After that, Julia tweaked the box a bit to make it even more accessible for her students.
"The next week I changed the format a little and starting having EVERY student put a card in the box every day," she explained. "They didn’t have to write on it, but every student visits the box daily."
Since then, Julia's students have used the box to express a huge range of needs, from seat changes to after-school help to daily hugs.
Even better, students have begun to come directly to Julia for help more often without needing to use the box.
Clearly, this is one dedicated teacher! Her students are incredibly grateful.
"I can honestly say this is the best thing I’ve ever done to reach my kids this early in the school year," Julia said.
After Julia shared her "I Need" box idea on Facebook, it took off. Her original post received over 23,000 shares, and her follow-up received over 116,000.
People left all sorts of appreciative comments on Julia's post.
They're impressed that Julia found a way to actually hear her students, rather than just listening.
And tons of fellow educators are excited to try this idea in their own classrooms.
Because teachers don't often have the time for one-on-one check-ins with each of their students.
So many teachers rely on students to speak up if they need something — but speaking up isn't always easy.
With all the attention on Julia's teaching skills, many people are even offering to help fundraise for school supplies if her kids ever need it.
Julia came up with the idea during the last school year, when students took a survey.
"One of the questions asked the student to name an adult on campus they felt they could go to with anything,” Julia told Scary Mommy. “About 10% of our student population answered ‘no one.'”
Julia thought about that dilemma all summer long, and that's how the "I Need" box was born.
Now her students have at least one adult they can trust to go to for help. Hopefully, the idea behind this box will spread far and wide.
