"I wish my teacher knew..."

In a sing-song-y voice, I hear my student croon, “I wish my teacher knew!”, and then, a pause-the student appears to be thinking through his rushed sentence-followed by his proclamation “That I love my dog!”.

This little scene melted my heart along with the other information that students shared with me through their recorded videos on the FlipGrid platform. In an all-virtual classroom environment, this brief prompt allowed me a personal look into students’ lives. The beauty of this prompt is in its simplicity. Students shared information ranging from their family culture to their academic fears. It is a question that I hope to use in future years, regardless of the classroom environment.