This guest post comes courtesy of Irene Smith, an EA ELA NBCT in Yakima, Washington, who teaches English Language Arts, Social Studies and more to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at the Discovery Lab School.  She and her students produce a full length Shakespeare play every year, and she is currently writing a companion text for The Tempest.

You may find this strange.

I collect students’ notes that they pass to each other. Sometimes I catch them passing their little missives and keep them. Sometimes I find them left on a desk or floor, tucked into a drawer or left on a filing cabinet. My students are aware of my fixation with their notes. Sometimes they even purposefully pass one in class in hopes that I’ll collect it in order to find the “Hi Mrs. Smith!” folded up inside. Some students purposefully intercept or find notes to bring to me.

I never read the notes aloud. I just save them until I’m alone to see what the message is. Mostly they are of relative unimportance- I m bored L. But not infrequently, they are full of mystery and angst.

Middle school students are careless, but I suspect they may sometimes leave these notes in order to let me in on their secret communications, to become more closely acquainted with their private worlds, and to help me understand them better.

Dear people at my school, I’m so sorry I’m weird. I’m sorry I don’t fit in. I’m sorry I don’t look pretty like all of you.

I’m not certain who wrote this note, but I believe it is important, like a lot of the notes I confiscate or discover. It reveals the inner workings of one of my student’s brains, a thought that happened during my class. Her feelings of inadequacy are perfectly clear and painful.

Middle School kids are a bit weird. They are so very concerned about being true to themselves and their individuality, while at the same time desperately wanting to FIT IN. They often feel alienated and alone. This student wasn’t thinking about the lesson that day. Her mind was occupied Elsewhere. Her Elsewhere was a frustrated fear that she is outside the norm, perhaps considered “inferior” to her peers.

It’s that “Elsewhere” that provides rich fodder for informing my teaching practice and gives me opportunities to make a difference in kid’s lives. If one anonymous kid is feeling this struggle, how many more students may be as well? Therefore, I address the universality of adolescent emotion through something I am teaching because it is relevant today.

Brain research shows that higher level thinking (the kind we require to reach Common Core State Standards) is often thrown over when the owner’s brain is addressing issues of a more emotional nature. Our emotions are a basic brain function, the place we go automatically.

In order to create an environment for learning I sometimes need to address students’ emotional lives.

Hey Jenna. Hey! Wyd? Nothing. You? Nothing, just passing notes. Oh, do you like math? A little. Do you have siblings? Ya, do you? No, it sucks not having them. How many do you have? 2 older brothers. Do you still like Eva, Jaime, and me? Ya. Oh, do you still like the same boys? Ummm I think so. I like Aaron, Ronny, David and Jose. Hby? I only like 2 boys. Are the boys you like in order from the one you like the most to the least? Ya.

Like many middle school students, these students are distracted by a desire to communicate and connect. The powerful need students have to associate with each other, to be a part of a group of friends, often pulls their thoughts away from what I want them to attend to in the classroom. Jenna requires reassurance that she is still liked by her friend and perhaps anxious that her friend is interested in one of the two boys she likes, which I infer by the question about the rank order. It’s nice to know that Jenna likes Math a little.

So how do notes like these inform my classroom practice? Understanding student needs helps me know what their emotional needs might be and how those needs are affecting their learning.

I might decide on more collaborative work so students can interact directly instead of surreptitiously sending notes, or I might decide that it would be less distracting for Jenna to be seated away from her friend or any of the boys on her list. However, it is often most important to think about what my students are really needing. Providing opportunities for students to have validating experiences with their peers makes classrooms safe, comfortable spaces where students are better able to access their higher brain functions because their emotional needs are being met. Finding and keeping friends is an important part of feeling safe, and when teachers assist this process, it pays off for everyone.

I’ve certainly seen quite a bit of profanity, sexual talk, and other forbidden communications. It reminds me that middle school is a time of both innocence and a desire for pseudo-maturity.

Several times a year I find notes that express something more fearsome- revelations of cutting, suicide attempts, early sexual activity, abuse, gang activity, etc. I always involve our school counselor and principal when that occurs. Having a document to reference seems to help students share their concerns in more detail and receive help for the challenges they face.

I am sooo overwelmed by many emotions right now. Stress- drownding (mentally)- empty – confused- lost- angry- 4.5% happy (out of 100%)- tired- hurting (physically/mentally)- torn- bleh- sad- broken- shocked- feel like this is all a dream- depressed- alone- mentally damaged- too far gone-… I found something out yesterday that I’m pretty sure changed my perspective on some of my family members forever. I was sworn not to tell.

Teaching is so much more than just trying to help kids read, write, understand, and remember certain important chunks of information. We are an important part of their lives as they struggle to become the adults they are going to be. We have an underlying responsibility to help them mature into healthy people. The messages they exchange can alert us to their needs.

Notes are not just a classroom distraction and nuisance, and that is why it’s not so strange that I collect them.