Teacher Reads Girl’s Private Journal, Sees Name And Tells Boy To Stand

teacher reads girl's private journal sees name and tells boy to stand she had simply done what she thought would be an enlightening activity with her students but what she had done soon caught the attention of parents everywhere the phone wouldn't stop ringing and the backlash was coming in thick and fast she hadn't expected her post to cause such controversy on social media but now there was no one doing it and parents wanted her fired for it karen lowe has been a teacher for 22 years her many years of experience have given her some unique insights into the needs of her students as a result this middle school english teacher from oklahoma shared a post on facebook in which she talked about an activity she did with her students on the first day of school but she never anticipated that her now notorious post would become such a hot button topic karen's eyes widened as she logged in and saw the shares creep past the 335 000 mark comments flooded in friends family and general public were determined to have their say new stations were banging on the door to get exclusive interviews and the phone rang day and night karen was overwhelmed by the response but why had this photograph that karen had posted caused worldwide controversy karen knew that kids in middle school were going through a turbulent time in their lives at this age their bodies minds and spirits were growing and changing constantly having a safe place to share their emotional issues is helpful but sadly rare but to really make an impact karen knew that she had to do something rather unorthodox karen lay awake on the night before the first day of school she had planned the day's activities beforehand but she wanted to do something more with her students that's when the ill-fated idea came into her mind the idea for the new activity was simple enough but she never imagined how much damage she was about to cause for karen teaching isn't merely a job but a calling she teaches english language arts at collinsville middle school in oklahoma her students are important to her and she cares deeply for all of them their physical mental and emotional well-being are all equally important to her this is why she decided to do something unusual with them little did she know she was about to cross a line so on the first day of school karen looked at the faces in her class some were new others she recognized then she opened with a discussion that would result in the now infamous baggage activity she began by asking her students just what they thought having baggage meant the unsuspecting students paused before answering not knowing where their teacher's line of questioning was going most of karen's students said that having baggage meant carrying hurtful stuff on your shoulders karen nodded encouragingly before moving on to the next step she pulled out a plastic bag and hung it on the classroom wall she then handed everyone a piece of paper and asked them to do something that had the whole classroom in tears parents and experts were furious karen asked her pupils to write their own baggage on the piece of paper and put it in the bag but the results of the seemingly innocent activity were completely unexpected i asked them to write down on a piece of paper what was bothering them what was heavy on their heart what was hurting them etc karen wrote in her facebook post one girl named jessica opened her backpack and tore a page out of her own personal journal they wadded the paper up and threw it across the room karen continued once the children had written their baggage down and it had been put in the bag the papers were pulled out one by one and read aloud some chose to admit the baggage that was theirs the stories and confessions made karen's heart drop you might be expecting children to be discussing topics like love troubles however the children opened up about serious topics such as a loved one or pet passing disease substance abuse in the family and even about parents going to prison some were about bullying the girl who tore a page out of her journal said that the boy who was sitting next to her wouldn't stop teasing her this revealed just how severe the weight some children carry with them is but some accused karen of crossing a line then she asked the boy accused of bullying to stand and read jessica's emotional journal entry aloud the kids who read the papers would cry because what they were reading was tough the person who shared if they chose to tell us it was them would cry sometimes too karen continued it was an emotionally draining day but i firmly believe my kids will judge a little less love a little more and forgive a little faster but when jessica told her parents what karen had made them do they wanted her fire but karen also admitted that even in these moments of raw darkness there was still some comedy albeit dark comedy to be found as an example one of the children talked about the fact that their gerbil had passed away however they added this was because it was fat even so the exercise and day had a huge impact on all involved and when the principal began to receive complaints from parents he demanded answers during an interview karen explained the reasoning behind the activity i needed to do something to make my kids realize that other people go through other things and some may be the same as them i want them to be more kind to each other the middle school age can be a difficult and trying time i wanted to instill some empathy with them she explained but many parents were furious saying that karen had done more harm than good karen even had some supporters i don't know of any other teachers in my school or area who have done it since i've done this i have had other teachers all over the world incorporate it into their classroom my life changed because it went viral and people from all over the world contacted me she said but not everyone agreed with what she had done this activity though well-intentioned i'm sure does more harm than good and i'd like to explain why addison duane a trauma researcher responded to karen's post research has found that asking students to relive traumatic events or emotional moments during the school day can exacerbate a problem addison continued the student may not give off any outward indication but the internal effects according to doctors are long-lasting in fact child advocacy centers are explicitly trained in not asking a child for a traumatic story more than once to avoid further traumatizing it's not our job to ask students to share intimate details about their lives especially this early in the year as much as we want to be everything for our kids teachers are not licensed practitioners and it's important we remember that addison explained it's not our job to be trauma detectives despite the positive response from her kids karen did share a caution that the baggage activity isn't for everyone i have a personality that thankfully has blessed me to be a teacher who the kids open up to i'm very upfront to the point but also show them some love i sincerely hope others just do whatever is best for their kids we as teachers know what is best for our students and no one else can tell you what will work best it's your call while karen continues to receive backlash many people thought that this was an excellent activity karen admits that it was one of the most emotional days that she experienced as a teacher the post gained so much attention that by now it has nearly a million likes and over 637 000 shares any teacher can have an influence that doesn't however mean they need to do the baggage activity