Ashley Harrison

DEAR TEACHER, THERE’S SOMETHING I WISH YOU KNEW… Sometimes I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m having a difficult time. I might be hungry because there wasn’t much to eat last night. I might be exhausted because I didn’t feel safe enough to sleep. I might be wondering where we’re going to live next month, why someone I love isn’t coming home, or whether anyone would even notice if I wasn’t here. Sometimes I’m loud because I don’t know how to ask for help. Sometimes I shut down because everything feels like too much. Sometimes I push you away because I’ve learned that people leave. I know I interrupt your lessons. I know I test your patience. I know there are days when I’m hard to reach. But please don’t mistake my hardest moments for all that I am. I don’t need you to fix my entire life. I need you to notice me. To be curious before you’re critical. To give me a fresh start, even when yesterday was hard. To hold me accountable without making me feel unlovable. And maybe, just maybe, when I can’t find a single good thing to believe about myself… I need you to believe in me until I can. Because years from now, I probably won’t remember what you taught on a random Wednesday. But I will remember the teacher who made me feel like I mattered on a day when I wasn’t sure I did. Sometimes the greatest difference we make in a child’s education has very little to do with academics and everything to do with being the adult they needed. — Dr. Bryan Pearlman ⸻ ❤️ Educators: You may never know which child goes home holding on to the kindness you gave them today. Please keep giving it. Tag a teacher who understands this. Share it with someone who needs the reminder. #maslowbeforebloom #teacher #school #trauma