‘I am so sad’: Teacher reveals powerful reason behind classroom mailbox

A primary school teacher has shared the heartwarming way she is connecting with her students.
Dawnell Ticarich is a fourth grade teacher at Fielding Elementary School in the US state of Utah. Miss T, as she calls herself, posts on TikTok under the username positivemisst.
She took to TikTok this week to explain she had set up the “I wish my teacher knew” mailbox inside her classroom so students could share their innermost thoughts with her.
Watch the video above.
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Ticarich described the mailbox as “like a magic tunnel to student connections and relationships” before explaining how it worked in a series of photos.
She said her students could use the mailbox to “tell me something good, something bad, a check-in, a request, really anything they want to tell me!” she wrote.
“This helps because they might not always have the confidence to verbally tell you what’s going on.
“I check it every day at 9.45am during my prep and at the end of the day.”
She said it was also used as a strategy to cut down on ‘blurts,’ when a child interrupts to blurt something out.
“Sometimes they just leave something sweet! This was a picture made at recess,” she wrote.
“This one made me sob. It is hanging up above my bed. She had no idea how badly I needed to hear this.”
But others were not as pleasant. She revealed one note which said, “Everyone is making fun of my backpack,” before revealing how she tackled the problem.
“This was written anonymously and I addressed bullying HARD as a whole group. I shared stories of times I felt bullied and was a bully too,” she wrote.
“We haven’t had any problems since.”
Another note read, ”I want to sit with some boys, but no boys want to sit with me.”
This led Ticarich to comment, “I think this mailbox may save lives. I get to read their thoughts they may not be willing to share.
“This [note] made me aware some kids were overlooked and not often chosen.
“I reevaluated some seating charts and made some friendship/acceptance lessons to combat this feeling.”
Ticarich also shared a “blurt example” in which a student wrote, “I am so sad.”
“We were talking about recess and he so badly wanted to blurt but he wrote in instead and then I got to answer his question as soon as I stopped talking.
“He didn’t feel comfortable sharing verbally but we talked and he said he is just so sad summer is over and he’s going to miss mum. We made a plan together to get through this.”
Ticarich ended the post by saying she was excited to see what notes she received this week and implored fellow teachers to “make connections and love hard. Your students were picked for your class for a reason!”
Her video has so far been viewed more than 3.6 million times and received 280,000 likes as well as thousands of comments.
Many admitted they were moved to tears, while others praised the young educator.
“The backpack and the sitting beside somebody broke me. These babies all need to feel loved,” wrote one.
“You are an amazing teacher. Your students are so lucky to have you,” said another while someone else simply wrote, “You are made for this.”