For her final post on the blog, Quynh Nguyen talks to us about her desire to be more accessible to her students, encouraging them to share their curious thoughts or tell her stories about their home lives.  -Ed.

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Last week, I finally said to my class “You are humans and you’re curious. I think I have to be better about stopping to answer your questions. So if you are curious about something, let me know. I’d like to help. ” The response I received was a few kids telling me that they were interested in a subject currently not covered at school- such as birds or calculus. I’m glad invited the kids to share their curiosity with me. I am learning more about their interests and what they are wondering about. And I get a chance to learn more about a subject, if I am helping the student find materials.

Sometimes I think that students think that I am too busy to stop and hear them out. To make myself more accessible,  I have invited my students to send me messages via google docs and email or leave a post-it note on my computer. Kids are sending me updates about new siblings and how their visit to their grandparents house is going. Some still prefer to find me during a quiet moment in the day.