what i wish my teacher knew

The average American high school student spends over 5000 hours in school during the four years it takes to earn a high school diploma. They interact with countless adults throughout this experience, but are they ever truly known? This question echoed through Michelle Muller's mind for weeks as she struggled to adjust to her first year teaching 10th grade English in the urban core of Kansas City, MO. On a whim one morning, she decided to make sure that every student in her class had the opportunity to be known and understood. What followed was something she never could have predicted, and it absolutely transformed the culture of her classroom. With her students' permission, she is now giving voice to the honest beauty of their work in hopes that others will be just as inspired to love their neighbor with the reckless abandon required to heal a community one life at a time.