Brownell Middle School teacher Melissa Frame begins each Zoom class for her seventh- and eighth-grade English students with a lip-sync.
On the morning of Dec. 18, she opened class with her largest group of eighth-graders by lip-syncing to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
She realized something was different. Many of the students’ cameras were off, which was unusual.
“We have an awful lot of cameras off this morning,” she said. “So please turn your cameras on so that I’m not singing here alone, or send me a chat why.”
One student spoke up.
“I just want to thank you just for being so positive on the Zoom and everything,” Monroe DeSmyter said, adding, “OK guys, let's do it.”
When the students turned their cameras on, each held up a sign to thank their teacher, with messages like “We appreciate you,” “Thank you for being so positive,” and “We love you, Mrs. Frame.”
Frame said the thoughtfulness of students she hasn't even met in person yet due to remote learning brought her to tears.
“It was the sweetest thing,” she said. “I was flabbergasted. It was adorable. It was so, so, so kind. It made my year.”
Frame found out afterward Monroe was the one to organize the surprise.
“She managed to coordinate that,” Frame said. “I don’t know how she did it. That had to take some work on her part. It was very, very sweet.”
Monroe said she got the idea from her friend, Emily, who tagged her on a TikTok in which students did something similar for their teacher.
“I texted her and said what if we pulled it off. This could be such a nice gesture. She said, yeah, we should do this. I chose Mrs. Frame because she’s so understanding. If you need an extension for work, she will without hesitation give you that extension. She will try to help you as much as she can to turn in your missing assignments. She will be understanding if you want to keep your camera off. She is so positive during this COVID thing.”
To pull off the surprise, Monroe said she visited her class’s Schoology page to get her classmates’ phone numbers and created a group chat.
“I said, ‘I have a crazy idea.’ I sent the TikTok to our group chat. Everybody was on board. We planned it out yesterday. I asked everybody to make a sign to say how we appreciate Mrs. Frame and everything she does for us. She seems to understand the struggles we’re going through as a class. Everybody made a sign and I asked everybody to join with their cameras off.
“Her first reaction was total shock,” she added. “Then she started crying and she couldn't stop saying thank you. It was a pretty good feeling.”
One of the students took a video of Frame’s reaction and set it to music. (Click here to watch the video.)
Frame snapped a screenshot to share with her husband and posted it on a Facebook community forum with the message: “I have the best class.”
Artwork by Monroe DeSmyter
copyright 2020 Mary Anne Brush