Letter to My Younger Self: A Bearable Way to Begin Your School Year

  Sep 10 2024  Ashley Anderson

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This school year is very different for me. I am still in the classroom, but on a different campus. I am working mainly with students who are trying to graduate early, but have not passed one or both of their state-mandated English tests. These students are juniors and seniors who are trying to fix some of the mistakes they have made in their past, and who are most definitely trying to give themselves more opportunities in their future. 

Already, after four weeks, these students have truly revitalized my love for teaching. So, when planning reading/writing lessons for these students, I have two goals in mind: 1) to grow their confidence and 2) to build their stamina. Eunjin Jang says, “Life is bearable when you have someone to write, and someone who writes you back.” To make test prep and English class more “bearable” for my students, I decided to start with having the students write letters to their younger selves. 

Instead of having a whole school year to get students ready for a state test, I have less than 6 months to: review skills, break bad test habits, and have them see growth in their reading and writing abilities. 

This lesson allows for students to explore different mentor texts and plan their own piece of writing. Ultimately, this first writing assignment for my students is about self reflection. If we are going to do the hard work of getting them ready for the one thing that’s keeping them graduating (yeah, no pressure), then I need them to be able to appreciate where they are coming from, but be hopeful about where they are going.  

Here’s what it looks like in my classroom:

I don’t have a lot of time, so this lesson for my students is only taking 3-4 class days. You could easily shorten this to 2 class days or expand this to become a whole unit that takes several weeks. It really is up to you and the needs of your students.

• Day 1 is about setting the stage. Students make a MUST/MIGHT chart in their notebooks and we look at two different letters: Hopper’s letter to El (Stranger Things) and an excerpt from Dear Justyce. Class discussion is all centered on what MUST a letter have and what MIGHT a letter have.
• Day 2 is looking more about how letters are written. Students spend the class day looking at several “letters to my younger self”. The class discussion centers on noticing punctuation, different ways to open and close the letters, and what ideas are included. We also look over the rubric, so they know what I am looking for before they begin writing.
• Day 3 is a writing day. We do a quick mini-mentor text lesson and then students are given a checklist to help them revise their writing before they submit their letter for a grade.

Here are the materials students are using in class:

At the beginning of the year, I usually do a lot of activities on paper or in our notebooks. Students at this campus spend so much of their day on computers in other classrooms that I want their English class to look and feel different. 

• Day 1
  • Stranger Things – Hopper’s Letter to El 
    • Students receive a copy of this letter to follow along while they watch the clip from Stranger Things: this is usually a good way to wake them up and pique their interest
    • After watching the clip, students are given a couple of minutes to read the letter over and circle the structure items that make this a letter. Ultimately, this will lead to discussion about punctuation, which is what we started noticing on day one.
  • Dear Justyce excerpt
    • Students receive a copy of this letter to circle the structure items and punctuation that sticks out to them as I read the letter aloud.
  • MUST/MIGHT chart
    • Anything and everything that the students discuss after looking at both of these letters gets added to our list. We will refine this list on day two.

• Day 2
  • Letters to my younger self 
    • Here are the letters that I use in class. Students are asked to pick three to read and then add their noticings to their own MUST/MIGHT chart in their notebooks. (Heads up: most of these texts are excerpts and they come from The Players’ Tribune: Letters to my younger self section.)
      • Alex Morgan
      • Bianca Andreescu 
      • Christina Ricci
      • Daiyan Henley
      • Deion Sanders
      • Hugh Jackman
      • Kobe Bryant
      • Stan Lee
      • Stephen King
    • After students are given anywhere from 15 – 20 minutes to read and take notes, we have a class discussion during which students share their findings and we begin to curate our chart.
  • Rubric
    • We review the rubric the last few minutes of class; and students have one at their desks the next day. This way, they know exactly what I will be looking for when I grade their letter. 
    • You could easily add or remove skills from the rubric. Sometimes, I only have one skill on a rubric, which obviously helps make the grading process quicker and easier.

• Day 3
  • Writing Moves & Checklist
    • With a full range of students in my class all with different skill levels, I have found that creating a checklist for students that mimics not only my rubric, but also their noticings (in this case – our MUST/MIGHT chart) answers A LOT of my students’ questions. 
    • Students are required to turn this in, with checkmarks, BEFORE they submit their final draft of their letter.

I always want my students to leave my class a better version of themselves than they were when we began the school year. That is my “why.” I hope that this activity allows all of my students to shed some of their insecurities with English, and gain a better appreciation for themselves and their writing abilities. 

Making “life bearable” one post at a time, Ashley AndersonI am still trying to figure this teaching thing out — what works with my students and what doesn’t. And I’m always working on how to make our state test less ominous and soul crushing. Do you have a state test that you have to prepare your students for? What are some lessons you are doing in class to help prepare them? You can connect with me on Twitter @Teaching_IsLife or on Facebook at facebook.com/movingwriters.

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Ashley Anderson is an English teacher at the Dickinson Continuation Center (DCC) in Dickinson, TX. She is in her ninth year of teaching. Before entering education, Ashley was a Captain in the United States Air Force and managed marketing and communications for several private aviation companies. She loves cold coffee, doing sudoku, and cheering on her Gators (students) at all of their extracurricular activities. She lives with her husband, Chad (who is also a high school teacher in Dickinson ISD), and her two daughters Avery (#AveryMonster) and Audrey (#BabyBop). Ashley is humbled every day to be part of a profession with so much passion and commitment. She is so excited about being a part of the MovingWriters team for another year.